The U.S. House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government recently held a hearing in Washington D.C. in which they focused on the government’s use of financial surveillance. The hearing was prompted by a staff report released by the committee, which found that federal law enforcement agencies have been engaged in broad financial surveillance of Americans, without a warrant and often without any suspicion of wrongdoing.
The report, titled “Financial Surveillance in the United States: How Federal Law Enforcement Commandeered Financial Institutions to Spy on Americans,” found that law enforcement agencies have been using Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) to track the financial transactions of Americans. SARs are reports that banks and other financial institutions are required to file with the government when they suspect that a customer is engaged in illegal activity.
The committee’s report found that law enforcement agencies have been using SARs to conduct sweeping searches of individuals’ financial data, even when there is no suspicion that the individual is involved in any crime. The report also found that law enforcement agencies have been targeting certain groups for surveillance, such as political activists and religious groups.
Those of us paying attention to the ever-expanding weaponization of government are not surprised to learn that the FBI has been working with banking institutions to surveil Americans. But you may be surprised to learn that this collusion includes the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which helped to facilitate multiple backchannel discussions with financial institutions to gather Americans’ private financial information.
Tactics included keyword filtering of transactions, targeting terms like “MAGA” and “TRUMP,” as well as purchases of books, religious texts, firearms-related items, and recreational stores like Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shop, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. This surveillance extended beyond criminal suspicion, likely encompassing millions of Americans with conservative viewpoints or Second Amendment interests.
On March 7th, the Judiciary Select Subcommittee, chaired by U.S. Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), held an approximately three-hour hearing on a congressional investigation that exposed how the FBI worked with big banks to surveil Americans, all of it without warrants, and much of it without reasonable suspicion.
Read the subcommittee’s press release HERE and/or watch and listen and share Chairman Jordan’s opening summary of what they’ve uncovered:
Dr. Jordan Peterson, renown psychologist and author, told the subcommittee that Americans were falling prey to digital observance systems much like China’s “SkyNet” program. He said the commercial sector was colluding with the government in the creation of such systems, which could lead to government suppression of what it considers “deviation from the desired end.”
Read his full written statement HERE. and/or watch and listen and share this video of his opening statement:
Attorney Jeremy Tedesco of the pro-family Alliance Defending Freedom told the subcommittee that some of the country’s largest banks had worked with law enforcement to profile Americans as potential “terror threats” if they purchased certain religious texts or firearms. He highlighted the case of JPMorgan Chase shutting down the National Committee for Religious Freedom’s account with the bank. Tedesco labeled this and other examples he gives as “systemic censorship risks” in the finance sector.
Read his written statement HERE and/or watch, listen and share this video of his opening statement:
For more information, please read the full interim staff report here.
Read more:
When Big Banks Discriminate (World Magazine)
Biden Admin Wants Banks to Close Pro-Life Groups’ Bank Accounts: They’re “Hate Groups” (LifeNews.com)
Christians Must Not Be Intimidated Into Silence By A Weaponized Government (Tony Perkins)
