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smartcooky · 15th January 2021, 11:21 PM

Originally Posted by Lerxst

What I worry about is another Tim McVeigh. He didn't even need to falsely believe that an election was stolen to make a truck bomb and blow up a federal building.

What is even more worrying about the Timothy McVeigh example is the US authorities didn't even learn the lesson then, that domestic terrorism represents a far greater danger that they think.

While the CIA/NSA has their hands mostly untied when it comes to surveilling potential foreign terrorist threats, no such equivalency exists for the FBI with domestic terrorism. There isn't even a domestic terrorism statute in Federal Law!! They cannot surveil domestic terrorism threats as easily.

For example, if a foreign terrorist organization had an equivalent of Parler, the CIA/NSA would be allowed to observe it, spy on it and if necessary, hack into it, all without a warrant, to get a line on what the suspects/threats were doing. The FBI, however, were not allowed the same latitude with Parler. They were able to accept information provided by third parties, even if that information was obtained illegally, but they would not be allowed to spy on Parler or hack into it themselves without a warrant for which they would require probable cause. That requires a court filing, which could tip their hand.

So long as US authorities don't take the threat of domestic terrorism seriously, and do something to address those shortcomings, they WILL remain highly vulnerable to another Oklahoma bombing.

15th January 2021, 11:21 PM	#204
smartcooky Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Nelson, New Zealand Posts: 17,228	Originally Posted by Lerxst What I worry about is another Tim McVeigh. He didn't even need to falsely believe that an election was stolen to make a truck bomb and blow up a federal building. What is even more worrying about the Timothy McVeigh example is the US authorities didn't even learn the lesson then, that domestic terrorism represents a far greater danger that they think. While the CIA/NSA has their hands mostly untied when it comes to surveilling potential foreign terrorist threats, no such equivalency exists for the FBI with domestic terrorism. There isn't even a domestic terrorism statute in Federal Law!! They cannot surveil domestic terrorism threats as easily. For example, if a foreign terrorist organization had an equivalent of Parler, the CIA/NSA would be allowed to observe it, spy on it and if necessary, hack into it, all without a warrant, to get a line on what the suspects/threats were doing. The FBI, however, were not allowed the same latitude with Parler. They were able to accept information provided by third parties, even if that information was obtained illegally, but they would not be allowed to spy on Parler or hack into it themselves without a warrant for which they would require probable cause. That requires a court filing, which could tip their hand. So long as US authorities don't take the threat of domestic terrorism seriously, and do something to address those shortcomings, they WILL remain highly vulnerable to another Oklahoma bombing.
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