Operation Relentless Pursuit: Test Beds For “Smart City” Signals Intelligence? – Wrench in the Gears

Operation Relentless Pursuit: Test Beds For “Smart City” Signals Intelligence? – Wrench in the Gears

Operation Relentless Pursuit: Test Beds For “Smart City” Signals Intelligence?

On January 7, 2020 Black Alliance for Peace – Baltimore issued a demand that public officials reject a planned surge of militarized policing authorized by the Trump administration. Operation Relentless Pursuit is targeting Baltimore and six other mid-size cities, all of which have significant Black and Brown populations. The others include: Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Kansas City, Memphis, and Albuquerque. Representatives of the FBI, DEA, AFT, and US Marshall Service were present at the Department of Justice’s December 18, 2019 press conference.

I write this post as a statement of solidarity in support of their demands and to examine this operation in light of my recent work around policing, diversion courts, and prison “reform” as a global investment market. I have concerns that some of the funds associated with this vile operation may be channeled into problematic technological systems. Residents of these cities could end up as test-subjects for new forms of militarized digital surveillance intended to further harm Black and Brown communities while allowing military interests to refine the signals intelligence required for future urban military actions. Data collected under the pretense of crime reduction could also create baselines to expand futures markets in human capital (pay for success). Baltimore, in particular, is home to major players CONTINUE READING: Operation Relentless Pursuit: Test Beds For “Smart City” Signals Intelligence? – Wrench in the Gears