'Obama’s financial spy plan moves US towards Orwellian police state'

The Obama administration’s financial spying plan, which if enacted will grant spy agencies access to US citizens’ finance data, is a shocking attack on personal freedom, independent journalist Charlie McGrath has told RT.

The planning document recently obtained by Reuters, dated March 4, showed that the legislation is primarily aimed at targeting and tracking terrorist cells, exposing money-laundering schemes, tracing criminal syndicates and curbing corruption.

However, though the plan is still in its early stages, it has sparked mass outrage with many calling it a cover for wide-ranging surveillance net desired by the US government.   

“Sold as an effort to stop international terror groups, the proposed measure pushes us ever closer to a complete Orwellian Police State where you are guilty without cause, evidence, or even accusation,” McGrath, founder of Wide Awake News told RT.

McGrath said the proposed law is in line with legislation like the NDAA and PATRIOT Act, what he called an “ongoing assault on liberty that has been implemented since 911.”

“The future of freedom seems quite clear,” McGrath concluded.

At the same time, experts are skeptical that the legislation would result in a significant increase in arrests of terrorist. “But more citizens could end up being caught up in the financial crosshairs,” Margaret Bogenrief, a founding partner of ACM Partners financial advisory firm told RT.

The new plan will do little to keep America safe, while potentially increasing, at least partially, the risk of an innocent or wrongly profiled individual being caught in a misinterpretation of their banking information, Bogenrief explained.

“The continued efforts to 'keep its citizens safe,' the US government seems be to struggling to walk that line between protection and invasion of American citizens’ privacy,” Bogenrief said. “More citizens could end up being caught up in the financial crosshairs.”

As financial institution are already over-reporting on questionable activity, this new enforcement plan “almost guarantees an abuse, whether intentional or not,” she added.

The true tragedy of this plan is that it likely will not see a significant increase in the number of arrests of high-profile criminals, Bogenrief explained: “Truly sophisticated criminals – whether they be members of organized crime, gangs, or terrorist groups – will already have the structures and teams in place that will assist these criminal groups in both skirting these rules and avoiding prosecution.”