Contents

Introduction: the slow death of democracy.. 2

Australia: A US test market for authoritarian conversion?.. 5

The US is no Longer a “Functioning Democracy”. 8

Who are “They”?.. 11

Hoovers’ legacy: taking the US towards a police state.. 13

The Problem Has Got Worse Not Better. 16

Separation of Powers.. 19

Dodgy Dossiers.. 21

The Banyan Tree: A model of intelligence agency domestic subversion   25

Five-Eyes: Outsourcing domestic surveillance to foreign governments  26

Intelligence agencies: a long history of wilful breaches.. 29

As the world pauses to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, it might also reflect that the fall marked the beginning of a slow, slippery slide towards authoritarianism for many western democracies– now a fortress of myriad electronic walls and secret keys. No longer…