Information Awareness Office (Revisited)

Here’s a link to the defunct Information Awareness Office website, the short-lived defense agency that oversaw the U.S. government’s domestic surveillance program, which was ramped up in the aftermath of 9/11 hysteria and about as spooky as they come.

 

 

IAO,  established in January 2002, was disbanded by Congress shortly after in 2003 following public criticism. What with the in your face all-seeing eye in the triangle seemingly torn right from the cover of Illuminatus — in addition to an ominous death ray shooting out from the hovering eye and focusing its malevolent beam over the planet — the IAO logo possessed imagery suggesting an Orwellian nightmare come true, wrapped up in Masonic symbolism so blatant it seemed absurd.

 

 

 

During the period when IAO was going hot and heavy, Robert Anton Wilson made a habit of cc’ing all his outgoing email to then IAO head, John Poindexter. To this end, Wilson figured that by sending his email directly to Poindexter it would, in turn, eliminate the need for anyone to maintain surveillance on him, thus eliminating a paid position and cutting down on government waste and maybe even lowering taxes. “Besides,” Bob told me, “It amuses me to think of Poindexter reading my emails.”

In this regard, I asked Wilson if “they” had lifted the idea of the Information Awareness Office (IAO) logo from the cover of his Illuminatus Trilogy. “I don’t know what the hell’s going on,” Bob replied. “I think we’re being taken over by a bunch of surrealists.”

The acronym, IAO, it should be noted, was a word used by Uncle Aleister Crowley in his Freemasonic based magick rituals, the same kind of hocus pocus that certain sinister factions of Nazi Germany dipped their spooky toes into. Below is a Nazi era illustration (provided courtesy of my good friend Vyzygoth) that once again summons up the surreal spectre of IAO.

The more things change…

 

 

~ by gorightly on May 25, 2008.