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Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointee's Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory
Former Chicago and Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein, who in 2009 was appointed by President Barack Obama to direct an important executive branch office, had in 2008 co-authored an article containing a plan for the government to prevent the spread of anti-government "conspiracy theories," in which he advocated the use of anonymous government agents to engage in "cognitive infiltration" of these groups in order to break them up. In his new book, Griffin focuses on the fact that Sunstein's primary target is the conspiracy theory advocated by the 9/11 Truth Movement. Examining Sunstein's charge that this theory is both "harmful" and "demonstrably false," Griffin uses both satire and overwhelming evidence to show that this twofold charge applies instead to what Sunstein calls "the true conspiracy theory" about 9/11ùnamely, the "theory that al-Qaeda was responsible for 9/11."
202 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2010
2 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
David Ray Griffin
76 books86 followersDr. Griffin, a retired emeritus professor of Philosophy of Religion and Theology at the Claremont School of Theology, has published over 30 books and 150 articles. His 9/11 books have been endorsed by Robert Baer, William Christison, William Sloane Coffin Jr., Richard Falke, Ray McGovern, Paul Craig Roberts and Howard Zinn.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 29, 2010
Deconstruction of a Fascist Proposal to Destroy the 9/11 Truth Movement
David Ray Griffin’s “Cognitive Infiltration” is a devastating deconstruction of Cass R. Sunstein’s shocking and dangerous proposal to have the U.S. government illegally infiltrate and destroy the 9/11 Truth Movement. Sunstein—a Harvard Law Graduate, President Obama’s choice to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and once described by Elena Kagan (now a Supreme Court Justice) as “the preeminent scholar of our time”—is unmasked by Griffin and shown to be a fascist automaton, eager to openly do the bidding of the enforcers of the official 9/11 myth that is used to justify the government’s perpetual wars in the Middle East, and the ongoing suppression of civil liberties at home. Especially horrifying is that Sunstein is now in a position to help implement the very unconstitutional policies he so eagerly espoused. “Cognitive Infiltration” provides an intelligent and measured response to the twisted madness of Sunstein, who as a result of offering his frightening proposal, has revealed himself to be unworthy of holding public office.
In an analysis of the ten theses that form the basis of the Obama appointee’s proposal to eradicate 9/11 Truth, Griffin distinguishes between two levels of meaning in Sunstein’s essay: the exoteric (surface) and the esoteric (hidden). The esoteric interpretations portray Sunstein in such a favorable light that readers may wonder if Griffin is being serious in his praise or not. The answer is provided in the Conclusion of “Cognitive Infiltration.”
Early on in “Cognitive Infiltration,” to counter Sunstein’s thesis that conspiracy theories in the U.S. are usually both unjustified and false, Griffin provides excellent summaries of no less than seventeen so-called “conspiracy theories” involving the U.S. government that in time proved to be true, including: numerous U.S. overthrows of legitimate governments around the world (Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia, Chile, Panama, Haiti, etc.); the manufactured Gulf of Tonkin incident (which Lyndon Johnson used as a pretext for escalating the Vietnam War); the FBI’s illegal counter-intelligence program (COINTELPRO) which targeted Martin Luther King and the anti-Vietnam War Movement (and which seems to have served as a model for Sunstein’s plan to target the 9/11 Truth Movement); Operation Mockingbird, involving CIA infiltration and (ongoing) control of the U.S. “free press;” and the “Deadly Lie at Ground Zero (2001)” initiated by the Bush-Cheney White House which ordered the EPA to tell the public that the air around NYC’s World Trade Center following the 9/11 attacks was safe to breathe, even though test results indicated that the air was highly toxic. Trusting their government, 40,000 rescue and clean-up workers dutifully returned to work, unaware of the lies and the danger. As Griffin documents, 60-70% of these Ground Zero workers have come down with various debilitating illnesses, including cancer, and many have already died.
While analyzing Sunstein’s primary claim—that those who hold to any unofficial 9/11 conspiracy theory do so because they suffer from ‘informational isolation’ and a ‘crippled epistemology’—Griffin exposes the absurdity of Sunstein’s theory by focusing on the intellectual leadership of the 9/11 Truth Movement, and their impressive credentials. In so doing, Griffin effectively demonstrates that it is Sunstein who is informationally isolated and possessed by a crippled epistemology, as a result of not having done his 9/11 homework.
