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TIPS: A Bridge Way Too Far

By Marwan Kreidie
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Posted on Wednesday July 24, 2002

Do we want friends and family informing on one another?

Who would have imagined that one of the main components of the Bush administration’s call for volunteerism would include spying on one’s neighbors? The same Web page that discusses neighborhood watches and the Citizens Corps (Vista and Americorps) (www.citizencorps.gov) is recruiting for the new Terrorism Information and Prevention System, TIPS.

This spy-on-your-neighbor program is referred to as “a national system for concerned workers to report suspicious activity.” But the mere proposal of TIPS should outrage anyone who believes in civil liberties and freedoms, anyone who cherishes privacy as a hallmark of our political system. This blatant attempt to establish a network of citizen spies is less akin to democracy and more akin to practices seen in authoritarian and totalitarian countries against whom the United States has fought throughout its history.

A system that urges private citizens to spy on one another is frighteningly similar to programs that existed under the Stasi secret police in communist former East Germany. What depressed me most while visiting East Berlin in 1982 was that people were frightened to give opinions about politics, world events, or anything that differed from the government line. Most said nothing at all. They were too worried about who was listening in, about which neighbor, friend or even family member was part of the informant system.

After the communist system fell in East Germany, the Stasi files were opened, and the true extent of the domestic-spying system was revealed. Many were astonished at the sheer numbers recruited to spy on each other. Husbands spied on wives and family members on each other.

What would the TIPS program do to America? Many Americans, especially the Arab and Muslim American community, would be frightened and suspicious of everyone.

Paranoia and questions would multiply. Could the plumber, utility worker, or neighbor be a spy? Will people be spying on Arab-American gatherings? Will worship services at mosques be listened to and reported? If someone overhears my criticisms of Attorney General John Ashcroft, President Bush, or our foreign policy, will they be recorded and filed away for future use?

Who will be training the citizen spies? Would an untrained person know the difference between real threats and legitimate political activity protected by our Constitution (a document I’d urge Ashcroft and the President to read)? When the cable guy comes to my house, will he know that the Arabic calligraphy in my house is the Lord’s Prayer or the Islamic greeting of salaam alaykum (Peace be upon you) rather than an exhortation in praise of al-Qaeda?

At home I have Arabic/English ACLU flyers titled “Know your Rights.” Will people see them as harmless, or as proof that I or my community has something to hide? We’ve seen it already. Last fall, an Arab-American Secret Service agent was ejected from his plane in Baltimore and prevented from going to Texas to protect the President. One of the reasons: A book titled The Crusades Through Arab Eyes was visible in his carry-on luggage.

Constitutional issues aside, there’s the question of whether such a program will be effective. Of all the failures in intelligence gathering before 9/11, the most obvious and common one was this: too much information and not enough people to make sense of it. To add a million untrained volunteers spying on their neighbors would create more worthless information that would take away resources from the real law enforcement efforts necessary to prevent another terrorist attack.

The Arab-American community suffered twice from the 9/11 terrorist attack. Initially we shared the pain and horror of the attack on our fellow citizens. Then we faced attacks on our community by hooligans and bigots who blamed us. Now the Bush administration is poised (whether its officers know it or not) to encourage more of the same. Disheartening. Shouldn’t John Ashcroft protect rights – a task that used to be the central duty of the attorney general – rather than endanger them?

While the focus of the spy-on-your-neighbor program proposed by Bush and Ashcroft is aimed at the rights of the Arab-American and Muslim communities, this shredding of the Constitution will eventually abridge the rights of everyone.

Stifling freedoms and free speech and creating suspicions are not what my America is all about.

Marwan Kreidie (mkreidie1@comcast.net) is president of the Philadelphia Arab-American Association.