DHS the largest law enforcement agency in the country is only getting worse
DHS is the third-largest agency in the federal government, behind only the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense.
In addition to protecting America’s borders and airports, DHS is interrogating people suspected of pirating movies at Ohio theaters, seizing counterfeit NBA merchandise in San Antonio and working pickpocket cases alongside police in Albuquerque. Homeland Security agents are visiting elementary schools and senior centers to warn of dangers lurking on the Internet.
DHS Agents are investigating movie piracy and counterfeit merchandise, as well as going after small-time criminals who pickpocket.
They’re even spending time at schools and senior centers telling children and the elderly to beware of crooks and perverts on the Internet.
All of this “mission creep” has government watchdogs, civil libertarians and even the agency’s first cabinet secretary questioning DHS’s direction.
Some government watchdogs and civil liberties advocates – and even the nation’s first Department of Homeland Security secretary – question how those actions serve the purpose set forth in the 2002 law.
“They’ve kind of lost their way,” former Secretary Tom Ridge told the Journal in Washington this month. “I was proud to be associated with those men and women, but it just seems to me … the focus – the primary focus – has been substantially diminished.”
Meanwhile, a top Homeland Security official in Albuquerque said the department wants to enlarge its law enforcement presence – at least in New Mexico – even more.
“I really do want to expand the footprint as far as my side of Homeland Security,” said Kevin Abar, assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New Mexico.
“Too many people think we do immigration, and we don’t really do any of that at all.”
DHS Investigations falls under the jurisdiction of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and focuses “on a wide range of domestic and international activities” including financial and cyber crimes, narcotics, human smuggling and other offenses, according to the DHS website. The investigations unit has 10,000 employees and 6,700 special agents assigned to more than 200 U.S. cities and 47 foreign countries.
A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service last year found that more than a decade after the Department of Homeland Security’s creation – and despite the specific language in the law that created it – the sprawling agency still didn’t have a clear definition for “homeland security,” or a strategy for integrating the divergent missions that are supposed to achieve it. The report suggested the uncertainty could actually be compromising national security.
“The U.S. government does not have a single definition for ‘homeland security,’ ” the report said. “Multiple definitions, missions and an absence of prioritization results in consequences to the nation’s security.”
“I’ll be the first to admit, we weren’t prepared to start spending this money and supervising a project this big,” Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Papp told the news service.
Johnson-Freese said there is little evidence the department is evaluating ways to become more efficient and is instead simply seeking more responsibilities that have little to do with the tightly focused mission established in its 2002 authorizing legislation.
“This is a runaway train,” she said.
The Cato Institute’s Benjamin Friedman said that the absence of a clearly defined mission at DHS makes one question its large-scale spending. “Perfect safety is an illusion; we could spend 10 times what we spend on Homeland Security and still not approach it,” he told the Journal. “We’re spending big bucks chasing some pretty small dangers.”
http://www.abqjournal.com/390438/news/homeland-security-a-runaway-train.html
Click here to see DHS's laughable 'Privacy & Civil Liberties' report. These reports are laughable because DHS portrays themselves as respecting Americans civil liberties on the one hand & with the other they abuse our rights with checkpoints, fusion centers, MANDATORY bag searches on public streets, buses & subways, the list of abuses is nearly endless.
Click here to read how the Dept. of Defense is spying on EVERYONE it's titled “Operationalizing Intelligence Across the Global Enterprise”
DHS's top watchdog altered reports:
TheWashington Post reports that Edwards “altered and delayed investigations at the request of senior administration officials, compromising his independent role as an inspector general.” Additionally, he “routinely shared drinks and dinner with department leaders and gave them information about the timing and findings of investigations.” Charles Edwards, who served as acting DHS inspector general from 2011 through 2013, routinely shared drinks and dinner with department leaders and gave them inside information about the timing and findings of investigations, according to the report from an oversight panel of the Homeland Security and Government Operations Committee.
"We found that Mr. Edwards was a compromised inspector general . . . who was not exercising real oversight," said Sen. Ronald Johnson of Wisconsin, the ranking Republican on the Financial and Contracting Oversight subcommittee, which led the investigation of Edwards's tenure. "Any report generated out of his office would be suspect."
A year-long bipartisan investigation by the panel also found that Edwards improperly relied on the advice of top political advisers to then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and acquiesced to their suggestions about the wording and timing of three separate reports. One senior aide said Edwards ordered changes to a March 2012 report about Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the request of senior DHS officials, according to the Senate inquiry. The report dealt with complaints that senior DHS officials intentionally misled Congress and the public about a new program to identify illegal immigrants called Secure Communities, and whether local law enforcement was required to participate.http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/homeland-securitys-top-watchdog-altered-reports-senate/c03d9eef5b015793671dfb296e39a9f1
DHS ignores FOIA requests, forces ACLU to sue for records on illegal border patrol enforcement inside U.S.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona claims the Department of Homeland Security simply ignored requests for public records on Border Patrol activities that took place well within the U.S. border.
The ACLU previously has alleged that such patrols amount to harassment of southern Arizona residents. The organization has claimed that residents driving as far away as 60 miles from the southern border have been stopped by Border Patrol agents, without any indication that the driver was coming from the border or doing anything illegal.
