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John Michael McConnell - remember the name. As Director of National Intelligence, John Michael McConnell fades into the background of public perception. However, McConnell is at the center of an historical grab for power in the White House happening this year that could have implications for the American way of life for generations.

It’s all so quiet, in the dog days of summer, when the beach is on everyone’s mind. But, while you’re at the beach be careful not to look up… after all, you don’t want to let McConnell know that you’re aware you’re being watched.

Up there, beyond the sky, are spy satellites looking down, and they’re doing a lot more than providing arial images for map makers. Just this week, John Michael McConnell admitted that he and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff have approved a plan to use those spy satellites to allow domestic law enforcement officers to keep a watch on the United States.

It’s not just Alberto Gonzales over at the FBI who will be able to use spy satellites to track Americans’ movements. The plan is to expand that power to state and local law enforcement officials. Your police chief is being given the power to use satellites to snoop on the activities of people in your community.

When I characterize this as a satellite spying program against the American people, however, I’m really not being fair. It’s really a satellite and airplane spy program. Yes, our own government is flying the equivalent of U2 spy missions over the United States. The Washington Post describes “aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers.”

How about that - you’ll not be free from the eye in the sky even when you’re inside your home, or in that cramped little cubicle at work.

The significance of this story goes far beyond just the use of satellites and airplanes to keep an eye on the American people, however. It goes to the combination of this data with other electronic information now being gathered by government spies. You see, Director of National Intelligence John Michael McConnell is also at the heart of the dramatic new electronic spy powers granted in the Protect America Act, and is mentioned prominently in the hearings for the class action lawsuit Hepting v. AT&T. Hepting v. AT&T is based upon the allegation that AT&T is cooperating with the National Security Agency in splitting Internet and telephone traffic going through communications hubs so that a copy that can be searched is placed in NSA computers. Government lawyers openly state that such a program would be made legal by the Protect America Act.

How do those relate to satellite and arial spy imagery to which McConnell and Chertoff have ordered access for local, state and national law enforcement? Well, the images captured by satellites are certainly in electronic form. After all, there isn’t a long cord going from the Earth into outer space, or a photo developing service in orbit. The pictures taken in spy airplanes over the United States are most likely in digital format as well. These images captured by the government eye in the sky thus become a part of the larger flow of data in the reborn Total Information Awareness program.

The combination of John Michael McConnell’s new programs makes it possible for Internet activity, telephone calls, and other electronic communications to be matched with photographs taken from far up above. This information can be entered into a database that can be quickly searched, so that, effectively, massive files showing private information are compiled by location, by individual citizen, and by keyword.

Put together the pieces to see the bigger picture. That’s what the government seems to be doing.

(Source: Washington Post, August 16, 2007)