Anyone who swears to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” is promising not to commit lies of commission (making ”bald-faced lies”), lies of omissions (leaving out critical facts), or lies of influence (making deceptive statements designed to influence the listener’s judgments regarding truthfulness rather than providing a truthful response). Fact-checking services can be useful for identifying lies of commission but are less likely to identify lies of omission and lies of influence—we’ll help you learn to recognize those forms of deception.
Spy the lie, by former CIA agents Houston, Floyd, and Carcinero, provides some useful examples of deceptive answers people provide when they don’t want to tell the truth. Here are some examples, illustrated by recent answers to human rights questions that officials seem reluctant to answer honestly:
1.
A response that fails to answer the question—for example:
Question:
“Are children still being separated from their parents at the U.S. border?”
Deceptive
answer: “Our goal is always to
reunify children and teenagers with a relative or appropriate sponsor.”
2. Minimizing the level of concern warranted by an issue—for example,
Question: “What about all the negative reports concerning how the migrant children are being treated?”
Deceptive answer: “With
regard to family residential centers, the best way to describe them is more
like a summer camp.”
3. Going into attack mode—for example:
Question: Can you account for
the missing migrant children?
Deceptive answer: Unfortunately, some who ostensibly care about these children refuse to address why they are here: the loopholes in our immigration system. (emphasis added)
Your assignment: Watch for these forms of deception when viewing responses to challenging questions, while keeping in mind that honest people sometimes show one of these “symptoms of deception” without necessarily being liars. It’s the pattern, the repetition of deceptive statements, you want to watch out for.
Good news! In their New York Times bestseller, Spy the lie, former CIA agents Philip Houston, Michael Floyd, and Susan Carnicero have provided a blueprint for how to detect deception.
Better news! Over the next few weeks, we at Engaging Peace will distill their main guidelines for you, helping you become better prepared for the 2020 election campaigns. Tax payers paid for their work. Now let’s put their tools to use in pursuit of democratic rather than autocratic principles.
Floyd and his co-agents begin Chapter 1 with a pause-for-reflection quote: “People do not believe lies because they have to, but because they want to.” (Malcolm Muggeridge) (What claims from what politicians do you want to accept as the truth, whether there’s any support for them or not?)
Houston and his fellow spy-detectors warn us: becoming good deception detectors means surmounting major obstacles, including: 1) the common belief that people (at least some people) won’t lie to you; and 2) inescapable biases affecting whether or not you’ll believe a particular person or not.
In a little over a year, many of us will be voting particular people in and out of major political offices. Our votes (or unwillingness to vote) will determine whether those candidates will gain, or hold onto, or lose considerable power over the lives of countless human beings and the environments in which we strive to survive. Many candidates will tell you the truth about who they are, and what they’ll try to do if elected—and many will lie. How can you tell who’s who (if you really want to know)?
Spy the lie has guidelines for lie detection that we’re going to share with you. You’ll be able to start trying out the guidelines before the first primaries and caucuses of 2020. Videos of Congressional hearings, televised segments of press conferences, the upcoming debates among the Democratic Presidential candidates all can provide material on which to test your mastery of their principles.
Any forums in which individuals are answering questions about themselves, their achievements, their beliefs, and their goals provide information you can learn to analyze for truth or falsehood.
Knowing how to spy the lie is another tool, like recognizing a mind game when you see one, and confronting efforts to morally disengage you on behalf of the power mongers. Stay tuned and we’ll show you how to do all three before you go to the voting booth.
Pegean says, Don’t for one minute think they’re going to put anything over on me. I know a lie when I see one.
There are, as documented in this Wikipedia excerpt, an extensive number of “intelligence” gathering and utilization organizations, involving thousands of employees and an unknown, but obviously considerable, amount of money. All of this in the name of domestic and national security. There are numerous issues regarding duplication, competition, communication, hierarchies, strengths and weaknesses, and costs among these known groups. There is reason to believe there are also unknown groups that function independently.
There is irony and paradox here! The approved protectors and guardians impose constraints and abuses on citizens in the name of national security; however, in doing so, they impose control and domination.
This is a bewildering anomaly, and one from which there may never be an escape, given the secrecy and depth of penetration of governance and private surveillance groups. Can we really expect military intelligence to give up its roles and its methods, and its ties to weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and others in the war industry? Of course not!
There are powerful connections among Silicon Valley corporations, military weapons manufacturers, and the Defense Department. They support one another in a “silent” conspiracy of financial relations and ties. Numerous retired military officials and officers go to work for Silicon Valley and weapon industry corporations as consultants and executives. The fix is on! Will this system harvest what it sows? The fabled Military-Industrial-Congressional-Academic Complex lives . . . at least for now; too many on the take, too few guided by an essential conscience!
