A joint Pentagon/Department of Transportation plan to conduct a permanent surveillance of all motor vehicles using the Federal Highway System is code named ARGUS. It was initially a part of an overall public surveillance program instituted and organized by Admiral Poindexter, convicted of various criminal acts as the result of the Iran-Contra affair and then brought back to government service by the Bush Administration. Following public disclosure of Poindexter’s manic attempts to pry into all aspects of American life and his subsequent public departure from government service (he is still so employed but as a “private consultant” and not subject to public scrutiny) many of his plans were officially scrapped. ARGUS, however, is still valid and still being developed.

This Orwellian nonsense consists of having unmanned video cameras installed over all Federal highways and toll roads. These cameras work 24/7 to video all passing vehicles, trucks, private cars and busses. The information is passed to a central data bank and entered therein. This is expected to show on request of any authorized law enforcement agency to include private investigative and credit agencies licensed to work with Federal law enforcement information on any user of the road systems under surveillance. Provision will be made, according to the operating plans, to notify local law enforcement immediately if any driver attempts to obscure their license plate number and instructs them to at once to “apprehend and identify” the vehicle or vehicles involved.

The only problem with implementing this ambitious program is its cost: $5 billion over a three year period.

The report estimates that this program can easily be installed and running on a nationwide basis within two years from its commencement.

It also will be a Federal crime to attempt to damage or in any way interfere with these surveillance devices.

The New York Times seems to be chronically interested in feeding the entire world out of our pockets, as witness their endless rantings about Dafur. No one outside of their news room cares about Dafur, Bangladesh or some other decaying Third World country. Why, in the name of God, should Americans feed, clothe and medicate these scrabbling dirt eaters? To feel like Christians? For tax-write offs? The planet is now dangerously overcrowded and more and more of its less productive citizens are going to either starve to death or die of rampant diseases. There is no earthly reason why any of us should either care about their inexorable fate or deplete our own resources. The primary aim of any people is to protect and defend itself, not concern themselves about distant and unproductive neighbors.”