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The Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division - Spies and Jackbooted Thugs

by Publius
- The Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division is collecting information about American citizens who are in no way affiliated with the military and they are entering our names, addresses, and other personal information into terrorist watch lists and secret databases for use by military personnel in our communities. Jade Helm 2015 -
News headlines and social media posts attest to an inexcusable pattern of spying and a continued violation of our civil rights in the name of homeland security and antiterrorism. One might assume that our rights are being trampled underfoot by a giant government bureaucracy (and you would be correct), but right here in our own back yard, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, is a group of "antiterrorism officers" who show a complete disregard for law and regulation and are, as you read this, collecting information about you, though you have committed no crime and have no association with terrorists or with the military whatsoever.

These antiterrorism officers make up the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division located in Building 2007-C, Box 339500 MS 55, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA 98433-9500. Not a division in the military sense of the word of 10,000 - 20,000 soldiers, rather the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division is an office of four or five people working as part of the Directorate of Emergency Services (the military police) on the base, just outside of Tacoma, Washington.

You may remember the Protection Division as the lead in a series of civil rights abuses listed in the 2009 lawsuit "Panagacos v. Towery" (http://www.peoplevtowery.org/). Well, nothing has changed! If anything the crimes committed in the name of antiterrorism and the abuse of our civil rights has only gotten worse. Thomas R. Rudd the head of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division in 2009 still leads this group of criminals today. The court case remains unsettled as the Army pours millions of dollars into defending its illegal actions, and covering up its crimes against the American people in general and the citizens of Washington and Oregon in particular.

While the activities of most of the Directorate of Emergency Services seem to be open to public view, the criminal activities of the Protection Division are shielded behind secret passwords and restricted to access only by personnel located on Joint Base Lewis-McChord (http://www.lewis-mcchord.army.mil/des/). One may wonder what is behind these secret passwords and what is located on these hidden Protection Division servers? Our friends tell us that the site contains lists of names, addresses, and social media profiles of individuals who have challenged the illegal acts of the military at Joint Base Lewis-McChord or protested against government abuse in the civilian community, and who have now been designated as a terrorist threat by the Protection Division Chief, Thomas R. Rudd or by his Deputy Daniel L. Vessels. Joint Base Lewis-McChord personnel are instructed to check the names on this site whenever they meet somebody new and to report any contact with a listed individual to the Protection Division. "If You See Someone, Say Something" is their motto. But the "someone" they instruct the soldiers and civilians of Joint Base Lewis-McChord to report on are not foreign terrorists, rather it is American citizens, people like you and I who have done nothing worse than question the authority of the government to deprive us of our rights and freedoms. We’ve committed no crimes, but are added to terrorist watch lists by men who hold themselves above the law and who are never held accountable for their own illegal actions against us.

The Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division instructs all base personnel to report suspicious activity directly to them. If you share a beer with a soldier off-post be careful what you say or your comments may find their way back to base and your name may find its way to a secret Protection Division terrorist watch list and databse.

>>> "Dan Vessels, antiterrorism officer, said nothing is too trivial to report. People observing the installation, taking photographs, soliciting questions, questionable postings on Twitter or Facebook or anything that seems out of place should be reported to [Protection Division] officials... The community can report suspicious activity to the JBLM Protection Division Facebook page or Twitter account. Both are monitored 24/7. They can also call the office at 966-7319/7317..." <<< (http://www.nwguardian.com/2011/08/04/10767_theres-no-such-thing-as-too-vigilant.html)

Really, Mr. Vessels? Nothing is too trivial to report? Take a photograph of the base and end up on a terrorist watch list! Ask a soldier a question about military life and end up on a terrorist watch list! Make a "questionable" post to Facebook or Twitter and off to Gitmo we go!

Just who are these people in the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division to collect information about us? What authority do they have monitor our public speech? Facebook and Twitter are today’s version of the public square, yet the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division wants our names and addresses if they find our comments "questionable". All of this has a chilling effect on Free Speech and Civil Liberty, as our every word and action is monitored for "suspicious activity" and recorded on a terrorist watch list or entered into a Protection Division database, if someone deems it "suspicious" or "questionable".

The Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division has a history of illegal activity and today is still acting with a complete disregard for the rights and freedoms guaranteed to every American by the Constitution, by Common Law, and by a common recognition of the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all members of the human family; the very foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.

The Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division has no lawful authority to collect "suspicious activity reports" (if you see a real crime call the police). The Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division has no lawful authority to monitor our comments on Facebook and Twitter and then enter our names into a terrorism database if they deem those comments to be "questionable". In fact, the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division has no lawful authority whatsoever. They are criminals acting outside the law and like a bunch of government thugs they are trampling our rights under their jackbooted feet.

Call the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Commander, call the Army Inspector General, call your elected representatives, call the local and national media, but most of all call for an end to the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Protection Division and its many years of criminal activity!
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