Similarly, Griffin shows that Sunstein’s charge that the 9/11 Truth Movement’s evidence is weak or nonexistent would be more appropriately leveled at proponents of the official 9/11 conspiracy theory. In refuting this Sunstein allegation, Griffin includes a masterful overview of the existing evidence which proves, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the government has lied about what really happened on 9/11.
In a draft of his essay published on the internet, Sunstein, an old friend of Obama, let slip that the government enlisted the editors of Popular Mechanics to serve as the government’s ‘independent experts’ on 9/11, Griffin reports. Thus, Sunstein’s “proposal” may have sprung from an inner-circle knowledge that the 9/11 Truth Movement is already being cognitively infiltrated (which would come as no surprise to many 9/11 Truthers who suspect that there already are trolls, provocateurs, and “limited hangouts” on the internet). In this light, Sunstein’s essay can be seen more as a clandestine attempt to legitimize the government’s cognitive infiltration that is already taking place.
Whatever the motivations for Sunstein’s fascist proposal, the number of 9/11 Truth converts continues to grow, Griffin notes. If the call for illegal infiltration of the 9/11 Truth Movement is the best plan that can be devised by this “pre-eminent legal scholar,” Griffin asks, tongue in cheek, might it not be time for the defenders of the official 9/11 conspiracy theory “to throw in the towel?” Synchronistically, just prior to this writing, two mainstream media personalities—Geraldo Rivera and Judge Andrew Napolitano, both on Fox no less—have begun challenging the government’s official conspiracy theory, while admitting that the 9/11 Truth Movement could be right in saying that 9/11 was an inside job.
Time will tell how much 9/11 Truth will be allowed to enter the mainstream, and where exactly that will lead. Whatever the extent and direction, Sunstein will have unwittingly contributed to the effort by writing an essay that “has provided such an excellent foil for [Griffin’s] laying out of the current nature of the 9/11 Truth Movement, along with the extent and quality of its evidence,” as the literary leader of the 9/11 Truth Movement acknowledges at the end of “Cognitive Infiltration,” a truly brilliant work.
David Ray Griffin’s “Cognitive Infiltration” is a devastating deconstruction of Cass R. Sunstein’s shocking and dangerous proposal to have the U.S. government illegally infiltrate and destroy the 9/11 Truth Movement. Sunstein—a Harvard Law Graduate, President Obama’s choice to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and once described by Elena Kagan (now a Supreme Court Justice) as “the preeminent scholar of our time”—is unmasked by Griffin and shown to be a fascist automaton, eager to openly do the bidding of the enforcers of the official 9/11 myth that is used to justify the government’s perpetual wars in the Middle East, and the ongoing suppression of civil liberties at home. Especially horrifying is that Sunstein is now in a position to help implement the very unconstitutional policies he so eagerly espoused. “Cognitive Infiltration” provides an intelligent and measured response to the twisted madness of Sunstein, who as a result of offering his frightening proposal, has revealed himself to be unworthy of holding public office.
In an analysis of the ten theses that form the basis of the Obama appointee’s proposal to eradicate 9/11 Truth, Griffin distinguishes between two levels of meaning in Sunstein’s essay: the exoteric (surface) and the esoteric (hidden). The esoteric interpretations portray Sunstein in such a favorable light that readers may wonder if Griffin is being serious in his praise or not. The answer is provided in the Conclusion of “Cognitive Infiltration.”
