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<\/a><\/p>\nJEREMY LOFFREDO AND MAX BLUMENTHAL
\nTHE GRAY ZONE<\/p>\n
Described as\u00a0\u201cthe most important organization you\u2019ve never heard of,\u201d MITRE rakes in massive security state contracts to pioneer invasive spy tech. Now it\u2019s at the heart of a campaign to implement digital vaccine passports.<\/strong><\/h3>\nWhile vaccine passports have been marketed as a boon to public health, promising safety, privacy, and convenience for those who have been vaccinated against Covid-19, the pivotal role a shadowy military-intelligence organization is playing in the push to implement the system in digital form has raised serious civil liberties concerns.<\/p>\n
Known as MITRE, the organization is a non-profit corporation led almost entirely by military-intelligence professionals and sustained by sizable contracts with the Department of Defense, FBI, and national security sector.<\/p>\n
The effort \u201cto expand QR code vaccine passports beyond states like California and New York\u201d now revolves around a public-private partnership known as the\u00a0Vaccine Credential Initiative<\/a>\u00a0(VCI).\u00a0And the VCI has reserved an instrumental role in its coalition for MITRE.<\/p>\nDescribed by Forbes as a \u201ccloak and dagger [research and development] shop\u201d that is \u201cthe most important organization you\u2019ve never heard of,\u201d MITRE has developed some of the most invasive surveillance technology in use by US spy agencies today. Among its most novel products is a system built for the FBI which captures individuals\u2019 fingerprints from images posted on social media sites.<\/p>\n
MITRE\u2019s own COVID-19 umbrella coalition includes In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Palantir, a scandal-stained private spying firm.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Renieris<\/a>, the founding director of Notre Dame and IBM\u2019s technology ethics lab, has warned that \u201cas dominant technology and surveillance companies\u201d like MITRE \u201cpursue new revenue streams in healthcare and financial services\u2026privately owned and operated ID systems with profit-maximizing business models threaten the privacy, security, and other fundamental rights of individuals and communities.\u201d<\/p>\nIndeed, the involvement of the military-intelligence apparatus in the development of a digital vaccine passport system is yet another indication that behind the guise of public health concerns, the US surveillance state could be due to enhance its control over an increasingly restive population.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thegrayzone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/collage-edit2.jpg?resize=1170%2C878&ssl=1\")
A portrait of MITRE leadership: Robert Kheler (top right); William E. Gortney (top center); Robert Brendan (top left); Jan Elizabeth Tighe (bottom left); Edmund Peter Glambastiani III (bottom center); John Francis Campbell (bottom right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe Vaccine Credential Initiative, a neoliberal vehicle advised by military-intelligence professionals<\/h3>\n
As detailed in the\u00a0first installment of this series<\/a>, tech oligarchs like Bill Gates and global capitalist policy hubs such as the World Economic Forum have advanced digital ID and electronic currency systems across the Global South in order to harvest data and profits from populations that were previously out of reach.<\/p>\nThe advent of vaccine passports providing access to employment and public life has become the key vector for accelerating their agenda in the West.\u00a0As the financial consulting firm, Aite-Novarica,\u00a0declared this September<\/a>, digital COVID-19 vaccine passports \u201cexpand the case for digital IDs beyond COVID-19 vaccination only, and potentially serve as a digital ID as a more comprehensive, universal source of identity information\u2026\u201d<\/p>\nAs vaccine passports exclude millions across the West, sparking furious\u00a0protests<\/a>\u00a0and wildcat strikes, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is working with its partners to implement them in digital form.<\/p>\n
Described by Forbes as a \u201ccloak and dagger [research and development] shop\u201d that is \u201cthe most important organization you\u2019ve never heard of,\u201d MITRE has developed some of the most invasive surveillance technology in use by US spy agencies today. Among its most novel products is a system built for the FBI which captures individuals\u2019 fingerprints from images posted on social media sites.<\/p>\n
MITRE\u2019s own COVID-19 umbrella coalition includes In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Palantir, a scandal-stained private spying firm.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Renieris<\/a>, the founding director of Notre Dame and IBM\u2019s technology ethics lab, has warned that \u201cas dominant technology and surveillance companies\u201d like MITRE \u201cpursue new revenue streams in healthcare and financial services\u2026privately owned and operated ID systems with profit-maximizing business models threaten the privacy, security, and other fundamental rights of individuals and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, the involvement of the military-intelligence apparatus in the development of a digital vaccine passport system is yet another indication that behind the guise of public health concerns, the US surveillance state could be due to enhance its control over an increasingly restive population.<\/p>\n As detailed in the\u00a0first installment of this series<\/a>, tech oligarchs like Bill Gates and global capitalist policy hubs such as the World Economic Forum have advanced digital ID and electronic currency systems across the Global South in order to harvest data and profits from populations that were previously out of reach.<\/p>\n The advent of vaccine passports providing access to employment and public life has become the key vector for accelerating their agenda in the West.\u00a0As the financial consulting firm, Aite-Novarica,\u00a0declared this September<\/a>, digital COVID-19 vaccine passports \u201cexpand the case for digital IDs beyond COVID-19 vaccination only, and potentially serve as a digital ID as a more comprehensive, universal source of identity information\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n As vaccine passports exclude millions across the West, sparking furious\u00a0protests<\/a>\u00a0and wildcat strikes, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is working with its partners to implement them in digital form.<\/p>\nThe Vaccine Credential Initiative, a neoliberal vehicle advised by military-intelligence professionals<\/h3>\n