The unfortunate flow of bad ideas continues. Heise mentions a report called “Arming Big Brother” on StateWatch and talks about the growing interest in a military-securty complex that blurs the distinction between the police and the military (and between the police and the secret service). It seems that enough corps are interested in getting the European governments to spend similar amounts of money in a kind of “homeland-security” (about 1G$ per year).
This Statewatch-TNI report examines the development of the security-industrial complex in Europe and in particular the development of the EU Security Research Programme (ESRP). Spawned by the military-industrial complex, the security-industrial complex has developed as the traditional boundaries between external security (military) and internal security (security services) and law enforcement (policing) have eroded. With the global market for technologies of repression more lucrative than ever in the wake of 11 September 2001, it is on a healthy expansion course. The story of the EU Security Research Programme is one of “Big Brother” meets market fundamentalism. It was personified by the establishment in 2003 of a “Group of Personalities” (!GoP) comprised of EU officials and Europe’s biggest arms and IT companies. The !GoP’s concern was a simple one: European multinationals are losing out to their US competitors because the US government is providing them with a billion dollars a year for security research – it recommended the EU match this level of funding to ensure a “level playing field”. – from the introduction to *Arming Big Brother* (PDF)
Heise ends its article with the following:
Auch in den Folgegremien habe die Kommission den Vertretern der Rüstungsindustrie ohne mit der Wimper zu Zucken einen offiziellen Beratungsstatus eingeräumt. Diese könnten somit direkt in Brüssel Politik machen. Weiter beklagen die Watchdogs, dass es keinen Hinweis darauf gebe, dass die entwickelten Technologien tatsächlich Terrorismus oder Verbrechen verhindern könnten. Wichtiger wäre es, die in sozialen Problemen liegenden Wurzeln für diese Phänomene zu bekämpfen. Generell sehe sich Europa nicht nur mit Terror konfrontiert, sondern auch mit dem Klimawandel, Armut, Umweltzerstörung, Ressourcenausschöpfung und anderen Quellen für Unsicherheit. ¹
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