So, I just read this article, that details how the FBI has been offering to brief administrators, faculty and students of US Universities regarding the dangers of foreign spies and terrorists. They have given administrators a set of guidelines that spell out what they consider to be “espionage indicators”, and are encouraging university faculty and staff, as well as students, to keep watch on those around them for anyone who shows the indicators and to report it to the FBI or military.
So, what are the indicators? They include but aren’t necessarily limited to: unexplained affluence, failing to report overseas travel, showing unusual interest in information outside the job scope, keeping unusual work hours, unreported contacts with foreign nationals, unreported contact with foreign government military or intelligence officials, attempts to gain new accesses without the need to know, and unexplained absences.
With a few exceptions I met every single of the criteria when I was in college. I didn’t have contact with foreign government or military or intelligence officials. I did have contact with foreign nationals, I was interested in lots of different things beyond computer science, i routinely worked weird hours, I always pushed for more access to the campus network even though I didn’t necessarily need it and probably had a few cases of unreported absences. These are things that come as part of being a college student, and can’t necessarily be indicative that a person is a terrorist or spy.
Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to monitor their colleagues for signs of suspicious behaviour and report any concerns to the FBI or the military.
This is exactly the kind of environment we DON’T want to subject our children to. This is essentially a call to paranoia, reminiscent of the era of McCarthyism. This is a call to create a new academia where you can only study what you declared as your major, showing interest in something other than that makes you a terrorist, working late hours makes you a spy and if you happen to travel overseas for the summer you’re a threat to our country.
Sure I may be exaggerating a tad, but this just smacks to me of being unnecessary and a bit obtuse.
[tags]FBI, Espionage, Rule By Fear[/tags]
