By Douglas J. Hagmann
– Satire
John Pistole, head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), granted this writer an exclusive interview late yesterday to discuss the Obama clown mask incident at the Missouri State Fair that caused an uproar among the Progressive left. Speaking from his summer home in 1936 Germany, Pistole stated that the Obama clown mask incident serves as a perfect example that illustrates the need for TSA expansion to other venues beyond airports, and the reason the TSA specifically named rodeos as a venue of coverage in their recent announcement.
“Rodeos, they’re a breeding ground for domestic terrorists as defined by the DHS lexicon. The ‘land mines’ left by the unconditioned bovines are a clear and present danger to positive government sentiment,” said Pistole, who noted that some rodeo members compared the olfactory assault to Washington policies. “We can’t have that now, can we,” he asked rhetorically.
In this rare and unusually candid interview, Pistole told this author that “this incident would have never happened with TSA presence on site. As the American public knows, our only concern is their safety, and this clown was clearly a threat to fair-goers,” he stated. “Had the TSA been present, no Obama masks would have ever gotten through our security checkpoints. Our agents are highly trained to find latex and certain kinds of offensive plastic products, including any that might be secreted into private crevices to circumvent security. And because these items are able to conform to one’s body, they represent an even greater threat to the public,” said Pistole. “This is the reason that the TSA screening procedure of the public must become even invasive and intrusive,” he emphasized. “It’s a matter of public safety.”
Asking what actions the TSA has taken in light of the bull at the fair, Pistole stated, “due to the outrage being exploited over this incident, I immediately ordered the TSA in Missouri to work with the FBI, CIA, FEMA, and PETA to place the clown, the announcer and even the bull in ‘Schutzhaft,’ err, I mean, protective custody. While in protective custody, the clown and fair announcer have been ordered to undergo reeducation training at the FEMA region III Reeducation Center for Crimes against the State.”
Almost as quickly as Pistole made that statement, he asked that it be removed from the record. In a moment of refreshing candor which has become a hallmark of this administration, Mr, Pistole confessed that he had just returned from Martha’s Vineyard, where he was copiously drinking VARBs, or the popular ‘power drink’ consisting of vodka and Red Bull, with ‘Barack, Valerie, and Janet.’ Chuckling, Pistole said, “hey, that’s ironic, isn’t it. I mean vodka and Red Bull, and we’re talking about…” his voice suddenly trailed off and was briefly silenced by the sound of ice cubes striking the bottom of an empty glass.
“The TSA needs to be proactive on this matter,” stated Pistole. “I’ve also contacted Lois Lerner at home and instructed her to launch an aggressive and comprehensive tax audit of everyone involved in the fair, from the clown and the announcer to the bulls themselves.” When reminded that Ms. Lerner is on administrative leave from her position as head of the IRS tax exemption section for allegedly targeting all anti-Progressive groups, Pistole chuckled and said, “no matter, she’s still got ‘the juice’ at the agency.”
When asked if he has made any additional contacts with other agencies, Pistole enthusiastically responded, “you betcha!” “Because this became an internet video, I immediately thought of Susan Rice, who now holds the position of National Security Adviser to Prophet Obama,” stated Pistole. (Catching his faux pas, he corrected himself and said, “I mean President Obama”). “Now she knows how to manage controversies surrounding internet videos,” Pistole blurted.
“I’ve asked Ms. Rice, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, to investigate this matter as a possible act of treason, and as a criminal attack on the office of the President and the homeland.” Mr. Pistole further stated that the Patriot Act, the NDAA and other laws passed by the government or implemented by executive order give the Department of Homeland Security carte blanche to operate without judicial review. “I’ve talked to John, too, about this,” (a reference to John Brennan, CIA Director). He has a special disdain for clowns, especially those defaming the office of the president. And he’s got quite a knack with obscure internet videos I’m told,” added Pistole.
