Loss of Privacy

Members of the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan might be redeployed on American soil for use in surveillance and border patrol. These newly created positions would attempt to fill the expected unemployment problem of returning soldiers by employing them to operate satellite communications and blimps as well as other emerging technologies such as drone deployment.

With the drawdown of troops overseas, the Pentagon will have excess equipment and extra personnel to offer the nation, just as DHS Customs and Border Protection takes another stab at building a virtual fence across the southwest border. This turn of events prompted a House subcommittee Wednesday to invite Defense and Homeland Security department officials to share their plans on adapting military systems for domestic use. Curbing illegal immigration, drug smuggling and other criminal activity along U.S. boundaries is a key campaign issue.

The idea behind the plan is that these soldiers already know how to use this equipment, which would save thousands, if not millions in training.

Paul Stockton, assistant secretary of Defense for homeland defense and Americas’ security affairs, told the panel, “We have a historic opportunity with the drawdown operations outside the United States to continue to press forward to find ways of supporting the Department of Homeland Security — so the military technology that the taxpayer has already paid to develop, that we find ways of transferring that technology.”

If there isn’t a need to support the Department of Homeland Security, why not disband it and save the country billions of dollars in the process? Looking for ways to legitimize its existence is only going to further the waste of taxpayer dollars.

While some disagree with military personnel being deployed on US borders, it appears that the only feasible recourse at this point in time is to employ honorably discharged soldiers who already know how to use this equipment. The United States is determined to create their virtual fence along its northern and southern borders. If this policy continues, then, not only is it financially feasible, but common sense to hire men and women who are already equipped with the knowledge of handling such machines.

The DHS, TSA, and CBP want to improve its tarnished image. After the criticism that has befallen the TSA since last fall when they mass-introduced full body scanners, it’s no surprise that they are now universally hated. The problem, however, is that the TSA can never improve their image as long as they continue to introduce draconian security measures followed by even more extreme responses when people object to being treated as manhandled cattle.

Read the rest of my article at The Daily Censored.

More than 80 U.S. Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers have been arrested in the last five years for accepting payments from Mexican drug cartels to look the other way.

“It is the single most debilitating factor in successful law enforcement on the border, and we do a horrible job of weeding that corruption out,” says retired DEA supervisor Anthony Coulson.

At a U.S. Senate hearing, it was revealed that Mexican cartel members are infiltrating American law enforcement. There was also testimony that during a hiring push that began five years ago to add thousands of Border Patrol and CBP officers, only 10 percent of the initial applicants were given polygraph tests.

Of those, 60 percent failed, raising concerns about the integrity of the others hired without screening.

The problem doesn’t just affect CBP and Border Patrol. It’s affecting local authorities as well.

In South Texas, former Sheriffs Conrado Cantu and Reymundo Guerra were jailed for helping Mexican smugglers, while in nearby Zapata County, Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez says corruption is rampant.

To try to stem the corruption, President Obama recently signed a law requiring polygraph tests for all border patrol and customs law enforcement job applicants. Additionally, thirteen FBI anti-corruption teams now keep an eye on the 2,000-mile-long border, policing the police.

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The question remains as to why this was not done in the first place. It is the obvious and logical thing to do, yet doing background checks and polygraphs on potential employees didn’t seem pertinent at the time. It’s idiotic to hire people who will be close to corruption and not check them out in the first place.

This is the war on drugs, folks. It’s unnecessary and it’s costing people their livelihoods and continues to make a farce out of the United States.

I normally wouldn’t do this as I usually listen to Waking up Orwell and move on with my day, but I felt compelled to share this episode.

BTC – A new house bill sponsored by Rep. Bishop (R-UT) would allow a DHS policy waiver of 36 federal laws to construct US border fences to become law.  The National Security and Federal Lands Protection bill would change border definitions, expanding the reach of federal border enforcement 100 miles inland from coast to coast.  

If you live or travel within the 100 mile area of border, US laws do not apply. If passed, there’s nothing to say that the 100 mile limit won’t be moved further inland. The bill is unconstitutional and Congress needs to know that its citizens will not put up with laws that violate the Constitution.

Waking up Orwell is created by Beat the Chip. It’d be worth your time to check out both and keep yourself informed. You should also not forget to write to your representatives and tell them not to vote for this bill.

A Canadian woman is now suing two female U.S. border guards in Detroit for an unreasonable search conducted at the border in 2010.

In March 2010, Loretta Van Beek was travelling to Savannah, Ga., where she owns a small vacation home, when she was pulled over by customs agents at the Ambassador Bridge, across the river from Windsor, Ont.

Van Beek, 46, told CBC News she was sent to secondary inspection when customs officers found a few raspberries in her car that she’d forgotten to declare. After more than an hour of questions, Van Beek was told she was being denied entry on suspicion that she was living illegally in the U.S.

Van Beek said she was marched into a holding cell by two female agents and ordered to remove her shirt and stand spread-eagled against the wall.

“She was squeezing my nipples, etc., for a very long time, unnecessary attention,” Van Beek said of one of the agents. “It was sexual — using her fingertips, not back of hand like you would expect.”

Then she said the search became even more invasive.

“She ran her hands in my lower region,” Van Beek said.

Van Beek claims the guard shoved her hand inside her genital area while the other officer watched.

She said they photographed her and took her fingerprints, then sent her back to Canada.

Though this happened nearly a year ago, it highlights the extent and length of invasive searches by US Customs and Border Patrol officers.

The CBP’s comment exemplify who so many people are distrustful of them.

We rely upon the judgment of our individual CBP officers to use their discretion as to the extent of examination necessary. However, CBP officers are expected to conduct their duties in a professional manner and to treat each traveller with dignity and respect.”

A spokesperson said a strip-search is allowed when there is reason to believe someone is hiding something on his or her body, and the person has to be told the reason.

CBP’s actions in this matter are also questionable. If she had a few raspberries, why not toss them, check Van Beek’s car and send her on her way? She probably just forgot she had them. It happens. Also, why would they need to do a strip search? If she was going to hide anything, she’d hide it in the car.

There is also the fact that they believed she was living illegally in the US, yet it doesn’t appear that CBP ever attempted to see if she really had a vacation home. A simple check would have returned results that she came to America often to stay at her vacation home in Georgia.

Even if it was true she was living illegally in America, why was she subjected to a secondary search? It appears that it was a random stop, but the raspberries still do not warrant the indignity that Ms. Van Beek suffered.