Isn't This What a Police State Looks Like?

In a police state, the internal security apparatus becomes paramount. Police spy on their fellow citizens but, worse, citizens spy on each other. If you've ever read about the East German "Stasi" (secret police), you've seen an example of a total police state (East Germany), perhaps even more so than its immediate predecessor, Nazi Germany.

So when I came across this article, I was taken aback, though I probably shouldn't have been surprised. The federal government now encourages federal workers to spy on each other. They are apparently trying to prevent future Edward Snowdens (the NSA whistleblower hold up in Russia).

The techniques are a key pillar of the Insider Threat Program, an unprecedented government-wide crackdown under which millions of federal bureaucrats and contractors must watch out for “high-risk persons or behaviors” among co-workers. Those who fail to report them could face penalties, including criminal charges.

Even a former government security official didn't like this idea:

Eric Feldman, a former inspector general of the National Reconnaissance Office, the super-secret agency that oversees U.S. spy satellites, expressed concern that relying on workers to report colleagues’ suspicious behaviors to security officials could create “a repressive kind of culture.”

“The answer to it is not to have a Stasi-like response,” said Feldman, referring to the feared secret police of communist East Germany. “You’ve removed that firewall between employees seeking help and the threat that any employee who seeks help could be immediately retaliated against by this insider threat office.”

Are you looking over your shoulder yet?