The Espionage Reform Act of 2024 — by Patrokles
We need The Espionage Reform Act of 2024.
We here at The Cassandra Times have written over many years that the marriage of America’s spy agencies and its federal law enforcement apparatus imperils the Republic in ways that no foreign enemy ever has. The most recent revelations about how the FBI created and then prosecuted the “kidnapping” attempt on Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer illustrate that our concerns are far from academic, but have real consequences on real people in real time and on our society. The failure of the court system to curtail this abuse is demonstrated by the convictions of the accused, despite the fact that the entire plot, from its start to its conclusion, was overwhelmingly inspired and implemented by undercover federal agents.
The FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s personal house in Mar-A-Lago, Florida, is another demonstration of how bureaucratic agencies scratch each other’s backs, coordinating a semi-legal basis to target anyone they choose, even former presidents. This type of set up, where the left hand creates a problem to be “solved” by the right hand, is the hallmark of a police state. A police state also hides or buries pertinent, true information from the public, to influence elections, as the FBI did in 2020 concealing the embarrassing contents of Hunter Biden’s authentic laptop. Threatening discoverers of negative information about the elite, falsely discrediting true news reports, and hiding physical evidence from courts and the public are actions that are typical of a police state. The bureaucracy has become a self-serving, self-perpetuating, self-regulating, unaccountable Administrative State. Alarmingly, the perpetual bureaucracy of the “Espionage Community” fused with the “Law Enforcement Apparatus” has become the center of power in the American polity, in much the same way as the Soviet espionage agency, the KGB, eventually took over the United Socialist Soviet Republics.
It has become evident from many actual cases, including the examples listed above, that there will be no help coming from the judiciary, the third branch of the government, to rein in the federal bureaucracy, the unconstitutional fourth branch of government. The FISA courts’ failure to recognize or to curtail the FBI’s Russia Collusion hoax, and the criminal courts’ failure to curtail the FBI’s creation of a “kidnapping” for Gretchen Whitmer are only the most recent examples of a badge-wielding bureaucracy that is out of control.
If the constitutional branches of the United States government seek to survive and to retain any power other than that of serving as a fig-leaf shielding a bureaucratic police state that does what it wishes, including keeping elected officials and news reporters too terrified to attempt rein them in for even the most gross abuses of power, then the three constitutional branches must pass reforms and pass them quickly, while they still can.
The past 20 years after the passage of the “Patriot Act” have proven the wisdom of its critics and the reckless folly of its proponents. The following is an introductory discussion of potential statutory language for necessary reforms, as informed by the two decades of the Administrative State’s abuses of the “Patriot Act,” and something very like these proposed reforms must be implemented, to save the Republic from its current plunge into tyranny.
Espionage Reform Act of 2024 will hereafter be referred to as ERA24.
THE TEN-YEAR LIMIT ON SECRETS CLAUSE
I. All information classified at any level of secrecy, by any United States Government organization, other than technical specifications of a technological device or technological research, must be declassified and publicly disclosed after ten years of secrecy. This disclosure must not be redacted in any way, and exposure of the names of individuals involved, sources, and methods IS expected. All presently ongoing and forthcoming activities and operations are expected to be conceived and executed under the expectation that said activity or operation will be fully exposed after 10 years, and, therefore ,conducted accordingly. Presently ongoing operations are grandfathered in and the date of their disclosure will be exactly ten years from the date of enactment of the ERA24. There are no exceptions and no appeals process by which the ten year limit may be extended on any subject for any reason. It is expected of all responsible parties to prepare accordingly. Any failure to disclose secrets within the statutory time frame by the responsible parties or any conspiracy between one or more persons to prevent, conceal or delay required disclosure under ERA24 Section I shall be a crime punishable by no less than ten years in prison, and, under no exception, shall a convicted person serve less than 85% of this sentence. This Section is intended that all persons engaged in work for the United States Government will be held accountable for their actions and decisions within their natural lifetimes.
NO CIRCUMVENTING RESTRICTIONS THROUGH AGENCY CLAUSE
II. No United States Government employed or contracted persons may direct, permit, instruct or conspire with one or more other persons to cause or encourage or contract with any person, business, entity, foreign government or any other persons, to engage in any act not permitted by law to an employee or contractor of the United States Government. The intent of this Section is that no employee or contractor of the United States Government may circumvent legal restrictions on their own personal actions or on their agencies’ actions by “outsourcing” activities to persons, entities, or allied governments not presently operating under those same restrictions. This is intended so that no United States employee or contractor may avoid responsibility for any act by using the legal concept of agency, as illustrated by the example that a police officer is forbidden from directing passerby to beat a person to death, and, thereby, avoid personal responsibility. Any violation of this Section of ERA24 carries a criminal penalty of imprisonment for ten years, and under no exception, shall a convicted person serve less than 85% of this sentence.
THE NO CREATION OF CRIME CLAUSE (ENTRAPMENT) THROUGH CUT-OUTS
III. No United States Government employee or contractor, or any person directed or instructed by a United States Government employee or contractor may provide any material support, of any kind, to any criminal act within the United States or its Territories. If any United States Government employee or contractor should render any aid or support or encouragement to any criminal endeavor, within the United States or its Territories, such aid, support or encouragement must be timely disclosed to all defendants if any prosecution of the aided act is ever pursued, and to all victims of the aided act if prosecution is not pursued. The defense of “Entrapment” and a jury instruction on “Entrapment” is hereby mandatory as an affirmative defense in any such prosecution, and the defendants’ mere prior inclination is insufficient to overcome the entrapment defense hereby instructed. It is not the proper role of United States Government personnel to be a snake offering an apple.
