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Justice

Members Of Congress Introduce Legislation Based On Fringe Conspiracy Theory

By Annie-Rose Strasser on Apr 26, 2013 at 10:50 am

Two Republican members of Congress introduced legislation on Friday that would limit the amount of ammunition the government is able to purchase at a given time. The bill is a response to far-right conspiracy theories that the government is “stockpiling” ammunition, either to wage a war against the American people or to dry up the ammunition market so average citizens can’t buy bullets.

Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK), and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) will put forth the Ammunition Management for More Obtainability Act (or, AMMO) Act in both the House and Senate. The bill would require executive branch agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to maintain ammunition levels below the average monthly amounts that the agencies had before Obama took office.

According to a joint press release from Lucas and Inhofe, “The legislation would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a report on the purchasing of ammunition by federal agencies, except the Department of Defense, and its affect on the supply of ammunition available to the public”:

“President Obama has been adamant about curbing law-abiding Americans’ access and opportunities to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” said Inhofe. “One way the Obama Administration is able to do this is by limiting what’s available in the market with federal agencies purchasing unnecessary stockpiles of ammunition. As the public learned in a House committee hearing this week, the Department of Homeland Security has two years worth of ammo on hand and allots nearly 1,000 more rounds of ammunition for DHS officers than is used on average by our Army officers. The AMMO Act of 2013 will enforce transparency and accountability of federal agencies’ ammunition supply while also protecting law-abiding citizens access to these resources.”

For members of Congress whose interests have generally aligned with those of gun and ammunition manufacturers, this legislation isn’t smart economics; limiting the ability of the government to buy ammunition will remove a key consumer, drying up demand and causing manufacturers to take a sales hit. Similarly, Lucas and Inhofe’s claim that the government “limit[s] what’s available in the market” if it buys up more ammunition reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of basic economics. If demand for ammunition increases, ammunition producers will increase production in order to meet this demand.

Last week, another Republican representative, Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) brought up the “stockpiling” conspiracy in a hearing with DHS Sec. Janet Napolitano, who said it was “inherently unbelievable that those statements would be made.”

The theory comes from fringe websites like Alex Jones’s Infowars, but have been given a platform by Drudge, a site that commonly peddles unfounded conspiracy theories. Even some far-right sites have taken it upon themselves to debunk the claim that DHS is “stockpiling” weapons. Brietbart.com described the theories as “based more on panic than fact.”

Media

Congressman Invokes Conspiracy Theory In Hearing, Citing Drudge Report As ‘Reputable News Source’

By Aviva Shen on Apr 18, 2013 at 12:33 pm

In a House hearing Thursday morning, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano was sidetracked from her testimony on the DHS budget when Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) asked her to respond to an online conspiracy theory about the DHS supposedly stockpiling ammo for an attack on Americans. Duncan argued this was more credible than mere “Internet rumors” because the Drudge Report, a popular conservative aggregator, said it was true:

DUNCAN: You know, when Forbes Magazine or Drudge or some reputable news sources start to repeat the numbers…the numbers cease to become Internet rumors and they start having some credibility. I just ask, why was there a long delay or silence from the DHS for a period of time, almost three months, before y’all came forward saying these numbers aren’t correct, these are the actual facts. Why was there a delay or silence from your department?

NAPOLITANO: Well I don’t know about that, that there was that kind of delay, but I will tell you we found it so inherently unbelievable that those statements would be made it was hard to ascribe credibility to them. I don’t know if I’d put Forbes and Drudge in the same sentence.

Duncan seems to be mistaking traffic for credibility. Every day, Drudge directs massive numbers of visitors to conspiracy theory sites like WND, a birther site, and Infowars, which most recently claimed the Boston Marathon explosion was a “false flag” operation orchestrated by the government to take away freedom. Napolitano is a favorite target of Drudge, who calls her “Big Sis” and frequently links to conspiracy theories about DHS. Last year, Drudge promoted claims that Napolitano’s leadership had led to a “same sex takeover” of the DHS dominated by a “lesbian cabal.”