Pistole also stated that he would “toss the names of all involved into the hat for consideration on ‘terrorist Tuesdays,’” a reference to the Oval Office Star Chamber drone lottery program. Pistole added that all rodeo attendees are being urged to be treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as the sight of a clown in the Obama mask being chased by a bull must have certainly caused mental trauma and ‘confusion.’” Asked about the reference to confusion, Pistole stated that the people are accustomed to seeing Obama and his ‘regime of royalty’ pushing the bull, not running from it.”
When asked about the disposition of the offending bull, Pistole stated that he is scheduled for medical castration under a little known pilot program of the Affordable Care Act. “It’s in the bill, didn’t you read it?” After taking another swig of his Red Bull and vodka, Pistole snickered and stated “rumor has it that the parts removed will be placed on a shelf in Valerie Jarrett’s office, right next to the ‘Presidential jewels’ Jarrett snagged in 2008.”
It’s bull.
By Douglas J. Hagmann
What will it take for Americans to understand how perilously close we are to permanently losing our country and way of life? Where are the real men, and where is the real American spirit? As a patriotic American who believes in the rights bestowed by our Creator and enumerated by our Constitution and Bill of Rights, I am calling on all men to take a stand and hold our elected officials accountable for their direct assault on our Constitution or their complicity in the same.
If that makes me a “domestic extremist” by definition of “Big Sis” Janet Napolitano and the DHS, I enthusiastically embrace that description.
The consequences of not fulfilling our duties as men, as Americans, and as protectors of our families and country will be more severe than anyone appears able to comprehend. The parallels between Nazi Germany under Hitler to present-day America are frighteningly real, yet few men in America appear to be concerned.
If we fail to take a stand now, what makes anyone think we will have that ability in the immediate future? If it is us who fail to act, what can we expect from a generation brainwashed by revisionist history and influenced by the progressive media?
Under Hitler, freedoms and individual liberties were repressed, and all but the elite were dehumanized through totalitarian measures employed by a “Big Brother” police state. Socialism and social programs replaced individual choice and God and religious values were removed from public life. Individual liberty became lost amid the chaos of war and leadership.
If that sounds familiar, it should.
How can a real man stand idly by at an airport and allow his wife and children to be physically and legally violated? I’ve heard many explanations for our collective acquiescence to the TSA version of the “full girlfriend experience,” but they are poor excuses.
If one flyer refuses to be violated before being allowed to fly, it will be “handled” by the TSA. If two, three, or even four stood together, there would be a dust-up, likely to be reported by the progressive media as a few malcontents throwing a monkey wrench into an otherwise effective system of security. But if everyone said “no more, not now, not ever” and stood together in support of their rights, what would happen?
We saw what would happen two years ago during the “opt-out” protest at airports across the U.S. The TSA stood down, albeit briefly, and the travelers were allowed to proceed with their rights and dignity intact. The agents of Nazification were unprepared to handle the unity of the people. Yet, despite this curtailment of invasive measures that violate our constitutional rights, the skies were free from terror incidents.
The answer here is clear. We all need to stand together, to do this again, and continue permanently until our rights and our dignity is restored. Real men must rise to the challenge, regain the American spirit and take control over themselves, their families and their rights. Like schoolyard bullies, history has shown that the power elite are afraid of the people determined to restore our republic.
Those who still hold a death grip on the right-left, democrat-republican model and the belief that the election of the GOP nominee will deliver us from the socialist state we have become, think again. The recent crafting and passage of the NDAA has the fingerprints of both parties all over it.
The extreme majority of current lawmakers and appointed officials have turned us into a surveillance state, not unlike Germany under the Nazis. Both sides of the aisle are out of control. From mobile VIPR teams stopping drivers on highways while leaving a southern border wide open, to bureaucrats expelling God from our schools, revising history, and outrageously snooping into our children’s lunches, it is time to end this madness. Real men must stand up for their families and demand the restoration of our personal rights and privacy.
Everyone must understand that what we are experiencing today has nothing to do with the security of our country. It’s all about controlling and conditioning a populace. Real men possessing the true American spirit will take a stand.
