Homeland Security Muscles Up

First they came for the veterans, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a veteran; then they came for Tea Party members, and I didn’t speak out because I didn’t belong to the Tea Party; then they came for …; and then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

George Rebane

Photos taken on America’s streets and highways of some very serious looking fighting vehicles with the comforting ‘Police/Rescue’ painted on their sides.  Hard to figure what kind of police would use such war machines to rescue whom from what (reportedly these vehicles have been ordered in the thousands).  It appears that our Homeland Security Administration is preparing for complete social breakdown within our own borders, or even something more sinister.


We note that our regular military, for which these equipments were designed and built, is an unreliable instrument of authoritarian force within our own borders.  Anyone who has been in the military, or knows current active duty personnel will tell you that Washington will have one hell of a time getting our armed forces to fire on American citizens.

Plan B is to have an obamunistic “civilian national security force” manned by bureaucratic goons up and running ASAP.  Don’t know what to make of it if you connect the dots between new FEMA camps, the arming of traditionally unarmed agencies, purchase of over half billion rounds of small arms ammo, field manuals for large scale incarceration of civilians, …, and the newly revised national security directive.  Perhaps we’re not supposed to look behind the curtain.

Comments

[Russ Steele]

George,

Do not forget the Department of Homeland Security has taken to the skies for its latest high-tech border security, retooling the unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a drone for civilian use. These new drones are base on the latest military weapons technology. The drone has been turned into a new civilian, eyes-in-the-sky border protection instrument.

This program is operated by the Office of Air and Marine, a division of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency within the Homeland Security Department responsible for securing the nation's borders.
Now there is no reason that those drones cannot be used internally to spy on groups that Homeland thinks are domestic terror organizations like ex-military organizations including Viet Nam Vets of America, or even local Tea Party Patriot organizations, and the the Preper’s that are organizing in the County.

The questions is could Homeland Security arm these drones and use them against domestic civilian targets. I understand that they have created a civilian drone training range in the Dakotas.

Here is evidence from a newspaper report. “Government surveillance drones have been used, with no public notice, to assist local police departments inside the U.S. find suspects and conduct. A Los Angeles Times/ Tribune Co. Washington Bureau investigation uncovered for the first time over two dozen uses of the Department of Homeland Security drones to help local law enforcement in North Dakota, where two of the department's nine Predator B aircraft are based.”

[Walt]

WOW,, these are those MRAPS. The same ones the EOD guys use.
They are just about IED proof. They weigh in at about 20 tons.
I also question the need on U.S soil. We know full well they won't be used on our Southern boarder where it would be justified to have them.
On the other hand, maybe someone sees rioting in the streets
when our own austerity measures will have to be taken.
We are not far from Greece at this point. You can bet
when the checks stop flowing from other people's hard work,(entitlements) the cut off recipients will be more than peeved.
" How dare they cut off our free money"

[George Rebane]

RussS 157pm - all good points. I have covered much of this already in RR, especially on the drones, and I tried to keep the post short - perhaps too short. Amplifications such as yours will properly fill out this report.

Walt 340pm - Agreed.

[TomKenworth]

It would be ironic, wouldn't it, if Obama did the rampup, and Romney came along and made use of it, protecting the the .01% while people starve.

[Michael Anderson]

What is with you guys?? This crap has been around for the last 15 years! Obama is the guy responsible for bringing fascism to America!?!? Wow, that is really rich.

This is the inexorable path, we are now at the end game after 60 years of post-WWII failed national policy. The guy in the White House today is irrelevant, just like Romney would be if he were elected (which he won't).

There are no re-education camps, the DHS is not trying to round you up, and all of this vitriol is completely counter-productive.

[George Rebane]

MichaelA 823pm - well that's a relief. Henceforth, our glad repose will be in Pax Andersona.

[TomKenworth]

Our failure to move forward on energy has now resulted in this: http://www.americankabuki.blogspot.com/2012/09/dollar-no-longer-primary-oil-currency.html#more

Yup another left wing talking point.

[Michael Anderson]

I love that...Pax Andersona. Please run that by Stratfor for flight worthiness.

What I'm saying is that we are re-inventing America's foreign policy so that we can afford it, but also remain an effective hegemon. It's a fine line.

I think we need to give up on Iran. They have the bomb. Get over it. Israel has 200 nukes, in various weaponized forms. If Iran steps out of line, MAD takes over.