Foundations
of the National Security State
The USA’s national “security state”
and its impositions are possible for a number of reasons:
Technological developments (e.g., big data) permit mass
surveillance, monitoring, and archiving of information on all citizens;
Suppression and condemnation of protests, including
harassment, persecution, and prosecution of those speaking out against the
national security state;
Collaboration and cooperation of a biased and
compromised media, which is, arguably, the most important societal check
and balance against the abuses, violations, and identification of
government and private criminal actions;
Location and control of power within a small group of
individuals (oligarchy) who by stain of temperament, disposition,
position, and financial interests seek to increase, sustain, and protect
USA state terrorism policies, actions, and organizational structures;
Development of a vast complex of “escape” clauses
within our executive, judicial, and congressional systems permitting
individuals to lie, distort, misrepresent, and speak with impunity without
fear of prosecution. In brief, a privileged and oligarchic “group” is
“free” to engage in illegal actions without accountability, transparency,
or risk;
Lust for power, wealth, position and the domination and
control accompanying these impulses. Selfish motives from troubled minds.
Use of Congressional acts and secret agreements to
justify and protect abuses, including The Patriot Act, The Department
of Homeland Security and Fusion Center authorizations, the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and Authorization to Use
Military Force (AUMF).
Marc Slavo (2019) points out the
nefarious cooperatives among countries with mass surveillance systems. He
writes:
“Many countries have surveillance systems, but the countries in the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes and 14 Eyes alliances work together to share data on a massive scale, according to a report by Cloud Wards. Innocent people are spied on every day. The Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes groups are big players in the global surveillance game. Each country involved can carry out surveillance in particular regions and share it with others in the alliance.
The Five Eyes are the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The Five Eyes alliance, also known as FVEY, was founded on Aug. 14, 1941, and can be traced back to the WWII period. During the second world war, the exchange of intelligence information between the UK and the U.S. was important, and the partnership continued afterward.
The Nine Eyes alliance consists of the Five Eyes countries, plus Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Norway. Though there’s evidence that the Nine Eyes and 14 Eyes exist, little is known about what they can and can’t do.
The 14 Eyes alliance is made up of the Nine Eyes countries, plus Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Sweden. It’s an extension of the Five Eyes and Nine Eyes alliances, but its actual name is SIGINT.
A recent CIA sponsored Bill, the “Intelligence Authorization Act” (SB: 3153; HB 3194) garnering Congressional support would criminalize whistle blowers and reporters. Imagine, citizens are to be criminalized and punished for engaging in citizen expected responsibilities of complaint.”
Daniel Schuman (July
25, 2019), policy director of DEMAND PROGRESS, writes:
“House Intelligence Committee Chair expansion of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act beyond all reason will effectively muzzle reporting on torture, mass surveillance, and other crimes against the American people — all at the request of the CIA.”
Dagny Taggart (a pseudonym for a seasoned reporter fearful of retaliation), based on Pew Survey, results, writes (2019): “Americans Don’t Trust the Govt, the Media, or Each Other: Fading Trust is “Sign of Cultural Sickness and National Decline.”
Is this any wonder?
Years of corruption, cronyism, and crime by government, private corporations,
military, and other societal institutions make “trust” a foolish and
unwarranted action. This is nothing new!
[Note from Kathie MM:The conclusion of this series will be published on EP Friday August 16, with some recommendations for addressing the problems described here. Don’t miss it!]
“Man is born free, but he is
everywhere in chains.”
— Jean Jacques Rousseau (28 Jun 1712 – 2 Jul 1778), Social Contract, 1762
I.
Authoritarian Control, Dominance, Rule: Course of Human History
Fictional accounts of compelling
dystopian societies, including, Brave New World, 1984, The Handmaiden’s
Tale, Fahrenheit 451, The Matrix, and scores of apocalyptic movies,
are proving prescient.
Once confined to popular reading,
entertainment, and college seminars, fictional accounts of dystopian societies
have assumed a frightening reality as government, military, corporate, and
private sectors impose oppressive surveillance strategies, methods, techniques,
and tactics on citizens. These impositions are destroying the last semblances
of legal and moral individual “privacy,” freedoms, civil rights, and USA
Constitution First and Fourth Amendment rights, especially those guaranteed by
the Bill of Rights. 2
Citizen fears for personal safety
and security are encouraged and promoted by media collaborators with
governments, military, and corporate beneficiaries of violence and war; a
pervasive sense of peril, danger, and jeopardy is now normal. This sense of
fear both sanctions and authorizes authoritarian national security sectors to
impose egregious abuses of citizen rights and privileges with oppressive and
punitive measures.
Playing upon Western nations fears
of being overrun by invasions, occupations, and exploitations by
international migrants, especially from Islamic, Sub-Saharan African, and
Central American nations, citizens in many European countries have elected
right-wing populist governments determined to implement draconian immigration and
refugee policies, limiting or blocking immigration to selective groups and
conditions.
USA President Donald Trump announced
all “illegal” resident immigrants will be expelled form the USA beginning June
24, 2019, under the auspices of the United States Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) by the Department of Homeland Security. President Trump
considers illegal immigrants to be a threat to national security as sources of
violence, crime, disease, and competing cultural traditions.
A convincing xenophobia has found
its way into minds and hearts of citizens and officials resulting in the
emergence of widespread of “hate” cultures and outbursts of gun violence. “Our
nation is under attack by dangerous foes seeking our demise and collapse!” This
is the thematic cry of those seeking more power, control, and domination of
citizen masses, an appeal to fear and heroic nationalism.
