The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) recently sent an angry letter of protest to presidential aspirant Barack Obama challenging his characterization of ICE agents who enforce immigration law as terrorists. And today, ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers sent a letter to Congressman Luis Gutierrez requesting an apology for calling ICE the “Gestapo.”
Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, has called for banning al Qaeda from the Internet. Or at least from YouTube. (Isn’t that the same thing?) It’s an endearing, “bless his heart” kind of moment. We all support the senator’s noble effort to fight al Qaeda … even as most of us are amazed at his lack of understanding of how the Internet works. Perhaps he should call Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and ask him how China’s efforts to ban the Internet have worked out.
In all of the coverage of the rescue of the hostages from the Colombian terrorist organization known as the FARC, it is disturbing to see the mainstream media nearly universally refer to the FARC as “Colombian rebels” or a “feared insurgent group.” The FARC is one of the globe’s most lethal narcoterrorist organizations. Or was, anyway. It seems to be imploding even as a criminal and terrorist organization.
It’s alarming that the Department of Defense, which invented the Internet (along with Al Gore, of course), seems to understand so little about how it is used for propaganda — terrorist or otherwise. Recent congressional hearings on terrorism and the Internet indicate a Cold War-era mentality among federal policymakers. They seem to view terrorist propaganda efforts as a monolithic “organized framework” orchestrated by a few Goebbels-like masterminds within Al Qaeda.
Today’s Lame Snark award goes to Al Kamen of the Washington Post. He righteously seized on an email sent out by DHS highlighting an Associated Press story in which citizens praised FEMA for its effective response to the floods in the Midwest.
Fellow Security Debrief blogger David Olive wrote recently about the conflicting messages and mandates that flow from the 86 conflicting and contending homeland security committees in Congress. The latest example of this Hamlet-like system of self-contradiction comes from the House Appropriations Committee, which complains that US Immigration and Enforcement spends too much time on … well, immigration enforcement.
No, I’m not talking about the absurd emails that are circulating suggesting that Obama is a Muslim. (So what if he were?) Instead, I’m talking about Obama’s own negative politicking on something too sensitive to be treated as standard campaign demagoguery.
The ongoing bipolar inconsistency of the U.S. Congress — that institution responsible for drafting our laws on immigration, among other things — was once again on display this past week. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey kicked it off with a harangue in which he accused federal immigration agents of everything from racism to general rudeness. Why? For enforcing the laws that Congress passed.
I’m surprised not to have seen reporting in the mainstream or at least security-oriented media about a significant leadership change at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The long-time No. 2 man at ICE, John Clark, recently retired and was succeeded by John Torres, a very respected agent who has held a number of leadership positions at ICE. The change is more important than individuals only; it represents a significant evolution for ICE as a cohesive and maturing law enforcement agency.
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