While Drudge’s endorsement can elevate fringe conspiracy theories into mainstream discourse, the website has hardly built up credibility. Last year, Drudge prominently featured at least 10 bogus stories, often racial attacks against Obama, that other media outlets dutifully picked up.

The debunked theory Duncan invoked in the hearing claims the DHS had ordered 2,700 mine-resistant vehicles and 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the next 5 years. Conservative radio host and Infowars founder Alex Jones warned that the DHS was “gearing up for huge wars” and warned of “an arms race against the American people.” In fact, the DHS has used 16 such vehicles since 2008, when they inherited them for free from the Defense Department. The 2,700 figure came from an order by the U.S. Marine Corps. The ammo was part of a “strategic sourcing contract” that allows the DHS to get low prices by buying in bulk. Most will go to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while the rest will be used to train law enforcement officers in target practice. Even Fox News and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) dismissed the hysteria, noting the amount of ordered ammo is actually lower than in previous years.

It’s no surprise that Duncan is a credulous Drudge devotee; last week, he attacked an effort to expand background checks for gun purchases online or at gun shows because he thought the government was planning a systematic slaughter akin to the Rwandan genocide. The confiscation theory, also pushed by Drudge, goes hand in hand with the baseless idea that the DHS is readying itself to attack Americans.

Nor is Duncan the only Republican lawmaker to buy into Drudge-promoted conspiracy theories. In January, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) confronted then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a bogus accusation that the CIA was secretly smuggling guns from Libya through Turkey to arm Syrian rebels.

Immigration

Top Bush Officials Stand With Obama On Immigration Policy

By Igor Volsky on Mar 4, 2013 at 9:49 am

Two former Republican secretaries of Homeland Security joined current Secretary Janet Napolitano in calling for comprehensive immigration reform during a Politico Breakfast event on Monday morning and defended the Obama administration’s recent release of thousands of undocumented immigrants from detention. Last week, conservatives characterized the release of nonviolent immigrants ahead of the looming budget cuts that went into effect on Friday, as an effort to “politicize” the cuts or exert retribution against states like Arizona.

Speaking alongside former Secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff at an event to mark the Department’s anniversary, Napolitano explained that the majority of the releases were the result of the normal “ebb and flow” of moving individuals in and out of detention. “Several hundred are related to sequester but it wasn’t thousands,” she said, adding that more immigrants will be released as budget cuts are implemented.

Napolitano’s predecessors, agreed, noting that the department is currently hamstrung by a broken immigration system and the chaotic budgetary environment. “The job of the Secretary of Homeland Security with regard to securing the borders would be a heck of a lot easier if the United States Congress would forget about partisanship and come up with a comprehensive immigration plan,” Ridge said, eliciting applause from the audience. Watch it:

Chertoff, who had spearheaded a failed effort to reform the immigration system at the end of President George W. Bush’s second term, argued that lawmakers who support immigration reform must “move quickly” to prevent the opposition from organizing against the effort. He stressed that proponents should highlight the enhanced security on the border and note that reform will only improve the situation.

“Now, I’m not going to tell you that we have a perfectly secure border or that you could have one, but if you look at a series of different metrics over a period of 10 years there has been a steady improvement in terms of operational security of the border and in terms of the net inflow and outflow,” he said. “And we’ve invested an awful lot in that. But never to acknowledge progress is really self defeating.”

Security

Federal Government Lacks Experts To Address Cyber Security Threats

By Hamed Aleaziz on Oct 30, 2012 at 3:00 pm

The federal government faces a shortage of cyber security experts. That’s according to an article published in FCW, a technology-focused publication. FCW interviewed federal officials regarding the government’s ability to effectively beef up its cyber security program and found a unsettling trend: the government needs more tech experts. In some cases, according to a Department of Defense official, the government hasn’t even figured out what to hire for:

“We don’t have all the capacity and the right sets of skills that we need to do all that’s required. In the department we are still struggling to fully define and empower the cyber workforce. It’s a big challenge, just to define the techniques.”

