1 August 2009 Honorable Senator Warner: Honorable Senator Webb: Honorable Representative Wittman: I am writing in regard to H. R. 3247, (To establish a social and behavioral sciences research program at the Department of Energy, and for other purposes). On 17 July 2009 this bill was introduced into the House of Representatives by the Honorable Brian Baird (WA-3), co-sponsored by the Honorable Daniel Lipinski (IL-3), referred to the Committee on Science and Technology and currently is ordered to be amended by voice vote. When I read the contents of this bill in the THOMAS Register it demonstrated for me that well-known novels such as Orwell’s 1984, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Huxley’s Brave New World may one day be found to have served the same purpose as did Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Section 1 of H. R. 3247 gives the impression that this bill merely establishes academic research funding and should not be considered threatening to the American public. Key phrases, however, such as the ambiguous phrase “… and for other purposes” in the title of the bill, the threatening phrase “… to apply and integrate the results of social and behavioral research…” and the scariest phrase "... the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply ... until 3 years after the date the Advisory Committee is established" provide strong indications of an Orwellian agenda. As an example, a simple Wikipedia search reveals that the intent of the FACA is to retain transparency of the Executive branch of government and this bill makes a blatant attempt to legally prevent the American citizen from discerning the real intent of this piece of legislation. The backbone of the American government is made up of elected representatives such as yourself that are subservient to the wishes of the voting public. There is absolutely no justification, therefore, for that government to spend taxpayer funds in order to identify effective social engineering methods – propaganda – to use against them. If that were the case then the elected representatives would become the “puppet masters” as various methods of information warfare are conducted against the domestic audience. This arrangement is exactly what is outlined in the Totalitarian government systems of fear-inducing novels. This attempt must be stopped in order to retain the Republic as we currently enjoy. Today’s fleets of submarines are the product of architects inspired by reading 20,000 Leagues. Other advances, such as landing a man on the Moon, were equally inspired by other novels and in each case a visionary first explored what was within “the art of the possible.” Toward that end inspired individuals first funded research, research begat development, and development begat implementation of that vision. Our government, however, should not EVER conduct research to identify the susceptibility of the American public to social engineering because that weapon should NEVER be used against the domestic target for any reason. H. R. 3247 is a blatant attempt to fund propaganda research specifically designed to target the homeland audience and it must be stopped. It is your task, therefore, to remove this threat by voting against H. R. 3247. Very sincerely, James Hull |