InfraGard, private industries "License to Kill", and class war

Here's an article from a year ago that I just discovered today. Had I seen this a year ago, I would have been even more tightly wound up around election time. Probably a good thing I'd missed this, then:

Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public does -- and, at least on one occasion, before elected officials. In return, they provide information to the government, which alarms the ACLU. But there may be more to it than that. One business executive, who showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to "shoot to kill" in the event of martial law. InfraGard is "a child of the FBI," says Michael Hershman, the chairman of the advisory board of the InfraGard National Members Alliance and CEO of the Fairfax Group, an international consulting firm.

[Emphasis mine. ]

Creepy, huh?

The 23,000 members represent over 350 companies on the Fortune 500 list. Handy to have around when the Wall Street Bastille is being stormed, huh? But, that's just a coincidence, because in February of last year, no one had any clue that our current economic dilemma was just around the corner, right? Must have just been protecting Wall Street from terrorists.