HOMELAND SECURITY - 22 January 2001 (NOTE THE DATE)

WEEKLY INTELLIGENCE NOTES of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers ^ | 15Jan2001 | Robert Holtzer

[KirkandBurke]

At least three high-level commissions and a broad overview of future international trends by the CIA during the last month have concluded that the United States homeland faces a serious risk of attack in coming years. Homeland defense is a complex issue in part because it is not solely a military problem. Threats as diverse as disruptions of commercial computer networks, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and a variety of public- health responses, are all included. The reports call for a defensive scheme that would involve broad coordination among more than several dozen federal departments, agencies and bureaus, in addition to hundreds of different state and local governmental structures.

Today, this structure functions in a tangled and inefficient manner with no central leader who possesses the authority and controls funding to make required changes, virtually all of the reports conclude. The measures required to untangle this interagency morass already are sparking debate among experts.

The boldest proposal, still being fleshed out, is to create a new National Homeland Security Agency, stated in a draft proposal by the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century, established by Defense Secretary William Cohen. The commission's report is scheduled for release in early February. This proposed new agency would take the present Federal Emergency Management Agency, which responds to national disasters, and combine it with the Coast Guard, Border Patrol and the Customs Service to fashion a more comprehensive approach to homeland security. Other functions now performed by the FBI and the Commerce Department, such as various types of critical infrastructure protection including national electrical grids, also would be transferred to this new agency. On the face of it, this proposal does not seem to have much chance of being accepted in the real world. More likely of success is the establishment of a position in the White House to oversee and coordinate matters. In any case, this is an issue that will be the center of attention for some time to come -- and will involve and affect the Intelligence Community.

[KirkandBurke]

Something we've known for a while, but I just wanted to put it on record that this Homeland Security idea had been in the works long before September 11. They just needed an opportunity or event to present itself that would serve as the catalyst for launching this new intrusive bureaucracy

You can CLICK HERE if you want to see the report released by the study group. Note who's on the Board. All Insiders..

Are we headed down the right road here?

[KirkandBurke]

Info Bump

[independentmind]

Today, this structure functions in a tangled and inefficient manner with no central leader who possesses the authority and controls funding to make required changes, virtually all of the reports conclude.

And here we get to the heart of the matter: centralization and efficiency. I wonder why we never hear the word effectiveness. And what ever happened to the old-fashioned idea that those closest to a problem are the best suited to solve it?

BTW, there were plenty of articles posted on FR about the Homeland Security proposals when they first surfaced several months ago. Deja-va all over again.

[Pete]

Note who's on the Board. All Insiders..

I posted some of this yesterday. The US Commission on National Security was formed in 1998 and set out on a 3 phase mission. The third phase was completed in March 2001 but the commission got a six month extention to try to sell their ideas. Initially, Bush ignored the final report. After September 11, most of what the commission recommended was agreed to - the most prominent being the Office Of Homeland Security. More can be read about them on their website.

Note that Clinton, Ginrich and Cohen, who are responsible for the commission are all members of the Council on Foreign Relations. The co-chairs of the Commission, Rudman and Hart, are both members of the CFR and every single one of the 12 "Commissioners" on the commission are members of the CFR. Note, also, that while the CFR is a dot.org, the USSG is a dot.gov.

Insiders, indeed.

[Pete]

To avoid any confusion - I dropped a "g". Ginrich = Gingrich.

[Uncle George]

The first phase of a homeland defense should start of an investigation of all the quisling media whores who rally around the enemy while running our military and our president down. It has to be stopped by ANY MEANS immediately because it is putting our fighting men in harms way undermining our goal in Afganistan.

[KirkandBurke]

The "old boys network" strikes again.

[KirkandBurke]

You're right, of course. FReepers have already hashed this a bit, but notice how the memory fades and the eyes glaze over after "the event." All of a sudden, everyone is cheering centralization and big bureacracy, and ready to genuflect before the new and improved KGB GRU NKVD FSB Office of Homeland Security.

"May I see your papers national ID card please? Now tell me why you go to the convenience store at the corner of 5th and Main every evening about 9:30. Is it just for the chocolate bars you buy? I know Snickers is your favorite....."

[independentmind]

Why exactly so many Americans think that the federal government is up to the task of Homeland Security is a mystery to me. I suspect it has something to do with the Cult of the Expert than has rendered most people's common sense useless. Here's one person that's not so happy with recent events:

Giuliani livid with the FBI

[KirkandBurke]

I kind of surprised that Guliani is unhappy, but that could be inter-agency squabbling. I suspect that information will flow upward, access to data will tighten as one moves up the chain, and that orders will flow down from above. This consolidation of policing functions could finalize the federalization of local and state police. All will be agents of the central bureacracy. My concern is that we're moving in the direction of a govenmental approach that we fought the cold war against. Why are we moving toward the very thing that we said we despised?

[Reardon Metal]

Thanks for the Ping.

Are we headed down the right road here?

Guess the answer to that depends on one's point of view.

For me, the answer is *$^@ no!

The road we are on leads straight to a centralized, socialist/fascist world government, aka the New World Order.

But I don't imagine I'm telling you anything you don't already know.

I just wish Americans would wake up and take this reality more seriously. Especially so FReepers and Lurkers, who IMO act irresponsibly by laughing off such "tin foil" claims.

Silly me, I still feel that the NWO can be stopped.

[Reardon Metal]

BTW, you did well by posting this article.

Making the effort to show (or remind) folks that this Gestapo agency has been in the works for some time will hopefully help open some people's eyes and minds to (what IMO is) the real problem.

[Snow Bunny]

I agree !!!!! I am so furious with CNN and the rest and their propaganda machine hard at work siding with the enemy once again.!!!

Thank you Uncle George soooo much.((hug)))

[Uncle George]

A BIG BUNNY BUMP.