Weaponizing the rest of Middle East with atomic devices is another problem entirely. We have to keep up the pressure to ensure that other middle eastern countries don't go nuclear.

None of this is easy work, and there will be plenty of unpleasant events in the coming decades. But ideologues make things worse, so let's work very hard to diminish their influence, wherever they are.

[George Rebane]

MichaelA 1010pm - Agreed mostly. Recall my use of ideologue is the precise one (see G&S), and not the language degraded pejorative version. An ideologue is a person with a structured and communicable belief system that can serve as the basis for profitable debate among those who understand.

My wish is to maximize the number of thoughtful ideologues of goodwill in positions of influence. I want them to share their ideologies (or credos) with the rest of us so that we can evaluate the role they play in public life, and support them or not.

[George Rebane]

TomK 941pm - thank you for that important find. Indeed it will affect a sea change. Right now we should be happy that they don't have that much oil to sell. BTW, I was not able to find any explicit mention of it on WSJ - strange.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703791904576076082178393532.html

[Earl Crabb]

Don't you guys read the newspaper? Homeland Security is going all out to prepare for the inevitable zombie attack that Hollywood has been warning us about for decades. Don't bother with hoarding garlic and mirrors, those only work with vampires. Zombies can only be dispatched by removing the head, which is mostly empty. Hence the zombie chant, "Must eat brains!" The way things are going, those zombies may starve to death.

[billy T]

The Duke of Earl is on to something. Today is the one year anniversary of the OWS movement and it is looking more like zombies on the streets of New York for their one day mutant fest. Speaking of movements, nothing beats a nice smooth consistent movement in the morning. 6 weeks to go to the election and the zombies are back.

[THEMIKEYMCD]

I hold out hope that if/when our men/women in military are asked to fire upon their own that they refuse.

However, the armed goons at the USDA/EPA/CARB/DOE/DHS/etc scare the hell out of me (their value structure puts humans notches below red-legged frogs).

[TomKenworth]

Only Washington DC is safe from the Zombie attacks.

They'd starve to death, given how few brains there are.

[George Rebane]

Not to worry Mikey (750am), according to our astute observer of human nature, Bro Crabb (540am and his blog), the armed goons will only attack the ends of the political spectrum (starting with the Right). If you want to be safe, then migrate toward the middle where there is no insanity or ineptitude, only the peace and contentment of a self-fulfilling muddle.

Has anyone thought about from where these goons will be recruited? The USSR stationed troops from distant 'republics' to keep local populations in control, since they didn't hesitate to shoot when ordered. That might not work in America. Consider cross-cultural agents in our multi-cultural land, that may work for surgically excising the undesireds. But then I keep forgetting, it can't happen in America.

[TomKenworth]

And of course for soldiers to attack Americans, you've left out the notion of using robots, either remote guided by hired foreigners, or autonomous. Drones coming home to roost, by Air, Sea, and Land.

[George Rebane]

TomK 929am - thanks for mentioning them. Actually, I have covered these threats to domestic tranquility in many previous posts. In this one I wanted to highlight the significant marginal threat that these armored fighting vehicles portend. Their design, number, and nationwide distribution begs the question of their obvious mission.

[Dixon Cruickshank]

A couple points to touch on:

Crabby on this zoobie thing, is the dead give away an Obama sticker?

Mr Anderson after Obama has let the Iranians have them exactly how and which countries will not be allowed to have them next?

After all the ammunition purchases by every Dept including weather and the release of these things, all the drones this second term sounds like a doozy.
I can't really imagine any prior Pres in history that would even think we might need those or pre-order them - anybody??? I guess thats why we don't hear anything of the plans for the next term.

[Russ Steele]

Additional purchase includes bullets designated for snipers --Infowars.com

"Following controversy over its purchase of around 1.2 billion bullets in the last six months alone, the Department of Homeland Security has put out a new solicitation for over 200 million more rounds of ammunition, some of which are designated to be used by snipers."

Just thought that you should know.

[Russ Steele]

The Department of Homeland Security has announced in a solicitation to drone manufacturers that it will begin testing “Robotic Aircraft For Public Safety” at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, indicating that small spy drones will be used to keep tabs on Americans in the near future.

As Infowars reported back in July, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told a House Committee on Homeland Security that the federal agency was “looking at drones that could be utilized to give us situational awareness in a large public safety [matter] or disaster.”

This represented an about-face of sorts for the agency, which had previously been reticent about the idea of using surveillance drones to spy on the public.

[George Rebane]

RussS 534pm - Think goose gun.