Real men must expose and deal with crony capitalism wherever it exists, whichever side of the fictitious democrat-republican, right-left paradigm it exists. The perpetrators who have looted our national coffers must be identified as the thieves that they are and brought to justice.
Real men of able body must also say no to entitlements, whether personal or corporate, and start rebuilding our nation. We must quit the handouts cold turkey, suffer the “economic detoxing” like men, and in the spirit of our forefathers, start this nation anew.
Entitlement programs have exploded under Obama, but we must remember that it is Congress that makes the laws that permit the expansion of these programs. While everyone is focused on the GOP nominee as being the potential savior of our republic, few are willing to address how our democrat and republican lawmakers are signing off on the majority of Obama’s policies.
The majority of people remain myopically ignorant that the right-left, democrat-republican paradigm still exists. One needs only to look at the mid-term elections when the republicans gained control of congress to realize that the difference is indeed an illusion, as illustrated by the actions of the newly elected. Otherwise, we would not be witnessing the continuing erosion of our constitutional rights by the very members supported and endorsed by the Tea Party and other organizations ostensibly favoring smaller government, less bureaucracy, and fiscal responsibility.
Few in congress want to trim entitlement programs for budgetary control purposes, for such programs are the very mechanisms used to control the masses. Even fewer want to end crony capitalism, as they are the benefactors of such fiscal immorality. But how many men are willing to stand up and say “enough?”
Under Hitler, entitlements exploded to budget-breaking levels, where fiscal irresponsibility was masked only by the dogs of war. Entitlements under Obama, signed off by the Tea Party-backed lawmakers, have increased exponentially. Listen, and you will hear the war drums beating once again.
The price of entitlements is high: it is an exchange for freedom and liberty. Individually and as a country, we have been betrayed by our elected officials. Nearly all of them.
We need real men to stand up and say “no more.” No more police state, no more touching my son, wife, daughter, mother or anyone under the sham of security, no more crony capitalism, and no more tolerance of the agenda that is enslaving us.” We must make it clear that we will no longer tolerate tyranny, fiscal irresponsibility, or fear brought on by illegal and unconstitutional government intrusion.
In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.” If the social and fiscal conservatives, the Tea Party, and other groups cannot or will not stand up to all tyranny, then move aside as real men must. Then, and only then, will the tyrants stand down.
By Douglas J. Hagmann
t was a year ago last week that I warned that the Department of Homeland Security was making a list of U.S. citizens who protested and urged others to protest TSA policies.
I disclosed the existence of a written directive issued through DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and TSA head John Pistole, both acting on behalf of the Obama administration, instructed TSA officials to collect the names and other relevant information of anyone who “interfered” with enhanced TSA screening procedures by speaking out against them. They were to be classified as “domestic extremists” in this data mining operation. For my assertions here and on various national news programs, I was attacked by media lapdogs, “investigative reporters,” and members of both sides of the political spectrum.
Later, my credibility was questioned when an enterprising reporter filed an FOI request and was informed that “no such document exists.” Case closed. What a surprise.
Today, some of the same people who doubted the report’s veracity are suddenly uncomfortable, concerned, or even a bit outraged that the anti-terror apparatus is now turning inward and being set up to be used against U.S. citizens. Again, what a surprise.
I am referring to Senate Bill 1867, titled the National Defense Authorization Act (for the fiscal year 2012), secretly drafted (in committee) by Senators Carl Levin and John McCain. The bill made it out of committee sans hearing and is pending a full senate vote this week.
While much of the bill deals with the mundane, sections 1031 and 1032 are raising the concerns of many, including some unlikely allies. In plain speak, those sections of the bill broadly classifies certain U.S. citizens as terrorists, and allow for military intervention against such citizens on U.S. soil.
The language of the bill is cumbersome and difficult to assess, thus creating some plausible deniability for those who support this piece of draconian legislation. Representative Justin Amash (D-MI) apparently agrees. According to Rep. Amash, the language of the bill is “carefully crafted to mislead the public.”
To those who assert that the ambiguity of the bill’s language has been fixed and addressed, he counters that “it [still] does not preclude U.S. citizens from being detained indefinitely, without charge or trial, it simply makes such detention discretionary.”