Early on in “Cognitive Infiltration,” to counter Sunstein’s thesis that conspiracy theories in the U.S. are usually both unjustified and false, Griffin provides excellent summaries of no less than seventeen so-called “conspiracy theories” involving the U.S. government that in time proved to be true, including: numerous U.S. overthrows of legitimate governments around the world (Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia, Chile, Panama, Haiti, etc.); the manufactured Gulf of Tonkin incident (which Lyndon Johnson used as a pretext for escalating the Vietnam War); the FBI’s illegal counter-intelligence program (COINTELPRO) which targeted Martin Luther King and the anti-Vietnam War Movement (and which seems to have served as a model for Sunstein’s plan to target the 9/11 Truth Movement); Operation Mockingbird, involving CIA infiltration and (ongoing) control of the U.S. “free press;” and the “Deadly Lie at Ground Zero (2001)” initiated by the Bush-Cheney White House which ordered the EPA to tell the public that the air around NYC’s World Trade Center following the 9/11 attacks was safe to breathe, even though test results indicated that the air was highly toxic. Trusting their government, 40,000 rescue and clean-up workers dutifully returned to work, unaware of the lies and the danger. As Griffin documents, 60-70% of these Ground Zero workers have come down with various debilitating illnesses, including cancer, and many have already died.
While analyzing Sunstein’s primary claim—that those who hold to any unofficial 9/11 conspiracy theory do so because they suffer from ‘informational isolation’ and a ‘crippled epistemology’—Griffin exposes the absurdity of Sunstein’s theory by focusing on the intellectual leadership of the 9/11 Truth Movement, and their impressive credentials. In so doing, Griffin effectively demonstrates that it is Sunstein who is informationally isolated and possessed by a crippled epistemology, as a result of not having done his 9/11 homework.
Similarly, Griffin shows that Sunstein’s charge that the 9/11 Truth Movement’s evidence is weak or nonexistent would be more appropriately leveled at proponents of the official 9/11 conspiracy theory. In refuting this Sunstein allegation, Griffin includes a masterful overview of the existing evidence which proves, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the government has lied about what really happened on 9/11.
In a draft of his essay published on the internet, Sunstein, an old friend of Obama, let slip that the government enlisted the editors of Popular Mechanics to serve as the government’s ‘independent experts’ on 9/11, Griffin reports. Thus, Sunstein’s “proposal” may have sprung from an inner-circle knowledge that the 9/11 Truth Movement is already being cognitively infiltrated (which would come as no surprise to many 9/11 Truthers who suspect that there already are trolls, provocateurs, and “limited hangouts” on the internet). In this light, Sunstein’s essay can be seen more as a clandestine attempt to legitimize the government’s cognitive infiltration that is already taking place.
Whatever the motivations for Sunstein’s fascist proposal, the number of 9/11 Truth converts continues to grow, Griffin notes. If the call for illegal infiltration of the 9/11 Truth Movement is the best plan that can be devised by this “pre-eminent legal scholar,” Griffin asks, tongue in cheek, might it not be time for the defenders of the official 9/11 conspiracy theory “to throw in the towel?” Synchronistically, just prior to this writing, two mainstream media personalities—Geraldo Rivera and Judge Andrew Napolitano, both on Fox no less—have begun challenging the government’s official conspiracy theory, while admitting that the 9/11 Truth Movement could be right in saying that 9/11 was an inside job.
Time will tell how much 9/11 Truth will be allowed to enter the mainstream, and where exactly that will lead. Whatever the extent and direction, Sunstein will have unwittingly contributed to the effort by writing an essay that “has provided such an excellent foil for [Griffin’s] laying out of the current nature of the 9/11 Truth Movement, along with the extent and quality of its evidence,” as the literary leader of the 9/11 Truth Movement acknowledges at the end of “Cognitive Infiltration,” a truly brilliant work.
January 5, 2012
About the desperate Obama administration to adverse the 911 truth movement by re-channeling the arguments and facts about the 911 inside job. A must-read for the confused activist. Cass Sunshine must be a true psychopath by denying of the obvious facts of the explosive destruction of WTC 1, 2 and 7.
January 30, 2012
David Ray Griffin is a pretty inspiring character. Well-read, an incredible researcher, easily-readable and unerringly determined. He deserves respect regardless of anything one might believe. His 9-11 books are meticulously researched and documented and his arguments are extremely hard to punch holes in. No wonder nobody within the government (or out) wants to openly challenge him - in oral debate or the written word. Griffin, on the other hand, takes on NIST, the 9-11 Commission, Bush-Cheney, the mainstream media, "Popular Mechanics" and in this newest addition - Cass Sunstein.
