Construction Maison

Photo by Andrea Yori | CC BY 2.0 In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, Washington pursued its elusive enemies across the landscapes of Asia and Africa, thanks in part to a massive expansion of its intelligence infrastructure, particularly of the emerging technologies for digital surveillance , agile drones, and biometric identification. In 2010, almost a decade into this secret war with its voracious appetite for information, the Washington Post reported that the national security state had swelled into a “fourth branch” of the federal government — with 854,000 vetted officials, 263 security organizations , and over 3,000 intelligence units, issuing 50,000 special reports every year. Though stunning, these statistics only skimmed the visible surface of what had become history’s largest and most lethal clandestine apparatus . According to classified documents that Edward Snowden leaked in 2013, the nation’s 16 intelligence agencies alone had 107,035 employees and a combined “b...

T he young men on powerful motorbikes had been coming and going for months, the throbbing sound of Kawasaki engines and the scattering of stones on the track leading to their country house in Alcanar, eastern Spain, announcing their arrival. Neighbours doubted the men, mostly young-looking and all seemingly of north African origin , had rented the house as a holiday home – despite the views out across the sparkling Mediterranean from this ramshackle estate of properties surrounded by scrub, pines and small olive groves . But they knew that Banco Popular had repossessed it and, having lived through a destructive, loan- fuelled property crash , Spaniards tend not to feel much concern when such properties are squatted. “Perhaps someone should have called the police,” said Carmen Circiumaru, who lives a few doors away. “But they never did anything that seemed especially suspicious.” Indeed, the young men, and at least one older, bearded man who sometimes appeared here, were quiet and respe...