Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Biden Wants to Surveil Soldier Social Media Pages, Use Private Firms to 'Circumvent' First Amendment

Biden Wants to Surveil Soldier Social Media Pages, Use Private Firms to 'Circumvent' First Amendment
Brodigan - May 18, 2021 at 12:51PM


The Democrats who control Joe Biden have been chirping about a "domestic war on terror" since January 6 and even before that while ignoring all the domestic violence their side was committing all throughout 2020. Leftists claim their concern is "extremism," then declare any opinion they disagree with to be "extreme." Unfortunately for them (yet good for Americans), the Bill of Rights makes it difficult for them to surveil anyone they determine to be a "domestic threat." So they use private companies to get around pesky First Amendment issues. This now, according to reports, includes our military. That's right. The Biden administration is concerned that our armed service members maybe a little too "extreme" and wants to monitor what they say on social media.

Per the Intercept, the Pentagon is working on a program to do just that.

An extremism steering committee led by Bishop Garrison, a senior adviser to the secretary of defense, is currently designing the social media screening pilot program, which will "continuously" monitor military personnel for "concerning behaviors," according to a Pentagon briefing in late March. Although in the past the military has balked at surveilling service members for extremist political views due to First Amendment protections, the pilot program will rely on a private surveillance firm in order to circumvent First Amendment restrictions on government monitoring, according to a senior Pentagon official.

A spokesman for the House Armed Services Committee claims to believe this will only be used for background checks and vetting security clearance. Though they did add the following:

Secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin has been clear about his intentions to understand to what extent extremism exists in the force and its effect on good order and discipline.

Your level of concern is probably indexed to your level of cynicism toward the government's "honesty" and "trustworthiness." Mine is high on both counts. But there is a bigger problem, assuming the report is accurate. The people whose job it is to send soldiers into combat don't trust the soldiers they send into combat. Or, at the very least, need to make sure they don't hold opposing viewpoints.

The left will claim their only concern is "extreme" opinions, implying they're looking for traitors and anarchists. We'll see how quickly that becomes soldiers who question climate policy, disagree with POTUS on the Second Amendment, or think that boys are boys and girls are girls.

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from Steven Crowder Says