Most people have never heard of Cass Sunstein, which is problematic within itself (he's Obama's appointee to be Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs). His title may sound innocuous enough, but the OIRA is in charge of rules on information technology and privacy (among others). Supposedly, Sustein is one of the "foremost legal scholars" of our time. This is an odd title to say the least, seeing as he supports "cognitive infiltration" of anti-government groups and "conspiracy theorists" in a blatant and obvious violation of the First Amendment (and presumably others). It's truly a scary and sad world when those who would undermine our very Constitutional rights are touted as "brilliant legal scholars" and promoted to positions of extreme power with little or no debate or publicity.
Griffin's latest book attacks Sunsteins justification of this "cognitive infiltration" as it is largely aimed at the 9-11 Truth Movement. Not only does Griffin point out the blatant illegality of such "infiltration", he completely exposes the reality that if this is what the government must stoop to in order to attempt to "discredit" the 9-11 Truth Movement, then it obviously has no intelligent or argumentatively logical means of doing so. Griffin exposes the hypocracy, double-standards and outright contradictions in Sunstein's essay to the point that leaves it thoroughly exposed in all its worthlessness and illegalities. Moreover, Griffin illustrates (yet again) that arguments like Sunstein's would be better directed at the blatantly false Government Theory of 9-11.
The only part of the book that doesn't work for me is the satire. The "exoteric" vs. "esoteric" meanings of Sunstein's arguments is a bit hokie and detracts from the overall project. Griffin would be better served simply ripping Sunstein's pathetic (and illegal) argument to shreds. I wouldn't recommend this book as a "starter" for those who haven't read Griffin yet. His "New Pearl Harbor" or "Omissions and Distortions" are a much better starting place.
Regardless, anyone who has not read David Ray Griffin should do so immediately. This book isn't 5-stars, but the vast majority of his others are. Get on it.
Most people have never heard of Cass Sunstein, which is problematic within itself (he's Obama's appointee to be Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs). His title may sound innocuous enough, but the OIRA is in charge of rules on information technology and privacy (among others). Supposedly, Sustein is one of the "foremost legal scholars" of our time. This is an odd title to say the least, seeing as he supports "cognitive infiltration" of anti-government groups and "conspiracy theorists" in a blatant and obvious violation of the First Amendment (and presumably others). It's truly a scary and sad world when those who would undermine our very Constitutional rights are touted as "brilliant legal scholars" and promoted to positions of extreme power with little or no debate or publicity.
Griffin's latest book attacks Sunsteins justification of this "cognitive infiltration" as it is largely aimed at the 9-11 Truth Movement. Not only does Griffin point out the blatant illegality of such "infiltration", he completely exposes the reality that if this is what the government must stoop to in order to attempt to "discredit" the 9-11 Truth Movement, then it obviously has no intelligent or argumentatively logical means of doing so. Griffin exposes the hypocracy, double-standards and outright contradictions in Sunstein's essay to the point that leaves it thoroughly exposed in all its worthlessness and illegalities. Moreover, Griffin illustrates (yet again) that arguments like Sunstein's would be better directed at the blatantly false Government Theory of 9-11.
The only part of the book that doesn't work for me is the satire. The "exoteric" vs. "esoteric" meanings of Sunstein's arguments is a bit hokie and detracts from the overall project. Griffin would be better served simply ripping Sunstein's pathetic (and illegal) argument to shreds. I wouldn't recommend this book as a "starter" for those who haven't read Griffin yet. His "New Pearl Harbor" or "Omissions and Distortions" are a much better starting place.
Regardless, anyone who has not read David Ray Griffin should do so immediately. This book isn't 5-stars, but the vast majority of his others are. Get on it.
December 28, 2010
Impressive thinking by David Ray Griffin, and no doubt a worthwhile book. If it was my first book on the subject I would have given it five stars. But I still would choose a book like Debunking 9/11 Debunking if I had to read just one David Ray Griffen book, because it goes into much more detail about the actual facts and the case that the official theory is suspect.
April 24, 2024
Excellent.
[Highlights on physical book.]
[Highlights on physical book.]
July 28, 2011
See my review on amazon. Marks off simply because a reading of ponerology would've helped Griffin in his critique.
December 30, 2012
not bad
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews