External threats and internal spying

In any totalitarian regime, those in power use the fear, or claimed risk, of external threats in order to erode civil liberties. The dept of Homeland Security, NSA, FBI, and (to a lesser extent) CIA do not care about protecting Americans from terror threats--they care about maximizing their mandate and justifying their budgets. Now the Washington Post is reporting that illegal domestic surveillance, scrutiny, and invasion of privacy by FBI is far greater than had been feared. Same thing happened in the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations, with the same external justifications ("threats from outside") and the same internal motives (control of dissent).

From Wag the Dog:

BREAN
Why do people go to war?

MR. YOUNG
Why do people go to war?

MR. YOUNG
I'll play your silly game.

BREAN
Why do they go to War?

MR. YOUNG
To preserve their Way of Life.

BREAN
Would you go to War to do that?
(PAUSE)

MR. YOUNG
I have.

BREAN
Well, I have, too. Would you do it again...? In't that why you're here? I guess so. N'if you go to war again, who is it going to be against? Your "ability to fight a Two-ocean War " against who? Sweden and Togo? Who you sitting here to Go To War Against? That time has passed. It's passed. It's over.
The War of the Future is Nuclear Terrorism. It is and it will be against a Small Group of Dissidents who, unbeknownst, perhaps, to their own governments, have blah blah blah. And to go to that war, you've got to be prepared. You have to be alert, and the public has to be alert. Cause that is the war of the future, and if you're not gearing up, to fight that war, eventually the axe will fall. N'you're gonna be out in the street.

(PAUSE)

And you can call this a "drill," or you can call it "job security," or you can call it anything you like. But I got one for you: you said, "Go to War to protect your Way of Life," well, Chuck, this

(HE GESTURES AROUND THE ROOM)

is your way of life. Innit? And if there ain't no war, you can punch out, go home, and take up Oil Painting.
And there ain't no war but ours.