Main Core
 Main Core  (name list, database)   | |
|---|---|
| Start | 1983 |
| Founder(s) | US/Deep state |
| Interest of | Tim Shorrock |
Main Core is a database of names and detailed data of 8 million Americans that are considered to be threats to national security. In the event of a national emergency or military government, the targets will be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and detention - and based on CIA's history of creating death lists in places such as Indonesia and Latin America - summary execution.
History
Dating back to the 1980s and known to government insiders as "Main Core," although it might also have other names, the database collects and stores — without warrants or court orders — the names and detailed data of Americans considered to be threats to national security.[1]
The database is most likely a continuation of other lists over dissidents to be taken care of, from the Cold War or even earlier. Presumably starting as a collection of "reds", the lists would have expanded over the years, and by 2021 presumably include a wide range of political views.
Radar Magazine reported in 2008 that according to a senior government official who served with high-level security clearances in five administrations, "There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived 'enemies of the state' almost instantaneously." [2]
According to an investigation by Tim Shorrock in 2010, Main Core in its current incarnation contains a vast amount of personal data on Americans, including NSA intercepts of bank and credit card transactions and the results of surveillance efforts by the FBI, the CIA and other agencies. One former intelligence official described Main Core as "an emergency internal security database system" designed for use by the military in the event of a national catastrophe, a suspension of the Constitution or the imposition of martial law. Its name, he says, is derived from the fact that it contains "copies of the 'main core' or essence of each item of intelligence information on Americans produced by the FBI and the other agencies of the U.S. intelligence community."[1]
Main Core may be the contemporary incarnation of a government watch list system that was part of a highly classified "Continuity of Government" program created by the Reagan administration to keep the U.S. government functioning in the event of a nuclear attack. Under a 1982 presidential directive, the outbreak of war could trigger the proclamation of martial law nationwide, giving the military the authority to use its domestic database to round up citizens and residents considered to be threats to national security. The emergency measures for domestic security were to be carried out by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Army. [1]
In the late 1980s, reports about a domestic database linked to FEMA and the Continuity of Government program began to appear in the press. For example, in 1986 the Austin American-Statesman uncovered evidence of a large database that authorities were proposing to use to intern Latino dissidents and refugees during a national emergency that might follow a potential U.S. invasion of Nicaragua.[1]
Related Quotation
| Page | Quote | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noam Chomsky | “I mean, look, there’s a lot of, I think there’s a lot of excessive concern in activist groups about state repression. So take, say, there’s paranoia about concentration camps. You know, they’re gonna lock us up, NDAA says they can detain us indefinitely. Concentration camps have been there since the 50s. Back in the 1950s the liberal Democrats, Humphrey and Lehman, introduced legislation to set up internment camps in case people got out of control. I don’t know, I never followed to see what happened but I know the legislation was passed. But they can’t do anything about it...And if they try they’ll arouse popular reaction. So power really is in the hands of the governed if they’re willing to use it.” | Noam Chomsky | May 2012 |
