Abuses of Power by the US Authorities

“Through Counterintelligence it should be possible to pinpoint potential troublemakers and neutralize them”

Martin Luther King and the movement for racial equality in the United States is something we glorify today. Martin Luther King Jr’s day is a holiday in the USA, but back in his times, he was a highly controversial figure. Up to the point, wherein the document titled “Counterintelligence Program Black Nationalists-Hate Groups Racial Intelligence”, MLK was personally mentioned.

“GOALS

~~~~~ For maximum effectiveness of the Counterintelligence Program, and to prevent wasted effort, long-range goals are being set. […]

2. Prevent the RISE OF A "MESSIAH" who could unify, and electrify the militant black nationalist movement. Malcolm X might have been such a "Messiah;" he is the martyr of the movement today. Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael and Elijah Muhammed all aspire to this position. Elijah Muhammed is less of a threat because of his age. King could be a very real contender for this position should he abandon his supposed "obedience" to "white, liberal doctrines" (nonviolence) and embrace black nationalism. Carmichael has the necessary charisma to be a real threat in this way.

3. Prevent VIOLENCE on the part of black nationalist groups. This is of primary importance, and is, of course, a goal of our investigative activity; it should also be a goal of the Counterintelligence Program to pinpoint potential troublemakers and neutralize them before they exercise their potential for violence.”

It truly surprises us nowadays, how could a fighter for social justice called a potential Messiah, who could unify the militant black nationalist movement. The very foundations of MLK’s program were peaceful. Furthermore, we can learn from US government documents, that the Director of the FBI at the time, J. Edgar Hoover, was a man who personally did not like Mr. King. The history of Hoover’s animosity towards King is said to have started in 1959. It all started with an article where “Dr. King commented on the scarcity of Black Federal agents, including FBI agents.”

Executive orders

An executive order is, as defined by dictionary.com “an order having the force of law issued by the president of the U.S. to the army, navy, or another part of the executive branch of the government.”

The first presidents, such as George Washington or Thomas Jefferson issued eight and four executive orders, respectively. On another hand, we have Franklin D. Roosevelt, who issued a staggering 3,522 orders, or Woodrow Wilson, who signed over 1800 of them. One of the most recent presidents, Barrack Obama has issued 134 Executive Orders. In one of the loudest cases, Obama has granted an immunity to millions of illegal immigrants, when, mostly supporters of GOP, protested the so-called DREAM act. He ordered the government agencies to stop deportations of aliens matching the description of a person described in the DREAM act.

While executive orders are not an abuse of power legally, they come very close, since all of the legislative processes can be bypassed by a president with one action.

The PATRIOT Act

The document signed by George W. Bush in 2001 was supposed to unite and strengthen America by “providing appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism.” This law was passed as an answer to 9/11 attacks. One of the examples of government agencies abusing the powers given to them by the Patriot Act is the fact that in the PATRIOT act allows for accessing only the information that is required for a specific investigation. What government agencies were doing, is they were collecting all of the calls and digital records from everybody. This in no way, is allowed by any act, yet it was happening.

The PATRIOT act also provided a very easy way to prosecute individuals. The first person successfully convicted under the act, was one Mohamed M. Hussein, a Somali businessman. Mr. Hussein was charged with running an unlicensed money-wiring office. Even though the accusation of financing terrorism was never formally introduced, the accused was sentenced as if it was one of the charges. What’s important, is that, under the old law regarding money laundering, “ignorance of state licensing laws for money transfer businesses was a valid defense.” Under the PATRIOT act, however, “knowledge of these state laws is irrelevant.”

Watergate Scandal

It is highly likely, that Richard Nixon would have been the first president of the US to be impeached. What happened, however, was that on 1974 Richard Nixon resigned from the function of the president of the US, becoming the first one to do so.

This history began two years earlier – in 1972. In the morning of June 17, 1972, police arrested five burglars in the offices of the Democratic National Committee, located in Washington D.C. More precisely, though, in the Watergate Complex (thus the name of the scandal). Five criminals were caught stealing documents and wiretapping the phones, what’s even worse – they were connected to Nixon’s reelection campaign. One of the trespassers, G. Gordon Liddy oversaw another similar action to that one – an unsuccessful attempt to break-in to the HQ of George S. McGovern – the man that later on became the Democratic nominee in the 1972 campaign. President’s Press Secretary denied any Nixon’s involvement in the crime and even went as far as to say that president will not comment on a burglary attempt . In August 1972 president Nixon gave a speech where he asserted that no White House staff was involved in the break-in. As the president’s involvement was denied, the crucial evidence, in this case, was destroyed . Furthermore, the commander-in-chief ordered the FBI to reduce its activity in the investigation. We know this today because this was registered on what we know nowadays as the “Nixon Tapes” – every conversation that went down in the Oval Office at the time, was secretly recorded. Thanks to that, we know now that Nixon was involved in covering the crime up right from the beginning.

Richard Nixon was never tried on any charges related to this scandal, not even before the full and unconditional pardon granted to him by his successor, Gerald Ford.

The United States of America, for some treated as a holy shrine of personal liberties and freedoms, in some cases called “The Land of the Free”, not always was the land of the free, and sometimes even, the public authorities of the country very seriously abused the powers guaranteed for them in state and federal constitutions. In this essay, I will be looking into some of the examples of the most notorious cases of abuse of power by the federal authorities.

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