When everyone is a suspect, then no one is a suspect. Or, to paraphrase Mao, the terrorist swims among the population like a fish in the sea. All the more apt where the population itself is regarded as a sea of potential terrorists.
There were interviews, leads, and tips on the perpetrators in both the Boston and the Paris cases, but nothing is followed up on, because the cumbersome, contractor-driven (at least in the U.S., probably in France too, if capitalism de crony is the same there) is too busy tracking my Aunt Myrtle, your cousin Earl, that guy around the block, and probably you too.
And what efforts the government does make to focus attention on individuals are clumsy at best. NYC's rather chllingly-named Demographic Unit did all sorts of spying and surveillance of Muslims based on religion alone. And, at least until recently, FBI training materials were full of ignorant and disparaging nonsense about Islam. BTW, FBI has done a rotten job of recruiting fluent Arab-speakers. And back in 2002, our hideously stupid national security apparatus first trained and then fired a number of Arabic interpreters on the grounds of Teh Gay.
Terrorism provides its side of the bargain, by furnishing a never-ending casus belli for the surveillance state, which again is run primarily by contractors dependent on the government dole, a pre-condition of which is of course the continued existence of terrorism. And we are already seeing the security state, surrounded by the usual phalanx of lickspittles, using the Paris attack as an excuse to continue its policies, which in practice amount to 24/7/365 electronic surveillance of pretty much all of us.
The whole debate (if that is not an insult to forensics) has come down to this:
If there are no terrorist attacks, the security state is doing its job of "keeping us safe". If there are terrorist attacks, the security state needs continued or enhanced authority and/or funding.
Michael Hayden, one of cogs in the machinery of the security state, actually spoke a true statement the other day:
We can manage the condition better, we can make these attacks somewhat less likely or lethal but without changing the character of our society we can't make them go away all together.
Note that Hayden didn't say it would be, you know,
bad to change our society into one in which terrorism would not be possible, and in fact such efforts appear to be well underway. Life imitates art, as I show below the Squiggle of Doom.
In Terry Gilliam's 1984 masterpiece, Brazil, he imagined a world where torture was institutionalized into a maze of bureaucracy and surveillance, despite which terrorism continues. Advancement in society is only possible by way of nepotism and/or bootlicking.
In the opening scene of the movie, Helpmann, the Deputy Minister of Information, is shown being interviewed on a television screen. Helpmann engages in a number of ridiculous sports analogies, compliments the Ministry for implementing a program of cost recovery from the people whom it has tortured, and concludes:
INTERVIEWER
Do you think that the government is
winning the battle against
terrorists?
HELPMANN
On yes. Our morale is much higher
than theirs, we're fielding all their
strokes, running a lot of them out,
and pretty consistently knocking them
for six. I'd say they're nearly out
of the game.
INTERVIEWER
But the bombing campaign is now in
its thirteenth year ...
HELPMANN
Beginner's luck.
In the film, Helpmann's remarks are remarkable for their blandness. Obviously terrorism is continuing and the government, despite its massive security apparatus, cannot stop it. Meanwhile, meaningless blather continues, much as it does in real life today.
Of course we now have torture, and mass surveillance is now possible in a way that Gilliam could never have imagined in 1984. And our real life Helpmanns continue their blarney. Consider the remarks of Josh Earnest, White House Press secretary, after the Paris attacks:
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that the attack is “an indication of just how serious a threat we face. And there are men and women in the U.S. national security infrastructure that are working around the clock to try to protect the American people and American interests both here at home and around the world.”
“We do continue to be very vigilant about this and there is a very active effort to monitor communications from ISIL that are made in public forums, to use our network of tools and our links to other countries that have a sophisticated intelligence infrastructure to try to monitor exactly what threats are emerging,” Earnest said.
Clip and save for the next attack.