5G EMF/RF Memorial Day 2021: Wireless, Surveillance, & Warfare, The FCC, and the Military Budget in 3 Graphs Not Including the FCC
In April of 2021, the Brookings Institution published a Democratic-leaning series of articles entitled, “Build Back Better with Biden FCC” including “six installments reviewing issues that confront the FCC (Federal Communications Industry) today.”
“Cybersecurity”
“The simple truth is that America’s networks are under attack. From ransomware to theft of personal information, to full out assaults on services and infrastructure, adversaries and criminals are engaged in cyber activities that utilize the commercial networks as their attack pathway. The FCC has both the responsibility and authority to protect those commercial networks.”
The simpler truth is that the choice to use wireless instead of wired devices is the major vector influencing network insecurity. Rather than writing a blank check for increased security – for forever – the truth is that investments could be directed to building hardwired, connected networks. Does the U.S. use every “the sky is falling” security breach news story (blamed on the Russians, China, or alien invaders) to justify further militarized cyber security spending, or, recognize that wired is safer, more secure, consumes less energy, and protects privacy and civil rights?
Widget not in any sidebars
Spoiler Alert: Because wireless forms the backbone of the military industrial complex that Eisenhower cautioned about, and because the military industrial complex has turned inward against the nation’s own populace, wireless is the priority.
“Connecting the Unconnected in Rural America”
Brookings: “42 million Americans lack access to broadband connections because they live in areas where the cost of construction is too high to incentivize private investment. Over the last decade the FCC has distributed approximately $40 billion to subsidize companies to expand into unserved areas – yet millions remain unserved.”
As chronicled by The Irregulators, telecom companies were already subsidized to provide fiber optics to rural areas. An accounting “strategy” used by the FCC” made the entire wired telecommunications networks in America to appear to be unprofitable. This has cost customers billions per year in additional fees and rate increases, it was used claim that rural areas were unprofitable, so the companies could get out obligations to upgrade to fiber optics…”
“Boosting Broadband Adoption”
Brookings: “While high-speed broadband deployment to all Americans needs to be a priority, the amazing fact is that more Americans have access to broadband but choose not to subscribe than Americans who have no access – principally because of cost. This means that 10 million students do not have broadband connections to their virtual classrooms, and 40 percent of seniors do not have broadband to help them with health issues.”
In 2013, Pew Charitable Trust reported, that of the adult population NOT using the internet at home,
“34% of non-internet users think the internet is just not relevant to them, saying they are not interested, do not want to use it, or have no need for it.”
“32% of non-internet users cite reasons tied to their sense that the internet is not very easy to use. These non-users say it is difficult or frustrating to go online, they are physically unable, or they are worried about other issues such as spam, spyware, and hackers. This figure is considerably higher than in earlier surveys.”
“19% of non-internet users cite the expense of owning a computer or paying for an internet connection.”
“7% of non-users cited a physical lack of availability or access to the internet.”
The statistics above refer to adults, in 2013. Demands of the covid response pushed school-aged children on-line, which is being used to justify increased need for wireless connectivity and 5G.
Spoiler Alert: Watch for the bait and switch. Internet access does not equal to wireless. The implication that non-users reside in rural areas is also inaccurate.
“Restoring Non-Discrimination to Broadband Networks”
With the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, 5G is being widely promoted as necessary to address the racial divide.
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance describes itself as “a unified voice for home broadband access, public broadband access, personal devices and local technology training and support programs.” Angela Siefer and Bill Callahan wrote, “Limiting Broadband Investment to “Rural Only” Discriminates Against Black Americans and other Communities of Color.”
“Spectrum: The Pathway of the 21st Century” Brookings: “The power of anywhere, anytime internet service comes from use of the electromagnetic spectrum to enable wireless services. The fifth generation wireless (5G) technology promises faster speeds and lower latencies to further increase the usability of wireless connections.”
“One of the most sweeping agencies of the federal government is (FCC): Its regulatory authority over the nation’s networks covers approximately one-sixth of the domestic economy. Of even greater relevance, however, is how the remainder of the economy relies on those networks and are thus affected by the policies of the FCC.”
During Ajit Pai’s tenure at the FCC, rather than focusing on health issues regarding wireless exposures, the FCC added an office of Economics and Analytics that could continue to spin accounting to justify further wireless investment. This includes promoting the use of wireless (including satellites) instead of wired for wide-scale citizen surveillance, and NOT counting the costs of RF/EMF injured civilians and military personnel. The adoption of dual use technology, for example, Dept. of Defense hitch-hiking on SpaceX internet satellites, obscures expenses. The FCC isn’t just “captured” by the industry. It is collaborating with the war machine, with out of control consumption of resources and energy by both.