In January, an ACLU attorney and two attorneys from the University of Arizona law school filed the records requests, seeking information on these "roving patrols," including any documentation of policy, reports, organizational materials, records of any stops, and more.
ACLU officials say today that both requests were "completely ignored."
The federal lawsuit seeking the records notes that the New York Civil Liberties Union obtained information on similar patrols in that state through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The result of that request showed those patrols also took place far from the border, and about 1 percent of those stops resulted in immigration-related removal proceedings.
"The failure of DHS to produce the documents requested by Plaintiffs violates the FOIA and impedes Plaintiffs' efforts to educate the public on the many questions that remain regarding the full extent and impact of wide-ranging interior enforcement operations conducted by the largest law enforcement agency in the country.," the lawsuit states.
The ACLU's asking the court to order that DHS immediately process and release the records.
"We shouldn't have to go as far as filing a lawsuit to get these records," UA professor Derek Bambauer says in a statement. "This is public information about a matter of pressing public concern. We cannot allow DHS and Border Patrol to continue operating in our communities without being subject to public scrutiny."
“It’s outrageous that the leaders of the nation’s largest law enforcement agency think that they can simply ignore lawful requests for public information,” Lyall said. “For Border Patrol to be held accountable they have to be transparent. But the agency consistently refuses to share basic information with the American people while rights violations are rampant.”
In addition to the "roving patrols," the ACLU also filed a civil-rights complaint back in 2012, on behalf of 11 people who claimed various abuses at the actual ports of entry at the southern border.
According to this lawsuit, the ACLU never received a substantive response to that complaint, leading them to believe, "DHS oversight agencies have not kept pace with Border Patrol's rapid growth and are ill-equipped to provide transparent and effective agency oversight and accountability for rights violations by agents."
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2014/04/aclu_sues_homeland_security_fo.php
DHS cancels plans for failed $1 Billion BioWatch technology:
Amid concerns about its effectiveness and multibillion-dollar cost, DHS has canceled plans to install an automated technology that was meant to speed the 24-hour operations of BioWatch, the national system for detecting a biological attack.
The cancellation of the "Generation 3" acquisition was made Thursday at the direction of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, according to a memorandum circulated by Michael V. Walter, the BioWatch program manager.
Homeland Security officials earlier had told companies interested in supplying the technology that it would spend $3.1 billion for it during the first five years of operation.
To date, the overall BioWatch program has cost taxpayers more than $1.1 billion.
Walter said in his memo that the department "remains committed to the BioWatch program and the importance of improving our early warning and detection technologies."
A Homeland Security spokesman, S.Y. Lee, said the cancellation reflected a commitment to "cost-effective acquisition without compromising our security."
Articles published by the Los Angeles Times in 2012 and 2013 reported numerous deficiencies with BioWatch. They also pointed out shortcomings with the new technology's durability and reliability.
For instance, automated prototypes installed in the New York subway system in 2007 and 2008 produced multiple false readings, prompting a city police official to order their removal.
In 2011, field testing in Chicago of a second prototype found that it could not operate independently, without manual servicing, for more than a week at a time.
The GAO review remains ongoing. A September 2012 GAO report estimated that annual costs to operate Generation 3 would be "about four times more" than for the existing BioWatch system.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-biowatch-20140426,0,4684978.story#ixzz30NUDT3Mw
Former DHS adviser heads new Target chip-to-Pin REDCard:
Users of Target’s REDcard will find that newly issued replacement cards are equipped with the chip-to-pin (CPCs) RFID technology thanks to MasterCard (MC).
The National Retail Federation (NRF) wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner to implore Congress to adopt the chip-to-pin (CPIN) cards with legislative backing in order to ensure the public is protected by the federal government against hackers.
But not against NSA/DHS spying and gaining access to all your information.
Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the NRF wrote : “Our partners in the financial sector have a critical role to play in making sure their cards are secure,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in the letter. “For years, banks have continued to issue fraud-prone magnetic stripe cards to U.S. customers, putting sensitive financial information at risk while simultaneously touting the security benefits of next generation ‘Pin and chip’ card technology for customers in Europe and dozens of other markets.”
Target is currently “in the process” of making this change as a “renewed commitment to information security” following the recent major data breach that resulted in customer information syphoned by hackers.
Trusting DHS with consumer security is like trusting the NSA not to lie to the public and we all know how that went.
Bob DeRodes is replacing Beth Jacobs as chief information officer (CIO) and leader of this CPC charge. By next year, all Target REDcards will be embedded with chips with customers having to enter their PIN to “complete the transaction”.
DeRodes has been a senior information technology adviser to:
• The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
• US Secretary of Defense • US Department of Justice (DoJ)
DeRodes will be responsible for:
• Enhancing monitoring and logging with more rules, alerts and centralized feeds
• Point-of-sale systems that whitelist applications
• New network firewall rules and a governance process
• Limiting vendor access
• Reset 445,000 Target employee and contractor passwords
http://www.occupycorporatism.com/home/former-dhs-adviser-heads-new-target-chip-pin-redcard/