I contacted my intelligence source, who possessed the written directive that was the subject of contentious ridicule for insight into the current activities of our national security apparatus and assessment of the proposed NDAA. According to this source, the DHS is broadening its attention to include anyone who is or will be engaged or encouraging domestic unrest, whatever the reason. The net is being cast over such groups as the Tea Party, which has been under actual and electronic surveillance by the FBI and other intelligence agencies, as well as the various “occupy” groups.
Additionally and perhaps most ominous is that according to my source, “active measures are now being taken in the event of bank holidays, closures and associated unrest.”
Connect the dots. Look at who this bill will ultimately benefit and protect, and who it is intended to stifle. Follow the money, or what’s left of it, before it disappears.
By Douglas J. Hagmann
By now, most Americans have learned about the existence of a “kill or capture list,” or a list of people who presumably have sufficiently demonstrated their ill intent or deeds against the United States of America. As average Americans and civilized people of the West, it is likely that we envision those on such a list as the very faces of evil themselves and deserving of the full weight of ultimate justice that the U.S. has to offer. That justice can be delivered from afar, from a drone that the name on the list will never hear or see, or up close and personal. The method is dictated by circumstances.
According to the release of a document by our government with the self-proclaimed most transparent administration at the helm, the list is created and maintained by a secretive panel of unnamed government officials consisting of a subset of the White House National Security Council. There is no public record of the panel’s operations or decisions, nor is there any U.S. law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate.
Further queries into the list-making process revealed that recommendations are made by a committee of mid-level National Security Council officials, which are then sent to an NSC “panel of principals” for final approval. The “principals” are an apparent reference to NSC unit chiefs and Cabinet secretaries; however, it is important to note that this panel “could have different memberships when considering different operational issues.” This is chilling considering the vague nature of not only who merits inclusion on this list but by the ambiguity of exactly who is making such a list and the suggestion that membership in this turbo-charged star chamber may change.
As Americans, we’ve been lulled into a process of conditioning that our government knows best. We’ve willfully abandoned the U.S. Constitution as the ultimate rule of law. With this administration in particular, that abandonment began with collusion from both sides of the political aisle relative to the lack of proper authentication of Obama’s eligibility to hold office.
The constitution continued to suffer the most egregious attacks under this administration as we willingly forfeited the rights and liberties afforded us by the constitution in exchange for the illusion of security. Although this exchange progressed methodically since the 9/11 attacks when we were told of the need for the extra-judicial Patriot Act because of the asymmetrical nature of the war which was thrust upon us, it was placed on the progressive fast track under Obama. Unlike under the Bush administration, few seemed to notice – or care. Beyond the unprecedented level of submission to governmental control by Americans, I submit that there is also something else in play here. It’s intentional conditioning.
This process of conditioning or acclimation has apparently escaped the majority of Americans who appear to be otherwise preoccupied with the next winner of Dancing with the Stars or whatever else is diverting the attention of an already attention-deficient public. Regardless of the nature of the diversion, it is evident that we have been conditioned to accept government-created “hit lists” and all of the related ambiguity to this process as the new “normal.”
To best illustrate the process of conditioning, simply look at our nation’s airports. Even before 9/11, for example, air travelers were conditioned to the sight of metal detectors for the alleged security of the flying public. After acclimation to the sight of the tools and the security process itself, security measures were increased to shoe removal of all passengers. Once conditioned to the removal of footwear, the rights of American citizens became exponentially more violated through invasive pat-downs and nuclear scans with equipment possessing a dubious safety record.
Unbelievably, few objected to this warrantless search and the voluntary surrender of their constitutional rights and even gleefully accepted being treated as “grope-a-dopes” in the name of security. Notice that the insufficient objections to these practices have permitted their expansion beyond airport property and are now being placed on our streets, in our malls, and stadiums.
