Guest editorial: It’s not the bullets, baby

It’s not the bullets, baby
by Chet Nagle

 In 2008 candidate Obama said, “We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” Listen to it. [link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s ] After he was elected in 2008, President Obama never again mentioned his “national security objectives,” or the “national security force” he wanted to create. Was that 2008 statement just an applause line? Not really, citizen, not really.

The president has never again mentioned his “national security force” or his “national security objectives,” and because mainstream media has never questioned him, Americans have two choices: Forget it and trust the White House, or examine actions of the Obama administration over the last five years. If we look closely, a pattern emerges.

To begin, there are those massive Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ammunition buys. One contract is for 450 million rounds, according to the ammo company, ATK [http://s.tt/1rCHc]. With just this one contract, DHS buys 90 million rounds per year of 40-caliber pistol ammo. There are other contracts, some with parts blacked out by DHS, but that cover ammunition for 9mm pistols, shotguns, .308-caliber sniper rifles, and other weapons. These ammunition contracts surfaced last year, and some analysts calculated the total to exceed 1.6 billion rounds! There are websites laced with links to DHS ammo contracts. [http://www.infowars.com/dhs-purchases-200-million-more-rounds-of-ammunition/ ] The official explanation for these contracts is that DHS agents need the bullets for “mandatory quarterly firearms qualifications and other training sessions.” No explanation is given for the bullets that have expensive and deadly hollow-points that are not used for target practice, and no explanation for the sniper rifle ammunition. Interestingly, a comparison of these amounts with records of ammunition used by U.S. forces in battle in Iraq — 5.5 million rounds per month — gives a rough calculation that DHS has enough ammo to fight a thirty-year war. Since DHS does not operate in Iraq, who is the enemy in America they plan to shoot?

There are many other DHS contracts for things like: armored fighting vehicles, bullet-proof booths for street check-points, bullet-proof vests, riot gear, 7,000 fully automatic AR-15 rifles, and over $30 billion in grants to cooperating local police forces for military-style equipment. In 2011, the DHS budget was $98.8 billion, but they spent only $66.4 billion. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security ]

Then there are those viral Internet rumors about internment camps. Before you think, “Right wing extremist propaganda,” remember those 110,000 Japanese-American citizens in 1941. By Executive Order of President Roosevelt, they spent four years in “relocation” camps built in rural areas from the Mississippi to Hawaii. Even Canada, our very liberal northern neighbor, uprooted 27,000 Japanese-Canadians from their homes and scattered them into 22 camps across western Canada.

Of course, “It can’t happen here.” Nevertheless, KBR (former Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root) is soliciting support teams for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) camps. The KBR descriptive document [ http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/fema-camps.pdf ] is for services for the camps in five FEMA “regions” of the United States. (It has a map of those regions.)

And the U.S. Army issued a 326 page manual, Internment and Resettlement Operations? [ http://publicintelligence.net/restricted-u-s-army-internment-and-resettlement-operations-manual/ ] It might be just a manual for army camps holding foreign prisoners of war, except for the sections under “Civil Support Operations,” and how the Army will handle “DCs,” that is, Dislocated Civilians. It details how Psychological Operations Officers will “reduce or remove antagonistic attitudes,” including “muffling” (gagging) agitators. The manual clearly states it applies within “the U.S. and its territories,” and that the Posse Comitatus Act prohibiting using U.S. soldiers as a police force in America can be sidestepped by the president “invoking his executive authority.”

Some argue President Obama and DHS will not ignore constitutional limits on their authority. They are wrong. For example, the Fourth Amendment guarantees “the people have a right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures…” and a warrant is required that describes the place, person or thing to be seized. The Obama administration don’t need no stinkin’ warrants. Instead, DHS states that if you live within 100 miles of a U.S. international border, DHS can seize and search all your electronic devices including cell phones, tablets, and laptops – without probable cause or a warrant. They call it “the border security search zone.” This ‘search zone’ includes entire states: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, plus large parts of New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Take them to court, you say? It might be difficult to do after you are arrested under provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and denied habeas corpus and a public trial before a jury of your peers.

Rob Natelson, former professor of law at the University of Montana, has written a masterful analysis [ http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2012/02/06/ndaa-sections-1021-and-1022-scary-potential/ ] of how Congress surrendered the right to due process to President Obama, giving him power under the NDAA to detain American citizens indefinitely.

Now look at the president’s Executive Orders (EO). On 16 March 2012, President Obama issued EO, National Defense Resources Preparedness. [http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order…] It states the president can seize all the resources in the nation (food, water, transportation, etc.) “to promote the national defense,” another undefined phrase. On 6 July 2012, this power was combined with EO, Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/06/executive-order-assignment-national-security-and-emergency-preparedness-  that gives DHS the power to control the Internet to “satisfy priority communications requirements through the use of commercial, Government, and privately owned communications resources, when appropriate.” The words “when appropriate” are not defined.

So let’s add it up:

1. DHS has 270,000 personnel including an army of 70,000 armed agents. Among other things, it controls the Internet and all communications.
2. An Army manual says Posse Comitatus will be sidestepped by the president so uniformed troops can become national police.
3. FEMA camps are being organized and serviced.
4.  The 4th and 10th Amendments are ignored by DHS, and the 2nd Amendment’s ‘right to bear arms,’ is under vigorous attack.
5. Executive Orders enable the president to control food, utilities, and the Internet. When grocery stores are empty, citizens must go to FEMA camps for bread and water. (Leave your guns at the door, please.)
6. A “civilian national security force” that candidate Obama wanted in 2008 is now the DHS, and it takes orders from President Obama.

So it is not just DHS ammo. To those billions of bullets, add the power government agents have to take control of the Republic, “when appropriate.” Get ready to hear: “I’m from DHS, and I’m here to help you.”

Chet Nagle is a graduate of the Naval Academy, a former Pentagon official, a former CIA agent, and the author of Iran Covenant.