THE NO TOTAL INFORMATION AWARENESS POLICE STATE CLAUSE
IV. No investigation into the electronic, cryptographic, or other digital records and belongings, of any US person may be conducted by any US Government employee, without having first obtained a particularized judicial warrant, naming the said person and the information sought. Likewise, no digital information belonging to a United States person may be obtained, or retained, for any period of time, by a US Government employee, without having first obtained a particularized warrant to do so. The intent of Section IV of the ERA24 is that technological developments such as the internet, email, and the digital realm, may not be used to bypass the intent of the IV, V, and VI, amendments to the United States Constitution. Privacy in ones “home, papers, and effects” and the prohibition of “General Warrants” is still applicable today, in that mere use of modern technologies rather than archaic technologies, does not waive those rights.(Just as the government cannot enter your house and photograph everything within it, swearing to never look at or use those photographs until later whenever they want to ask for a warrant). Violation of any part of Section IV of the ERA24 shall be punishable by a term of 10 years in prison, and under no exception shall a convicted person serve less than 85% of this sentence.
THE NO SECRET POLICE CLAUSE
V. No agency or bureau or other United States Government operation, or personnel, which is engaged in foreign espionage operations, may share any information with any person or entity engaged in domestic law enforcement activities, if that information was obtained in a manner or using technologies, methods, or techniques that are prohibited, or not available to, domestic law enforcement agencies, because they come from classified secret technologies or methods unavailable or unlawful for the law enforcement officers or agencies to whom the information is disclosed. If information IS disclosed to any domestic law enforcement officers or agencies, it must be done so in written form and that form must include language directing and ordering it to be disclosed to all defendants in the event of prosecution. No employee, agent, or directed person of the United States Government may provide anonymous information or tips to any domestic law enforcement agencies. Violation of any part of Section V of ERA24 is punishable by 5 years in prison, and under no exception shall a convicted person serve less than 85% of this sentence.
NO DISINFORMATION CLAUSE
VI. No agency or bureau or other United States Government operation or personnel may knowingly create or disseminate information to the public (United States persons) which is known to be materially false or untrue. Nor may such an agency or personnel direct others to do so, under ERA24 Section II. The agency or personnel may, however, opt to withhold information or facts from the public (United States Persons), but only within the restrictions of ERA24 Section I. While it is known that falsehoods and disinformation are powerful tools to protect national security and national security operations, it is deemed that use of these techniques poses a greater threat to the American representative form of government than any potential tactical benefits they may accrue. This is because, in a representative form of government, the voting public is as much an arm of the government decision-making process as is the Congress or the Executive, and they cannot make informed choices if being they are deliberately misled by their servants. Violation of any part of this Section VI of ERA24 is punishable by five years in prison, and under no exception shall a convicted person serve less than 85% of this sentence.
VENUE REMOVED FROM THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ENVIRONS
VII. Henceforth, no prosecution for violation of ERA24 nor other criminal violation which bears a political question, as to persons or policies, may be heard by a jury within the environs of the District of Columbia. All federal criminal jury cases whose outcome affects either a political person or a political policy will be heard by a federal court in a randomly selected Federal Court other than in the environs of the District of Columbia. The venue to hear the matter, which but for its political nature would have been heard within the District of Columbia, will be selected by the following method. A blindfolded District of Columbia Federal Judge or Magistrate will in public view, throw a dart at a rotating map of the United States, rotating at a rate of 33 1/3 revolutions per minute, with the venue being assigned to the Court closest to the impact point of the dart. Neither maps nor darts may be re-used, and each shall be preserved as part of the record of the case. While the description of method may appear unusual, it has the benefits of being non-digital, visible to observers and the naked eye, preservable for the record, easily performed with non-proprietary items, and resistant to manipulation. Every other method for “random” selection of a different jurisdiction, whether digitally easy to cheat or analog means, such as drawing names or numbers from a container, all contain elements of lack of transparency in the process, which permits cheating. This is why stage magicians use hats, boxes, barrels or other containers to hide their prestidigitation. The above method is completely open and cannot be subverted.
STANDING TO SUE AND DAMAGES
VIII. Every United States Person shall have the right to civilly sue any United States Government employee or contractor for provable damages personally individually sustained as a result of a violation of ERA24 in a Federal District Court selected according to the procedure outlined in Section VII above. The right to sue for damages shall be in addition to and not in lieu of any criminal penalties. In addition to compensatory damages, the prevailing United States Person shall be entitled to a recovery of all actually-incurred attorneys’ fees and costs. A United States Person injured by a violation of ERA24 shall also have the right to recover punitive damages against the responsible United States Government employee or contractor, as well as any supervising employee or contractor, for intentional, reckless or criminally negligent conduct that caused damages. The damages shall be paid solely by the liable employees or contractors from their own personal assets, and the United States Government shall not be permitted to insure or to indemnify them.