In July, a State Department official gave an estimate of the shortage to Reuters: “The numbers I’ve seen look like shortages in the 20,000s to 40,000s for years to come.”

Why is there a shortage? According to Cynthia Dion-Schwarz from the National Science Foundation, it’s a “pipeline” problem. In short, the government can’t find the “people with the right skills sets to just have the entry-level skills needed in order to make progress in cybersecurity,” Schwarz told FCW. Others, like John Arguila, a U.S. Naval Postgraduate School professor and cyber security expert, say it’s time to think outside the box when it comes to recruiting, telling the Guardian that “most of these sorts of guys can’t be vetted in the traditional way. We need a new institutional culture that allows us to reach out to them.”

The shortage is especially relevant now that the president is likely to sign an executive order on cyber security, putting, according to a copy of the report, “the Department of Homeland Security in charge of organizing an information-sharing network that rapidly distributes sanitized summaries of top-secret intelligence reports about known cyberthreats that identify a specific target.”

For months, federal officials and cyber security experts have been warning about this. In April, Janet Napolitano, the head of Homeland Security, said:

“There is a lack of expertise and there are a lot of people clamoring for people who know the internet well…We need analysts. We need people who are engineers. We need people who are experienced in intelligence as it relates to the cyber-universe.”

It’s not just federal officials who have connected the shortage to national security; Enrique Salem, an executive at Symantec, a cyber security organization and software maker, told Reuters in June: “What I would tell you is it’s going to be a bigger issue from a national security perspective than people realize.”

Earlier this month, Leon Panetta, the secretary of defense, said cyber security was at a “pre-9/11 moment.”

LGBT

Napolitano Promises Written Guidance To Recognize Same-Sex Relationships In Deportation Proceedings

By Annie-Rose Strasser on Sep 28, 2012 at 2:05 pm

Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano on Friday pledged in a letter (PDF) to consider a gay or lesbian person’s relationship status in deportation proceedings, bringing relief to many bi-national gay and lesbian couples whose relationships aren’t recognized because of the Defense of Marriage Act.

While this echoes an earlier commitment from the Department of Homeland Security, it is the first time such guidance will be provided in writing:

In an effort to make clear the definition of the phrase “family relationships,” I have directed ICE to disseminate written guidance to the field that the interpretation of the phrase “family relationships” includes long-term, same-sex partners. As with every other factor identified in Director Morton’s June 11 memorandum, the applicability of the “family relationships” factor is weighed on an individualized basis in the consideration of whether prosecutorial discretion is appropriate in a given case.

Napolitano’s commitment is a response to a request for clarification from members of Congress about the deportation process, which currently does not factor in whether a gay or lesbian non-citizen is in a relationship with a citizen — a right afforded to straight couples.

LGBT

Geraldo Rivera: Napolitano Has Orchestrated A ‘Same-Sex Takeover’ Of Homeland Security

By Annie-Rose Strasser on Aug 17, 2012 at 12:30 pm

In an attempt to explain the allegations of sexual harassment at the Department of Homeland Security, Fox News host Geraldo Rivera on Friday resorted to saying that the few women in powerful roles at DHS want to ban all men, and that the department as a whole is undergoing a “same-sex takeover,” and a “lesbian cabal.”

The exchange on “Fox and Friends” this morning clearly made the only female host, Gretchen Carlson, uncomfortable. As she tried to steer the conversation toward a different topic, Rivera insisted on indicating that all of the women in top roles at Homeland Security are lesbians, and that such manly items as “old spice,” “smelly sailors,” and “english leather cologne” wouldn’t be allowed under Sec. Janet Napolitan:

RIVERA: Is the sub-text of the Department of Homeland Security scandal that there is some kind of lesbian kabal, that it’s a same sex takeover. …It seems everyone is talking around it. Is that really what people are saying, that men are disadvantaged because women and specifically lesbians are ruling the roost there?

CARLSON: I don’t know about that last part.[...]

KILMEADE: We don’t know for sure. But it’s easy to come to that conclusion that there is some different type of glass ceiling separating the Homeland Security Department in this case.

RIVERA: No machos need apply?

