Uncle Sam Wants You . . . to Spy on Other Students

By Alan Singer.

 

 

The F.B.I. has introduced an interactive online program called “Don’t Be a Puppet“ for teachers and students to help them identify potential violent extremists. Gamers maneuver through a series of activities designed to help them identify someone who may be falling under the influence of radical extremists. After every correct response, a scissor cuts the puppet’s string, until the puppet is finally “freed.” Individuals with ties to Islamic fundamentalist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda have not been involved in school shootings in the United States. However religious and civil rights leaders who previewed the game report the website focuses almost entirely on “Islamic extremism.”

In an unclassified document released in January 2016 the FBI’s Office of Partner Engagement” warned, “High school students are ideal targets for recruitment by violent extremists seeking support for their radical ideologies, foreign fighter networks, or conducting acts of targeted violence within our borders.” The bureau insists, “High schools must remain vigilant in educating their students about catalysts that drive violent extremism and the potential consequences of embracing extremist belief.” It calls for “observing and assessing concerning behaviors and communications” of students “embracing extremist ideologies.”

According to an article posted on Salon, the F.B.I. school spy initiative is similar to a controversial British “anti-terror” mass surveillance program known as “Preventing Violent Extremism” or “Prevent.” However while the F.B.I. website is designed to enlist students, the British program primarily recruits teachers.

The British newspaper The Guardian describes a “Prevent“ training video for teachers designed to help them identify susceptible students who might be lured into supporting support terrorism. The video ends with the an explanation, “We are not asking you to spy, but to look out for troubling behaviour.” However, teachers are “to spot children who might be vulnerable to radicalisation, and dealing with them – if necessary, by referring them to the government’s anti-radicalisation programme, Channel. Since 2012, more than 4,000 people have been referred, half of them under-18s – with the youngest a three-year-old from London.” Delegates at the 2015 British National Union of Teachers annual conference charged they were being forced to act as “frontline stormtroopers, who listen … spy and notify the authorities.” In July 2015, a petition signed by leading British academics, lawyers and public figures argued these mandates would “divide communities, clamp down on legitimate dissent and have a chilling effect on freedom of speech.”

 

The Salonarticle argues that the F.B.I. is also based on discredited “McCarthy-era theories of radicalization, in which authorities monitor thoughts and behaviors that they claim to lead to acts of violent subversion, even if those people being watched have not committed any wrongdoing.” The Salon article accuses the F.B.I. of recruiting students and teachers as part of a “massive surveillance apparatus” targeting “risk factors that are so broad and vague that virtually any young person could be deemed dangerous and worthy of surveillance, especially if she is socio-economically marginalized or politically outspoken.”

If you think enlisting students and teachers as junior spies makes sense for security reasons, the story of Ahmed Mohamed is a cautionary tale. In September 2015 Ahmed brought a homemade digital clock to school in Irving, Texas to show one of his teachers. A different teacher thought it looked like a bomb and reported it to school authorities, leading to Ahmed being handcuffed and questioned by police. While no criminal charges were filed, he was suspended from school for three days.

And despite F.B.I. claims that their goal is intervention and counseling, when a California father, a Silicon Valley executive who is Muslim, spoke with the F.B.I. about his concerns over the behavior of his twenty-two year old son and possible depression, the young man was arrested and taken from their home in handcuffs. It also turns out that the F.B.I was monitoring the young man’s phone calls. He now faces a potential twenty-year prison sentence for attempting to support terrorist organizations. It seems the F.B.I. does not provide counseling.

Educational“ materials in the F.B.I. surveillance program provide students with signs that will enable them to identify suspect extremists. They include “Talking about traveling to places that sound suspicious”; “Using code words or unusual language”; “Using several different cell phones and private messaging apps”; and “Studying or taking pictures of potential targets (like a government building).”

Students can sign-up to play Preventing Violent Extremism in Schools at an F.B.I. website and earn a F.B.I. certificate of completion. The website suggests students tell a trusted adult or call 9-1-1 if you discover something suspicious.

So students be sure to remember:
Do not discuss Narnia (C.S. Lewis) or Middle Earth (Tolkin).
Don’t share cell phones or have too many Facebook friends.
On vacations and fieldtrips, do not take pictures of the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, or the White House.
And never, never, speak in “hip-hop,” “street,” “valley,” “Pig Latin,” or other “strange” codes or unusual languages.

It is also probably time to revise the children’s Christmas standard “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” This is my version.

 

They know if you’ve been naughty,
They know if you’ve been nice,
They know if you’ve been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake.
So children, you better watch out!
You better not cry
You better not pout
I’m telling you why
The F.B.I. is coming to town.

 

The F.B.I.  coming to town!

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