Oh boy. Where do we start with this one? First of all, DARPA is the research arm of the Department of Defense. Some of you may remember that before there was the Internet, there was ARPANET. A lot of the technologies that we now take for granted was first initiated through this project, including the idea of large scale networking. Well, the DoD still keeps working on new projects, and one of the newest is the Information Awareness Office.

Let's start by taking a look at their web page. The first thing that you'll notice is their logo, prominently displayed for all to see. The logo features the "eye in the pyramid" motif that is so popular amongst conspiracy theorists and mystics alike. The Eye has brilliant rays shining forth from it, encompassing the Earth. Also note that their name makes the acronym "IAO", which according to Aleister Crowley is a formula for completeing the Great Work. Their motto is "scientia est potentia", which translates to "knowledge is power". These facts alone constitue proof enough to many people that the IAO is a conspiracy. But let's not stop there. We haven't even looked at what these guys are doing yet.

Their Mission Statement says that "The DARPA Information Awareness Office (IAO) will imagine, develop, apply, integrate, demonstrate and transition information technologies, components and prototype, closed-loop, information systems that will counter asymmetric threats by achieving total information awareness useful for preemption; national security warning; and national security decision making." Clearly, something loaded with this many buzzwords is a product of the conspiracy mindset. In the immortal words of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, "If you can't dazzle them with dexterity, baffle them with bullshit."

And what about their actual projects? Well, one of them is "Babylon". As in the Whore of Babylon, or the Babylon Working (an experiment inspired by Crowely, and performed by Jack Parsons, and L. Ron Hubbard) The Babylon project is involved in the creation of a Star Trek-like universal translator. Remember of course the biblical story of the tower of Babel - if not, it's in Genesis 11. Which brings us to another interesting coincidence. Another of their programs is called "Genisys" - I don't think that anybody needs to be reminded that Genesis is the first book in the Old Testament. And sure enough, it's goal is described as ".. to produce technology enabling ultra-large, all-source information repositories." Now THAT'S what I call a creation myth. You should also note the "Total Information Awareness" project, another project involving large scale intellegence databases to track individuals and organizations, and for the ultimate in irony, you can behold the wonder that is the "FutureMap" project's page.

For their heavy use of mystical symbolism, obvious references to biblical and hermetic subjects, goals that include monitoring and tracking individuals and cabals, large scale databases for intelligence gathering, Big-Brother-esque technologies, and the fact that they are in fact an official government office, The Information Awareness Office has been named this week's conspiracy.
posted by Ian Monroe on 1:59 PM

"Keep in mind that this invasive FBI monitoring of entirely lawful groups was going on—under the direction of John Ashcroft—for months before he disclosed in May that, under the "new" guidelines, he was bringing back COINTELPRO (though he never used that disgraced name)." - Village Voice

The USA PATRIOT Act was signed into law Oct. 26, 2001, as a result, presumably, of the Sept. 11 terrorist actions against the United States. (Although the fact that it's over 300 pages long and was written, passed by both houses of Congress and signed in to law in less than 30 days makes that seem unlikely to me - more likely they had it waiting in the wings for just such an occurence.) It authorizes increased surveillance against citizens and residents of the United States, rescinds the protections afforded us by the Fourth Amendment, eliminates the idea of electronic privacy, allows the CIA to conduct operations domestically, and the use of racial profiling to identify suspicious individuals.

Most people have accepted these abridgments of our rights and freedoms as necessary and even welcome, in the hopes that they won't have to worry so much about their security from wacko fundamentalists. However, others have recongnized these changes for what they are - an effort by those in power to push us inexhorably towards an American Police State.
posted by Ian Monroe on 12:35 PM