Condemnation of violations of
citizen privacy and rights, guaranteed in the Fourth Amendment of the USA
Constitution, is drawing urgent attention from legal and NGO sources, with
little legal consequence. Government, police, military, and corporate and
private agencies are supporting numerous laws and regulations legitimizing
pervasive surveillance, monitoring, and storage of citizen information for
potential prosecution.
Control, Domination, Rule of
Citizens: An “Old” Policy and Practice
“Experience has shown that even
under the best forms of government, those entrusted with power have in time,
and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”
— Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Preamble to a Bill for the More General
Diffusion of Knowledge, Fall 1778, Papers 2: 526-527.
Control, domination, and rule of
citizen thought, behavior, and identity by authorities and ruling classes is
the story of human history; it is the logical outcome when States, Nations,
Empires, and Colonial Rulers, especially dictatorships, assume disproportional
power.
Protests and rebellions are quelled
by a variety of oppressive measures, including arrests, imprisonment, torture,
as well as murder, beatings, and crowd control tactics. Assassinations and
disappearance of rebel leaders is common, as desperate authorities oppress
contention.
While inspirational stories of
citizen uprisings protesting control, domination, and rule, including the
French and American Revolutions, are celebrated each year as sacred holidays,
the harsh reality emerging is “omnipresent-mass surveillance.” Past
glories are diminished in the presence of new oppressions.
Never before in history have the
vast means of citizen control, domination, and rule been as total and complete
as they are now because of the uses and abuses of technology. Romantic notions
of citizen heroes leading uprisings against abusive and corrupt governments and
authorities are the stuff of past myths. Mass government surveillance and
monitoring of citizens and groups has destroyed individual and group privacy
and rights. Oppressive conformity, homogenization, and subjugation are now
accepted goals for authorities claiming national security needs.
Tragically, continued use of effective media and propaganda has resulted in citizen concurrence and acceptance of oppression and violation of Constitutional rights and privileges. A tragic paradox! “Yes, oppress and control me; I need your protection in a dangerous world.” (“Escape From Freedom. . . . . .”)
Control, Domination, Rule . . .
Governance is needed! This reality
cannot be contested! Contestations of abuses of power,
however, omnipresent in the government-congressional-corporate-military-educational
complex is required and essential. As elections approach, why are no candidates
willing to risk the tolls of exposing the situation? Where are calls and
accusations of encroaching oppression,
A challenge for citizens is the
reality “society” often hides, distorts, and represses concerns for freedom.
Openness, transparency, participation is required in a democracy. Past
presidential candidates have won on a platform of these admirable goals, only
to find upon election, they succumb to shadow powers, and conform to
traditional agendas using war and violence to achieve unwarranted goals. Who
controls the leaders? Hidden governments?
In the USA, most citizens never
imagined government would “betray” citizens given the protections of the USA
Constitution. Today, however, surveys indicate less than 10% of USA citizens
trust the government, and often see the government as biased in favor of
special interests via lobbyists.
“Secret State” and “Shadow State”
groups of powerful and positioned individuals assumed power and control,
betraying their oaths and loyalty in favor of personal agendas keeping them in
power. Much of the “Secret State” individuals are ensconced in Justice
Department offices and agencies (i.e., CIA, FBI, DHS, NSA). Crimes and abuses
of these groups continue to unfold daily revealing a tragic story of
corruption, collusion, and crime.
When societal institutions breakdown
and collapse under pressures of corruption, cronyism, special interests, and
inadequate funding, citizens are bereft of resources for protection and
security. In an open and democratic society, transparency, social
responsibility, and voting are keys to citizen awareness and empowerment. What
happens, however, when these too are lost to political interests?
Tragically, many “secret state”
societies around the world have already destroyed or denied citizen rights,
enabling groups with special interests and concerns to exist and to exact their
toll. Under these circumstances, citizen wellbeing and welfare yield to special
interests and the advancement of control in favor of mega-groups pursuing their
own interests. Citizens are no longer players, and when they attempt to
act against control, they are promptly subdued as enemies of the State.
Citizens look to government to
protect them, but corrupt governments are too closely linked and connected to
secret and known “power” groups, to offer citizen protection. In the process,
citizens lose trust in governments and societal institutions; this raises the
threshold for both protests and repression.
Within this context of institution collapse, and the rise of special interest and concerns, citizens become identified with certain groups at the cost of a society’s democratic identity and membership. They seek the comfort and security of identity with fringe elements offering simple solutions and identification of obvious enemies among minorities, immigrants, and radical revolution members. Heroes, calling for change, become victims.
Footnote 1:
The term “omnipresent surveillance” is taken from John W. Whitehead’s recent article, “The Omnipresent Surveillance State: Orwell’s 1984 Is No longer Fiction.” Information Clearing House. June 11, 2019. See also Rutherford Institute, Virginia, USA.
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace
Development Environment, is a past president of Psychologists for
Social Responsibility, Emeritus Professor of psychology at the University of
Hawaii’s Manoa Campus in Honolulu, Hawaii, and past director of the World
Health Organization Psychiatric Research.