Information Warfare In Miami

[G_j]

INFORMATION WARFARE IN MIAMI

Ilyse Hogue and Patrick Reinsborough,
The 'Miami Model' used during the anti-FTAA protests represents a new police strategy whose aim is to control not just the streets, but also the story told by the media.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17293


<snip>
The police effort to crack down on protesters in Miami was funded through the $87 billion dollar War on Terror package. The money paid for over-time for the DEA, the ATF, Immigration and Customs, Miami Dade Police Department, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service officers, to name a just a few of those brought in to maintain "order." It also financed the state of the art weaponry on display on the streets of Miami, from de rigeur tear gas and rubber bullets to new and exotic toys such as taser guns, mobile water cannons, and electric shields.


What became clear in the lead up to the FTAA was that the "Miami Model" – as law enforcement enthusiasts are calling it – has goals that go way beyond merely keeping the peace. The bigger agenda of the Miami policing operation was to control the public perception of mass protest and grassroots movements. Only days after that FTAA protests on Nov. 23, the New York Times broke a story on the FBI's ongoing policy of infiltrating and spying on the anti-war and global justice movements. Miami was the mainstreaming of overt information warfare against non-violent protest.


Information warfare is defined by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction Number 3210.01 as "actions taken to achieve information superiority by affecting adversary information, information based processes, and information systems."


The relevance of information warfare to social movements and political conflicts have been the subject of study of Rand Corporation researchers John J. Arquilla and David F. Ronfeldt. Over the past decade, they have written extensively about an aspect of information warfare they call "netwar," which they define as: "trying to disrupt or damage what a target population knows or thinks it knows about itself and the world around it...It may involve public diplomacy measures, propaganda and psychological campaigns, political and cultural subversion, deception of or interference with local media."

<snip>

[tom_paine]

1. Not really a new Police strategy, but a very old Totalitarian strategy

The Communists controlled the media story told about their "subversives".

The Nazis did the same.

Ditto Ferdinand Marcos.

Ditto Idi Amin.

Ditto Saddam Hussein.

Hey look, I'm a DITTOHEAD!

[G_j]

2. St. Petersburg Times: Miami Crowd Control Would Do Tyrant Proud

St. Petersburg Times: Miami Crowd Control Would Do Tyrant Proud
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1130-07.htm

Miami police Chief John Timoney must be mighty proud of the social order he maintained during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit a couple of weeks ago in Miami - sort of the way Saddam Hussein was proud of quieting dissension in his country.

Timoney has a well-deserved reputation for using paramilitary tactics to turn any city where large protests are planned into a place where the Constitution has taken a holiday. During the FTAA meeting on Nov. 20, Timoney dispatched 2,500 police officers in full riot gear against a crowd estimated at 8,000 people, mostly union members and retirees.

The result was a show of force that would have made a Latin American dictator blush.

...more...

[el_gato]

3. for the next meeting the battle will be in the months before it happens

[WEagle]

4. R.I.P. Democracy eom

[G_j]

5. independent commission?

If you think an independent commission should be established, call Miami Mayor Manny Diaz at 305-250-5300 and Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas at 305-375-5071.

-----------------------------

[DUreader]

6. I'll be calling

thanks

[G_j]

7. thanks, I recieved this,

As the number of ''isolated incidents'' of alleged police misconduct grows, it becomes increasingly clear that an independent commission should be appointed to review what occurred during last month's protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Miami Police Chief John Timoney has said his department ``is undertaking a comprehensive review of the entire FTAA security operation and will produce a public report of our findings.´´
Timoney's pledge is inadequate for numerous reasons.

First, there were 40 different police agencies involved in providing security for the FTAA meetings in Miami, including Hialeah, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, the Broward Sheriff's Office and the Florida Highway Patrol.
Will Timoney's report discuss the conduct of Miami-Dade officers near the jail on Nov. 21 when more than 60 protesters were arrested? Of course not.

Second, according to Miami Police Lt. Bill Schwartz, the person responsible for overseeing the department's review will be Deputy Chief Frank Fernandez -- the same official responsible for overseeing Miami's preparations for the FTAA.

How can the public possibly have confidence that Chief Fernandez would bring a critical lens to the operation he was instrumental in planning?

Third, if you read Timoney's statement carefully, he states his department ''will produce a public report of our findings.'' He is not promising to release all of the information his review uncovers.

Finally, any legitimate review must also have a mechanism for collecting and hearing testimony from the public in an open forum. It should also include a detailed review of the hours and hours of television footage. Timoney's notion of a ''comprehensive review'' does not include gathering these elements. Rather, it envisions members of the department talking among themselves and with other police agencies and reviewing internal ``after-action reports.´´

That's not good enough. That's a recipe for a whitewash.

[WEagle]

8. kick!

[G_j]

9. Chicago '68

interesting how people still remember that, but are already forgetting about this. scary......