Now in the name of security and at the whim of a nameless and faceless oligarchy, we are permitting a virtual “open season” on American citizens being labeled as our enemies without so much as the right to a trial inherently afforded by our constitution. The sinister system of acclimation and conditioning, as illustrated in our airports, has appeared to give license to more egregious violations of our rights and liberties to the extent that we are permitting the creation of a modern-day star chamber.
It was and is not about security but conditioning. If this shadow government is permitted to continue to operate, we will soon be unable to recognize our Constitution, our rights, or even ourselves.
True enough, our enemies today don’t wear the uniforms of a hostile nation and may well be American citizens. On the battlefield, they must be identified and terminated with prejudice. The security of our nation is paramount. We can and must protect our great country and citizens, however, without having to stray from the framework of laws known as our constitution. But first, we must be willing to openly and unapologetically identify our enemy without acquiescence to the oppressiveness of political correctness or the actions of an infrastructure infiltrated by individuals who adhere to the very ideology we are fighting.
Whether by well-intentioned albeit ignorant attempts to avoid offending an entire religion, by design, or a mixture of both, we now find ourselves in the position of watching our government act as judge, jury, and executioner not just by our real enemies, but by anyone deemed to be a threat to our national security. The problem lies in the identification of our enemies or, more accurately, our unwillingness to do so publicly and without apology. The alternative is that we might find our own names on an “enemies list” at the whim of a nameless, faceless cabal working outside of our constitution.
Perhaps the most important and telling of all is that the creation of this secretive star chamber has been brought to you compliments of the Obama administration. Just a few short years ago, countless progressives and liberals were in a frenzy over the legalities of our interrogation techniques, renditions, and incarcerations of terror suspects during the Bush administration. There was public outrage and were loud demands and media pressure for the Bush administration to release the legal memoranda behind these unconscionable acts. Obama himself made such demands.
Now that Obama is the overseer of policies that exceed Bush-era practices, there is virtual silence but plenty of complacency and complicity. With the future of our nation at stake, the former is shameful. The latter is unforgivable.
By Douglas J. Hagmann
Did you see the Washington Post this morning? That was the one-sentence e-mail I received yesterday from my DHS contact, who alerted me to the DHS/TSA memorandum about the domestic intelligence agency’s creating and maintaining a list of individuals who were determined to be “interfering” with the enhanced airport TSA screening procedures through their objections or “opting out” of such procedures.
In my November 23rd report titled DHS making a list, checking it twice, I wrote that the DHS, through the arm of the TSA, under the direction of Napolitano and with the full consent of Obama, was collecting the names and personal information of such individuals, labeling them as potential “domestic extremists.”
Meanwhile, the very same agency was busily averting an uprising by air travelers and a potential public relations nightmare by temporarily suspending their draconian security measures during one of the busiest travel times of the year.
This tactic was first disclosed by Alex Jones and was widely reported at airports across the country, further confirming that the measures enacted are all about the total behavioral control of the populace and have little to do with air security. Mockingly and in what could be considered borderline delusional, the TSA and the corporate media actually reported that the “opt-out” day had turned into a TSA appreciation day.
Monday’s edition of the Washington Post featured an article titled Monitoring America, which was the result of an investigation by columnists Dana Priest, William Arkin, and staff researcher Julie Tate, which confirms that the U.S. Government ” is building a vast repository [of the names and personal information] of Americans and legal residents who are not accused of any crime.” Inclusion on the list appears to involve a rather broad and arbitrary definition of¬† someone acting suspiciously as interpreted by a law enforcement officer or even a neighbor.
The Washington Post article identifies the collection of names and profiles of Americans as the new Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative, or SAR for short. When a “suspicious” incident is observed or reported, information about you is collected, either through direct questioning or by more covert means, such as running your license plate through a state DMV database or even photographic surveillance for facial recognition purposes.
What happens next, however, is perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this story.
Even if the reported activity is deemed to be completely innocent and harmless, the data collected about you remains stored in the SAR “Guardian” database indefinitely. Accordingly, the DHS will be able to quickly compile in-depth profiles on you whenever they determine it to be necessary despite being completely innocent or cleared of any crime or criminal behavior.