Watch it:

While all allegations of sexual harassment should be taken seriously, regardless of the gender of the person accused, it’s ludicrous for Rivera to say that the department is run by lesbian women. Though the top two officials are women, a quick glance over the list of leadership at DHS indicates that the majority of top positions are occupied by men.

Rivera is falling into the easy trap of assuming that any powerful woman must be a lesbian, and that women achieving any level of power portends the end of men. But in fact, his comments — which seem an intentional attempt to incite anger — point the the general problem that having few women in leadership leads to sexist assumptions about a woman’s abilities, sexuality, and relationship with male coworkers.

On the other hand, it’s understandable that Rivera might not know about women in leadership positions. His own employer, Fox News Corporation, seems to have just one female executive out of 10, and one female board member out of 16.

Security

DHS Secretary Blasts GOP Rep For Peddling Bachmann’s Anti-Muslim Conspiracy Theories

By Ali Gharib on Jul 19, 2012 at 4:01 pm

A media storm ensued after accusations made by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) that a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was working to push Muslim Brotherhood interests in the U.S. government. But the attention often omits a host of other players in the affair: Bachmann’s four Republican House colleagues that co-signed her letters to the Inspectors General of several U.S. government agencies and the other victims of the smears. One from each cohort came into stark focus today during a Homeland Security Department (DHS) oversight hearing.

During the hearing, Bachmann letter co-signer Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) furiously questioned Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Gohmert’s interrogation focused on Mohamed Elibiary, a member of DHS’s Combatting Violent Extremism Working Group (CVE), who was named in the letter to DHS.

Gohmert asked Napolitano about his previous request for information on accusations made by all the usual Isamophobic bloggers that Elibiary leaked classified information to the media. Napolitano called Gohmert’s claim “inaccurate,” adding, “What bothers me, quite frankly, are the allegations that are made against anyone that happens to be Muslim”:

NAPOLITANO: I found out that the statements that have been made in that regard are false. They are misleading and objectionable, and I think they’re wrong.

GOHMERT: You need to know that you have people who are lying in your department. … Are you saying …it is a lie that Mohammed Elbiary downloaded material from a classified website using the secret security clearance you gave him? Are you saying that is a lie?

NAPOLITANO: I’m saying that is inaccurate. That is incorrect. … I’m saying that he as far as I know did not download classified documents. [...]

GOHMERT: It did not bother you that he accessed some information?

NAPOLITANO: He accessed some information. What bothers me, quite frankly, are the allegations that are made against anyone that happens to be Muslim.

Gohmert insists he’s not singling out Muslims because of their religion. “You see me hugging Muslims around the world, because the ones I hug are our friends.” The exchange went further down hill from there, with Gohmert repeatedly interrupting and yelling at Napolitano. Watch the video:

The letter Gohmert co-signed with Bachmann to DHS’s Inspector General names Elibiary as having “extensive ties to the Muslim Brotherhood” and that he has “sympathy for Islamist causes.” It accuses him of “gain(ing) access to classified documents” and cited other “undue, and potentially dangerous, exercised by such individuals.”

The potential danger posed by Elibiary might come as a shock to the F.B.I., which gave Elibiary an award last fall for “his extraordinary contributions to specific cases in support of the FBI’s counterterrorism mission.”

NEWS FLASH

Napolitano Passes Up Chance To Come Out For Marriage Equality | Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano passed up the opportunity to become the third member of President Obama’s cabinet to endorse marriage equality during an event at the Center for American Progress Wednesday morning. As Napolitano was leaving CAP, Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner asked, “Do you support marriage equality?” “She looked at the questioner, did not answer, and moved to stand in the back of the elevator behind her accompanying security and other staff until the doors closed in front of her.” President Obama is widely expected to address the issue during an ABC interview later today. Vice President Joe Biden, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan all back the freedom to marry.

