Janet Napolitano to Homegrown Terrorists: Little Brother… is watching
Friday, July 31, 2009
By Carl Braun
Examiner.com
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano speaks to  CFR
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New York — In a speech given July 29th to the Council On Foreign Relations, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano highlighted the importance of the average american citizen in protecting the United States.Recognizing the individual as the first line of defense in securing the country, her statements come on the heals of Attorney General Holders comments last week to ABC News where he said: “The American people would be surprised by the depth of the [homegrown terrorist] threat”.
Her four point plan for homeland security begins with the American citizen, then local law enforcement, then the Federal Government and finally “our partners “beyond our shores”.
Acknowledging illegal immigration as a key area of vulnerability Napolitano cited Mexico, a world leader in domestic terrorism, as an integral partner in her efforts.
“Our physical international borders should be our last line of defense” she said and helping Mexico deal with it’s internal challenges with the cartels before they get to the border seems to be a logical approach.
Yet number two on her list is local law enforcement and despite the engaging rhetoric to the CFR, the Obama administration is trying to cut $200 million dollars from the 2010 budget for SCAAP or the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program which provides desperately needed money to states housing criminal illegal aliens. California alone spends $1 billion per year on this. DHS cut funding last year for the successful "Highway Watch" program that instructed truckers on how do spot suspicious activities and plans to launch a replacement program are stalled. It seems that while the administration has grand ideas, there is little funding to actually support it. The economical but productive citizen effort is crucial.
“Little Brother” or the American people are expected to pick up some of the slack. As far as the border is concerned, it is no secret that the number one source of Intel for the Border Patrol is the local residents and citizen border watchers. DHS would like to capitalize on that success throughout our communities by encouraging residents to get involved and report suspicious activity. Using the acronym S-A-LU-T-E Napolitano emphasizes her point. Citizens should keep these things in mind when reporting unusual activity:
S – Size (Jot down the number of people, gender, ages, and physical descriptions)
A – Activity (Describe exactly what they are doing)
L – Location (Provide exact location)
U – Uniform (Describe what they are wearing, including shoes)
T – Time (Provide date, time, and duration of activity)
E - Equipment (Describe vehicle, make, color etc., license plate, camera, guns, etc)
Citizens are warned against approaching the potential threat but to simply observe and report.
Volunteer groups like Neighborhood Watch and border watch groups like the Minuteman have done this with much success over the years despite the governments antipathy for their efforts. The citizens role in protecting the community is as old as human kind. Now if the administration were really serious about this they would provide funding to private organizations that promote safer communities instead of labeling them as right wing extremists. Currently it is engaged in investing dollars for a secure America in more government and government related agencies.
Carl Braun is an analyst for the Homeland Security Policy Institute Group and he's logged 5,000-plus hours on the border. He has written several books including his most recent on Border Insecurity, “Above All Else”
. Contact Carl at Carl.Braun@BPAUX.org.
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