While government officials are busily assuring the public that all officials with access to the data have been trained in privacy rules and the penalties for breaking them, (and of course we’ve all seen how well that works)¬† they fail to address what should be the most obvious concern of all. Why are our own domestic intelligence agencies creating and maintaining files on law abiding U.S. citizens who have not been accused of any crime and who have been cleared of any suspicious activity at all?
The Stasi-style infringement on the rights to law-abiding American citizens is nearly as breathtaking and those who are accepting of it. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, the newly hired virtual Wal-Mart greeter, recently spoke to a group of first responders , stating that “the old view that ‘if we fight the terrorists abroad, we won’t have to fight them here’ is just that, the old view.”
Indeed it is, and we have this and the last three decades of presidential administrations and arguably treasonous congressional bodies to thank. We will most certainly be “fighting them here” because of our unsecured borders, lack of immigration and visa enforcement, and the globalist agenda that drives the open-door doctrine that is so perilous to our security and sovereignty.
As I stated in my original report, the new DHS procedures have everything to do with control and conditioning and nothing to do with actual security. The TSA enhancements and the DHS databases are noticeably on the uptick, taking aim at law-abiding American citizens who threaten the globalist agenda or the allegedly non-existent, once conspiratorial “New World Order” under global governance doctrine.
Perhaps those who found my report of the DHS list making too “far out” to consider credible can accept an almost identical account in the Washington Post, which is definitely worthy of the read. That is, of course, only after they are finished snooping in the aisles at their local Walmart and have returned the Napolitano-approved complementary Dick Tracy disguise kit to the customer service center before departing the store.
By Douglas J. Hagmann
The beauty of it lies in its simplicity and its ability to convince many reasonable people to forsake some of their rights and liberties in the name of safety and security. Those otherwise concerned with normal life events have little interest, time, or even cause to question what is really taking place directly in front of them.
Nearly everyone is talking about the TSA and the implementation of the enhanced security measures at airports, but few are talking about the most visible seminal event that served as the catalyst for the current DHS and TSA enhanced security procedures. Enter Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, born on 22 December 1986 in Lagos, Nigeria.
Abdulmutallab was one of the 279 passengers aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, an Airbus 330 flying from Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day in 2009. He initially boarded a KLM flight in Lagos, Nigeria, before transferring to the Northwest Airlines flight in Amsterdam.
The events involving Abdulmutallab have resulted in numerous wide-reaching and controversial security changes enacted by the TSA and more broadly, by the Department of Homeland Security under the direction of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. These enhancements have the imprimatur of Barack Hussein Obama, who has not only continued the policies of the Bush national security policy, but has dramatically expanded it. What were once incremental violations of our Constitutional rights under the previous administration have been widened and deepened under the pretext of increasing the safety and security of the American public.
At the direction of Napolitano and the Obama “security team,” such changes in the name of security are not only limited to air travel but are to be expanded to include other communal areas such as courthouses and sports stadiums. In the final analysis, however, it is the actions of Abdulmutallab aboard flight 253 that may be looked upon as the watershed event that is behind the new security procedures being implemented and expanded today.
Proponents of the purchase and deployment of body scanners and enhanced pat-downs at airports and other locations use the Abdulmutallab incident as the reason that such intrusive screening procedures are necessary. They claim that we, fortunately, averted a catastrophic event last Christmas and assert that these new procedures and equipment will be instrumental in stopping similar types of attacks. Those claims are not completely accurate, yet they continue to serve as the unquestioned and persistent platform being used to deter legitimate criticism.
The beauty of it lies in its simplicity and its ability to convince many reasonable people to forsake some of their rights and liberties in the name of safety and security. Those otherwise concerned with normal life events have little interest, time, or even cause to question what is really taking place directly in front of them.
Although it is an undisputed fact that there are Islamic terrorists who indeed exist and are intent on causing death and destruction to the West, there are many unanswered and troubling questions, inconsistencies and problems with the circumstances and events involving Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and the actions within our own intelligence agencies in this and other matters.