All roads point to a militarized, occupied nation, increasingly at war with others, with the environment, and with itself.
“This is how turning off one’s Wifi at night, or rejecting a smart meter or 5G phone, and protecting the health-vulnerable neighbor, becomes a radical act, of caring and response-ability.”
The U.S. Spends More on Its Military Than the Next 10 Countries Combined
Read More:
15 Years After Hurricane Katrina, It’s Time to Demilitarize Disaster Relief “And yet—just like the U.S. military is not a public health organization and should not be in charge of a public health crisis, the U.S. military is far from a humanitarian organization and should not manage disaster response. It’s clear that in a climate-changed future, we need more resources to meet the greater-humanitarian needs that more ecological disasters will bring. We can’t meet humanitarian ends with militarized means, but when the only robustly funded agencies are militarized, how can we expect our responses to crises not to be? For the Pentagon, climate change is yet another security issue requiring more militarism. For defense contractors, its a business opportunity: there’s a lucrative industry that revolves around a militarized, security-led, and for-profit approach to climate adaptation and disaster response. But there’s another way. Instead of funneling hundreds of billions of dollars each year into militarism, we can invest in the infrastructure of care we need to keep each other safe. Fifteen years after Hurricane Katrina, the need to demilitarize disaster relief is clearer than ever.”
Cut the Pentagon 10 percent, invest in public health “It feels like the world is falling apart. But with a pandemic raging and an eviction crisis looming, the Senate is preparing to spend three quarters of a trillion dollars… not on public health or housing, but on the Pentagon. The United States may be going down, but we’re going down well-armed. At a time when health workers have struggled to find masks and protective gear, the Pentagon has so many extra trucks, guns, and other gear, it hands the surplus out for free to police departments — who then use it whether they need it or not, much like the Pentagon itself. The Pentagon is like a giant black hole, devouring hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Even the Pentagon doesn’t know where the money goes. Meanwhile, everything else — from public health and medical research to education, housing, and infrastructure — has been severely and chronically underfunded. Ten percent of the Pentagon budget is about $74 billion, and any member of Congress who claims they can’t find $74 billion to cut isn’t looking. That’s what the Pentagon spent last year on just two contractors — Lockheed Martin and Boeing — and what the Pentagon still spends annually on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which should have ended long ago.”
The ‘Camo Economy’ Hides Military Costs and Exacerbates Inequality “Pentagon contractors like Lockheed Martin exploit their political connections to maintain a system that generates huge corporate profits and executive pay at taxpayer expense. Military contracting was sold to the American people as a way to reduce the cost of military operations, yet the result has been quite the opposite. Recent research of mine has shown that rather than reduce costs, military contracting — or what I call the “Camo Economy” because it camouflages human and financial costs — has resulted in higher costs to taxpayers. It has also distorted labor markets and contributed to rising inequality, as military contractors earn excessive profits that enable them to pay their employees and particularly their top executives much more than their counterparts in the public sector and most other private sector jobs. The Camo Economy has made war more politically palatable by camouflaging its various costs. It will not be easy to reform the Camo Economy. Firms such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon each spent about $13 million on lobbying last year.”
Spending More on the Military Means Lining the Pockets of Top Defense Industry Executives “In 2018, taxpayers paid the top government contractor Lockheed Martin $48.7 billion. This was as much as the entire budgets of the Center for Disease Control, Environmental Protection Agency, and international humanitarian assistance combined. Democrats and Republicans alike are complicit in perpetuating these abuses of power, so taming private influences will require reigning in and eventually ending the revolving door entirely. Doing so will not only ensure the policies and investments the government makes are in the best interest of the masses but will also be a welcome step in striving for a world centered on care, sustainability, and peace.” With all that money, we could have already been able to figure out how to protect both military personnel and civilians from microwave injuries. To prevent microwave injuries, stop microwaving the planet.
This is what uncounted microwave injuries to military personnel look like:
Now we are extending the risks to schoolchildren, as neurological illnesses in the elderly – especially American women – skyrocket.
Someone other than the FCC and the military needs to be doing the body count.
Top image: Flo Freshman
Watch for our next series at Natural Blaze, 5G EMF RF and Father’s Day.
This is part of a Memorial Day 5G series which you can read in its entirety HERE.
Patricia Burke works with activists across the country and internationally calling for new biologically-based microwave radio frequency exposure limits.She is based in Massachusetts and can be reached at [email protected].
