Why does DHS consider activists criminals and are they spying on our safe deposit boxes? (Updated)

Update: On April 2, 2013 I asked a bank manager if they could confirm the supposed DHS safe deposit memo. The manager told me they were not aware of any such memo and we had a frank discussion about the alleged memo. She mentioned liability & logistics issues such as drilling or lockpicking every safe deposit box as being a main reason why a bank wouldn't do it. There is also the cost factor associated with having to repair or hire a professional to pick every box. Would profit driven banks spend profits opening every customers boxes?

According to InvestmentWatch and Alex Jones a secret DHS memo to banks claims they can open any safe deposit box or storage unit without a warrant. This story originally came out sometime in 2011 and was posted by Know The Lies and numerous other sites. It's hard to track down where this alleged story originated from, I haven't been able to find any documents to back up these claims. In the 2011 article they referenced a CRS report titled "Homeland Security: Banking and Financial Infrastructure Continuity"  

I couldn't find any reference to DHS prying open our safe deposit boxes or storage units. (wouldn't this open banks up to tons of lawsuits?)

I did however find a DHS banking & financial sector report from 2011 my findings are listed below.

According to DHS's 2011 Sector Critical Infrastructure Protection Annual Report (for the banking & financial sector)

The report makes no mention of DHS spying on our safe deposit boxes, it does however show they know everything about your electronic transactions, insurance, buying habits.

(Page 4) "Through direct mandates and regulatory authority, Federal and State financial regulators have specific regulatory tools that they can implement in response to a crisis that affects the sector’s business functions. In addition, the Department of the Treasury, FBIIC, FSSCC, FS-ISAC, and regional partners have developed and continue to implement numerous protective, investigative, and responsive programs to meet the Financial Services Sector’s goals. The protective programs range from developing and testing robust emergency communication protocols, to identifying critical Financial Services Sector threats, to addressing cybersecurity threats and risk mitigation strategies.
The Financial Services Sector includes public and private institutions involved in carrying out the primary sector functions of depositing funds, making payments, providing credit and liquidity, investing, and transferring financial risk.
The sector covers the following 11 organization types, which are further broken down into157 specific business functions:

- Clearinghouses
- Commercial banks
- Credit rating agencies
- Electronic payment companies
- Exchanges/electronic communication networks
- Financial advisory services
- Financial utilities
-Government and industry regulators
- Government-subsidized entities
- Insurance firms
- Investment banks
- Merchants
- Retail banks"

DHS & the banking/finance sector consider activists & hacktivists criminals:

(Page 8) “Each of these risks has specific meaning to applicable systems and critical functions that should be individually applied by organization type and business function.
 

The sector looks at manmade physical and cyber risk in terms of the threat actors, motivation, methodology/means for attack, and potential impacts of their activity against the sector. Over the past two years, there has been a significant increase in cyber threat activity from a variety of threat actors, Including the following:

- Nation states

- State sponsored/affiliated groups

- Terrorists

- Organized criminals, and Activists and hacktivists."

The cozy gov't./private sector relationship is encouraged by DHS: “The Financial Services Sector is committed to the public-private partnership”.

(Page 18) "The Financial Services Sector is committed to the public-private partnership and appreciates the significant interest and resources devoted by both the private and public sectors. These efforts are numerous and often in need of a mechanism for better coordination in terms of allocating scarce resources in both the public and private sectors. There is a need to develop a strategy to better focus efforts and coordination so that we use our collective resources most efficiently and effectively. Developing clear mechanisms for coordinating across multiple government agencies and industry participants will advance outcomes, encourage participation, and improve efficiency. When possible, all such activities should be coordinated through the Department of the Treasury as the SSA, per the NIPP requirement."

Source: http://www.fsscc.org/fsscc/reports/2011/SAR-2011.pdf

For more info: Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council (FSSCC) http://www.fsscc.org/fsscc/