To arrive at the truth behind the DHS actions that seem intent on criminalizing the activities and even the beliefs of patriotic Americans concerned for the preservation of our Constitutional rights, I believe that one logical starting point, particularly in this instance but not to the exclusion of others, would be to completely reexamine the “Abdulmutallab affair.”
Based on my investigation to date, there are several issues that raise legitimate questions about what we have been told about this event as well as past events. There appears to be a common thread of inconsistency woven into the fabric of what we are to accept as the truth, which could explain the cause and effect relationship behind the politicization of terror.
The most blatant and commonly referenced controversy surrounding the alleged attempted bombing of flight 253 broadcast by the media has been the financial fortune made by former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, founder of the Chertoff Group, who has benefitted from the sale of the Rapiscan units to the federal government. Chertoff is not the only financial benefactor as I have previously pointed out in an article published on 14 November, nor does financial gain appear to be the sole factor in the deployment and use of the scanners.
It goes much deeper. And the deeper the trail, the darker it gets, both metaphorically and in reality.
Indeed, there is something very odd and disconcerting when the layers of this incident are pulled back, court documents are examined, and witness accounts are considered. The official accounts of the activities of Abdulmutallab and others simply don’t add up, and within the course of my next few reports, I intend to show you that some of what we have been told is simply not true.
I will expose the holes in the official accounts, and further expose the relationship between the “Abdulmutallab affair” and other seemingly unrelated instances that, to this point, have existed just under the radar of public trust.
By Douglas J. Hagmann
Following the publication of my article titled “Gate Rape of America,” I was contacted by a source within the DHS who is troubled by the terminology and content of an internal memo reportedly issued yesterday at the hand of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. Indeed, both the terminology and content contained in the document are troubling. The dissemination of the document itself is restricted by virtue of its classification, which prohibits any manner of public release. While the document cannot be posted or published, the more salient points are revealed here.
The memo, which actually takes the form of an administrative directive, appears to be the product of undated but recent high-level meetings between Napolitano, John Pistole, head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and one or more of Obama’s national security advisors. This document officially addresses those who are opposed to or engaged in the disruption of the implementation of the enhanced airport screening procedures as “domestic extremists.”
The introductory paragraph of the multi-page document states that it is issued “in response to the growing public backlash against enhanced TSA security screening procedures and the agents conducting the screening process.” Implicit within the same section is that the recently enhanced security screening procedures implemented at U.S. airports, and the measures to be taken in response to the negative public backlash, as detailed [in this directive], have the full support of the President.In other words, Obama not only endorses the enhanced security screening but the measures outlined in this directive to be taken in response to public objections.
The terminology contained within the reported memo is indeed troubling. It labels any person who “interferes” with TSA airport security screening procedure protocol and operations by actively objecting to the established screening process, “including but not limited to the anticipated national opt-out day,” as a “domestic extremist.” The label is then broadened to include “any person, group or alternative media source” that actively objects to, causes others to object to, supports, and/or elicits support for anyone who engages in such travel disruptions at U.S. airports in response to the enhanced security procedures.
For individuals who engaged in such activity at screening points, it instructs TSA operations to obtain the identities of those individuals and other applicable information and submit the same electronically to the Homeland Environment Threat Analysis Division, the Extremism and Radicalization branch of the Office of Intelligence & Analysis (IA) division of the Department of Homeland Security.
For “any person, group or domestic alternative media source” that actively objects to, causes others to object to, supports and/or elicits support for anyone who engages in such travel “disruptions” at U.S. airports (as defined above) in response to the enhanced security procedures, the [applicable DHS administrative branch] is instructed to identify and collect information about the persons or entities, and submit such information in the manner outlined [within this directive].
It would appear that the Department of Homeland Security is not only prepared to enforce the enhanced security procedures at airports, but is involved in gathering intelligence about those who don’t. They’re making a list and most certainly will be checking it twice. Meanwhile, legitimate threats to our air travel security (and they DO exist) seem to be taking a back seat to the larger threat of the multitude of non-criminal American citizens who object to having their Constitutional rights violated.