Alyssa

15 Women GQ Could Have Named To Its Powerful People In Washington List

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Jan 19, 2012 at 11:06 am

GQ’s 50 Most Powerful People in Washington list came out yesterday. And it turns out that there are just 11 women on the list, two of whom (Heather Podesta and Lissa Muscatine) appear in the rankings with their husbands; three of whom (Svetlana Legetic, Jayne Sandeman and Barbara Martin*) appear as a single item on the city’s social scene; and one of whom, Buffy Wicks, appears at the end of a long list of men who will play key roles in the 2012 elections. Just five of them, Hillary Clinton, Kathy Ruemmler, Nancy Hogan, Patty Murray, and Liz Cheney get to stand on their own. There are some deeply bizarre exclusions here, ignoring women who wield power in the administration, the media, and think tanks and academia. Here are 15 we think could — and should — have made the cut.

1. Valerie Jarrett. Or Nancy-Ann DeParle. Or Samantha Power. Three of President Obama’s closest advisors are women, who have guided his thinking on everything from Libya strategy to health care reform. If that doesn’t count as power, I’m not sure what does.

2. Nancy Pelosi. The former speaker of the House may have lost her fanciest job title getting President Obama’s health care bill passed, but all that means is that she did exactly what elected officials are supposed to do: value policy results over the outcome of the next election cycle. And having your party down doesn’t mean you’re out. Pelosi is still a force in the House, even in the minority.

3. Katharine Weymouth. The Washington Post may not be the paper it once was, but that hardly means it doesn’t matter. As the Post’s publisher, Weymouth runs the biggest paper in town. She’s important, especially as the Post competes with upstarts like Politico and builds new initiatives like Ezra Klein’s publication-within-a-publication, Wonkbook.

4. Jane Mayer. The New Yorker’s resident giant slayer isn’t afraid to take on anyone, from the Koch brothers, to Art Pope, to the architects of the worst of the war on terror. Another rising Washington reporter, Annie Lowrey, who is part of the New York Times’ economic team, could also be on this list.

5. Neera Tanden. No, it’s not just because she’s my boss. It’s inexplicable that GQ would pick Liz Cheney, who runs the strawman think tank Keep America Safe and contributes to Fox News while ignoring the woman who runs one of the most powerful think tanks in Washington, and who was a key adviser to Hillary Clinton to boot. There’s real power, and there’s the ability to fling rhetorical bombs. Any power list worth its salt should distinguish between the two.

6. Maureen Dowd. She may go waspish more than she goes sincere. But even if you think she’s light, there’s no question that Dowd can skewer her subjects, or define them, whether with uncomfortable nicknames or facts.

7. Kathleen Sebilius. Or Janet Napolitano. Or Michèle Flournoy. Or Mary Schapiro. President Obama has women overseeing everything from implementation of his health care law, to homeland security, to the country’s securities oversight, a critical issue in this economic crisis. And Flournoy could be Secretary of Defense some day, too.

8. Jessica P. Einhorn, Dean of Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. SAIS is a highly respected institution, and Einhorn is part of an important generation of women in foreign policy, and this summer, will wrap up 10 years of creating the next one.

9. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The senior woman on the Supreme Court has hung on through health issues to continue her life-long fight for women’s rights.

10. Chan Heng Chee. Washington isn’t just a town where American policy gets made. It’s also the home of a vibrant diplomatic community. The deputy dean of the diplomatic corps, Ambassador Chan is the leader of Washington’s women ambassadors, a fixture in the city’s social scene, and has a long-game perspective on the American relationship with Asia.

*Full disclosure: I worked with Jayne and Barbara while I was at Washingtonian, and like and respect them both. If you’re going to put the curators of the social scene on the list, they undeniably belong there.

NEWS FLASH

Coming Soon: Wearing Shoes Through Airport Security | U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Politico that Americans will be soon be able to again wear their shoes through airport security. “We are moving towards an intelligence and risk-based approach to how we screen,” she said. “I think one of the first things you will see over time is the ability to keep your shoes on.” Napolitano added that the restrictions on liquids are unlikely to be lifted anytime soon. She said extra security measures were in place for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, but that the precautions were “not because there’s a specific, credible threat.”

By Ali Gharib on Sep 6, 2011 at 11:15 am

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