by DAN CALLOWAY
Published 8 January 2010 @ 17:07 UTC
QUANTICO, VA – A recent episode of “Conspiracy Theory,” with Jesse Ventura, painted a grim picture of the organization known as “InfraGard.” In this program, which aired on TruTV last Wednesday night, former Navy Seal and ex-Governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, probed into the organization to determine for himself exactly what he thought InfraGard was all about. Jesse Ventura met with a prominent businessman and member of InfraGard, Dan Bibey, in his hometown of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where the infamous 1995 domestic terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building took place. He also met with one of the directors of InfraGard who, during the course of his interview, convinced Jesse Ventura that InfraGard is nothing more than the U.S. government attempting to spy on and rat out anyone suspected of anti-government sentiments through the auspices of “Big Brother.” Governor Ventura even determined in his interview of the Director of InfraGard that members of this so-called partnership organization with the FBI that its members have access to classified information regarding potential terrorist attempts on our critical infrastructure before local officials, the media, and even the Governor of the state receives the information. Furthermore, these members have direct access to the FBI coordinator in their local area to report any suspicious activity of one of the citizens in their area, and, if necessary, they have been given the right to exercise lethal force against these citizens if they suspect a terrorist plot is being implemented.
I have visited the InfraGard website to see what the organization claims publicly to be about. There are currently over 38,000 members throughout the U.S. What follows is extracted information from the InfraGard website. Please read it and then you decide for yourself.
InfraGard is an information sharing and analysis effort serving the interests and combining the knowledge base of a wide range of members. At its most basic level, InfraGard is a partnership between the FBI and the private sector. InfraGard is an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States. InfraGard Chapters are geographically linked with FBI Field Office territories. Each InfraGard Chapter has an FBI Special Agent Coordinator assigned to it, and the FBI Coordinator works closely with Supervisory Special Agent Program Managers in the Cyber Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
While under the direction of NIPC, the focus of InfraGard was cyber infrastructure protection. After September 11, 2001 NIPC expanded its efforts to include physical as well as cyber threats to critical infrastructures. InfraGard’s mission expanded accordingly.
In March 2003, NIPC was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which now has responsibility for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) matters. The FBI retained InfraGard as an FBI sponsored program, and will work with DHS in support of its CIP mission, facilitate InfraGard’s continuing role in CIP activities, and further develop InfraGard’s ability to support the FBI’s investigative mission, especially as it pertains to counterterrorism and cyber crimes.
The goal of InfraGard is to promote ongoing dialogue and timely communication between members and the FBI. InfraGard members gain access to information that enables them to protect their assets and in turn give information to government that facilitates its responsibilities to prevent and address terrorism and other crimes.
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