As I have written before, it has nothing to do with security and everything to do with control.
By Douglas J. Hagmann
The national “opt-out” day next Wednesday was created to protest body scanners and enhanced TSA pat-downs at airports. While it illustrates passenger dissatisfaction about the intrusive and humiliating security procedures and constitutional issues, it does nothing to fix the gaping security holes we have at our airports.
Amid the outcries and protests, it is rarely pointed out that there has never been an instance where the Transportation Security Administration has ever stopped or thwarted a potential terror attack against our airlines. Not one. Furthermore, most security analysts agree that the so-called naked body scanners “would probably have not” detected the explosives carried aboard flight 253 by the would-be Christmas Day 2009 bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
It might surprise some people to learn that it takes travelers at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, less than 30 minutes on average to get from the parking lot, through screening and to the boarding area, all without the use of full body scanners or needless groping. Their system of security is arguably the most effective in the world. They have not had a security breach since 2002, when a passenger mistakenly boarded a flight with a stowed handgun. Even then, that situation ended without incident.
I’ve heard and read all of the arguments that the Israeli security model could not be effectively implemented in the U.S. and Canada due to a wide range of factors, including area and demographics. Baloney. These contentions are merely excuses by people with little or no security experience who are afraid of being accused of bigotry and intolerance or who stand to make fortunes through the sale and deployment of high-tech x-ray devices.
So how do we fix this mess without inconveniencing passengers, trampling the Constitution or bankrupting airlines? I submit that air travel can be made much more secure and even more efficient by implementing three steps. Well, four, if you count depoliticizing the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA. That step would involve the removal of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and TSA Director John Pistole. Both are national embarrassments that continue to defend their ineffective security procedures. They excel at political pandering while being woefully deficient in matters of actual security. They need to be replaced by individuals with real-world security and intelligence experience who are willing to get the job done.
First, “layered security” must be implemented at every airport. Potential threats must be stopped as far away from the aircraft, boarding area, and crowded terminal as possible. With layered security, it is possible to stop potential threats upon arrival on airport property well before they even reach the airport terminal. Much like the Israeli model, additional layers would exist inside the terminal and at every step through boarding.
Secondly, behavioral and ethnic profiling must be implemented, despite the senseless aversion to the word or the idea. In a 2009 interview with CNN, Rafi Seli, former chief of security at the Israel Airport Authority, stated that “the word ‘profiling’ is a political invention by people who don’t want to do security.” Indeed. It is also the result of American leadership, or the lack thereof, to identify and treat them as our enemies. It is to our peril that most politicians refuse to acknowledge that we are fighting Islamic terrorists. Until our political leadership sheds the constraints of political correctness and stops allowing their supporters and enablers to shape policy, including the policy that affects air travel, the safety and security of our air passengers will remain perilously compromised.
Third, security agents at every airport must undergo better and more comprehensive training to identify and handle threats rather than acting like they are assembly line workers. The performance standards of TSA agents must be increased, and every agent should be selected and retained for their ability to perform their duties.
Published reports in 2006 revealed that TSA agents routinely failed tests of security procedures conducted by undercover agents approximately 70% of the time. In other words, undercover agents testing the system succeeded in getting weapons, explosives, and other contraband through security an average of seven out of ten times. Since the initial reports of these pathetic findings were published, subsequent testing results have been classified or shielded from public view. Instead of employing more capable and better-trained agents, millions of dollars have been spent on radiological hazards of dubious efficiency.
In conjunction with the above measures, security in related areas must be revamped or increased. One such area lies within the U.S. State Department Visa program. It has been well documented that known Islamic terrorists have been issued visas, despite being identified as terrorists or potential threats. The aforementioned Abdulmutallab is just one example.
Until our political leaders get serious about winning the war that has waged upon us, expect the physical and Constitutional violations to continue before, during, and after the national “opt-out day.” If we want to travel unmolested and without fear, we have to move from being reactionary in our security to be proactive, not only in air security but all of homeland security.
