Your FBI Dossierby John S. Helsmen Book review by Richard A. Cooper
Former Vietnam Military Intelligence veteran John S. Helsmen takes the reader on a tour of a strange, frightening land I call "Data Bank Land." He explains the strange customs and some survival tips for dealing with its official guardians. Concerned, or pressured by citizen complaints, Congress enacted two laws: the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974. The FOIA, as it is called, stresses government decision- making in the Executive Branch, while the Privacy Act claims to expose the files on individuals in government data banks. Helsmen examines the background of the laws, their purposes and how they are supposed to work. He reprints large chunks of the official government text of the Privacy Act. For the most part, Helsmen regards the Privacy Act as a toothless law. The Privacy Act is supposed to guarantee individuals access to their files. In practice, the law's exemptions and the administrative discretion it permits allow officialdom to frustrate its stated purposes. The number and breadth of the files is truly stunning. For example, there are files such as Prostitute Photo Album, Special Services Index (listing individuals in a position to provide information to the FBI) and some 277 categories of violations of Federal law. Americans who thought they had a right to petition and to communicate with their elected representatives, supposedly their servants, will be stunned to learn of the existence of the computer system "JUSTICE/ATR-002: CONGRESSIONAL AND WHITE HOUSE REFERRAL CORRESPONDENCE LOG FILE." This data file monitors correspondence between the American people and their elected representatives in Congress and the White House. Perhaps you should give this some thought before you write them a letter. Helsmen's chilling conclusion to this searching examination of the FBI and other federal government data banks on individuals bears repeating. "For the present, at an individual level, if you have ever lived in the United States, you can be virtually assured that the FBI has YOUR dossier on file." Helsmen does not object to the reasonable and limited gathering of information on actual criminals for actual violence or fraud, but warns of the abuse of power and privilege that goes hand in hand with the incredible multiplication of government data files made possible by the computer. He notes too the multiplication of required reports and applications that feeds the files. Even innocent errors of interpretation could be used to support a claim of an attempt to defraud the government in connection with many of these reports, forms and applications. Helsmen sheds some light on two aspects of files which have possibly legitimate uses and clear dangers to privacy: electronic surveillance and fingerprints. The FBI and the television show "Dragnet" touted the value and extent of the FBI's fingerprint files. Actually, until the computer made it possible, it was really not very practical to use a fingerprint from an unknown person to find them. How do you become the subject of a file in the government system? It must be pointed out that there are numerous files, gathered by different agencies from different sources. Errors, vendettas, and persecution of dissidents find fertile ground to sprout in this rich earth of suspicion towards the public. Innocent contact with individuals already under suspicion puts you under suspicion. According to Helsmen, the FBI and other arms of the federal government are very concerned with "loyalty." This does not mean loyalty against foreign enemies in time of war. It means acquiescence and submission to the government and its policies, whatever they are. This is especially true of its own bureaucrats. Officialdom must be ever watchful to catch any signs of sympathy or justice within its ranks towards the public, especially the hapless victims caught in the maw of the Leviathan state. The growth of these data banks goes hand in hand with the increase in the size and scope of the federal government, which has continued unabated. To curb the data banks, Helsmen contends that we must curb the growth of government with a fundamental change in philosophy. Your FBI Dossier challenges us to understand what information is being gathered on us, the motives for it, and the power it serves. Helsmen himself concludes that "Information is power. Those who possess it, rule. Those who do not, serve." You have the chance now to get some valuable information. What will you do now? Your FBI Dossier, John S. Helsmen. England: Scope Books ©1993. $55 surface, $75 air, 168 pp. Distributed by Freedom's Forum Bookstore, 1800 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94102.
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