US/Department/Homeland Security

US/Department/Homeland Security
Formation	November 25, 2002
Parent organization	US
Subgroups	United States Secret Service

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was set up in the wake of the 9/11 false flag attacks. President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security (OHS) to coordinate "homeland security" efforts. The office was headed by former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who assumed the title of Assistant to the President for Homeland Security. The official announcement stated:

The mission of the Office will be to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks. The Office will coordinate the executive branch's efforts to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks within the United States.

Ridge began his duties as OHS director on October 8, 2001.

Etymology

In an August 5, 2002 speech, U.S. President George W. Bush stated: "We're fighting...to secure freedom in the homeland". Prior to the creation of DHS, American presidents had referred to the United States as "the nation" or "the republic", and to its internal policies as "domestic". Also unprecedented was the use, from 2002, of the phrase "the homeland" by White House spokespeople. The choice of this phrase, echoing Nazi Germany as it does, has raised questions regarding the self-image of the United States.

Recent purchases

Mine-Resistant Armored Protection (MRAP) vehicles

The DHS has also been criticised for purchasing 2,717 Mine-Resistant Armored Protection (MRAP) vehicles formerly used for counterinsurgency in Iraq.

Hollow Point Bullets

The AP reports that the DOHS has already bought 360,000 rounds of hollow point bullets - which cost nearly twice as much as full metal jacket rounds. How point bullets are categorically banned for use in international war by the Geneva Convention since they explode on impact for maximum damage to the individual hit. However, this property of exploding within the individual causes minimum damage to whatever is behind the individual, they are more suitable for use in an urban environment if minimal property damage were a priority. AP reported further that the DHS plans to buy more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition (enough for a 24-year Iraq War) over the next four or five years, and bought 1.5 billion rounds in 2012. Many have found these purchases unsettling. DHS officials have denied stockpiling ammunition, but have issued no explanation to the Members of Congress who have repeatedly asked why the DHS would need such large amounts of ammo, noting only that buying ammo in bulk allowed them to save money. Many have drawn the obvious conclusion that the ammunition is part of contingency plans for mass civil unrest, others noting that such huge purchases may also be an effort to “strategically den[y] the American people access to ammunition.”

Mail interception

Full article: Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program

In 2006, MSNBC reported that Grant Goodman, "an 81-year-old retired University of Kansas history professor, received a letter from his friend in the Philippines that had been opened and resealed with a strip of dark green tape bearing the words “by Border Protection” and carrying the official Homeland Security seal." The letter was sent by a woman with no known terrorist connections. A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection "acknowledged that the agency can, will and does open mail coming to U.S. citizens that originates from a foreign country whenever it's deemed necessary":

"All mail originating outside the United States Customs territory that is to be delivered inside the U.S. Customs territory is subject to Customs examination," says the CBP Web site. That includes personal correspondence. "All mail means 'all mail,'" said John Mohan, a CBP spokesman, emphasizing the point.

The Department declined to outline what criteria are used to determine when a piece of personal correspondence should be opened or to say how often or in what volume Customs might be opening mail.

Goodman's story provoked outrage in the blogosphere, as well as in the more established media. Reacting to the incident, Mother Jones magazine remarked that "[u]nlike other prying government agencies, Homeland Security wants you to know it is watching you". CNN observed that "[o]n the heels of the NSA wiretapping controversy, Goodman's letter raises more concern over the balance between privacy and security".

 

Related Quotation

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Operation Garden Plot	“Oversight of these homeland security missions should be provided by the National Guard Bureau based on the long-standing Garden Plot model in which National Guard units are trained and equipped to support civil authorities in crowd control and civil disturbance missions.”	Major General Richard C. Alexander ARNGUS (Ret.) Executive Director National Guard Association of the United States Testimony in the Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing on Homeland Defense	11 April 2002

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