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Homeland Security Act:  The Rise of the American Police State
(Part 1 of a Three Part Series)
By Jennifer Van Bergen
t r u t h o u t | Report
Monday, 2 December, 2002

"It is far more dangerous and threatening to our few remaining civil 
liberties than he appears willing to suggest," writes Professor E. 
Nathaniel Gates of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law about William 
Safire's recent article on the Homeland Security Act. "I had the rather 
grim and unfortunate duty of reviewing the legislation to which Safire 
refers in some detail," says Gates.1   

The Act, sponsored by Representative Dick Armey (R-TX) (whom the 
ACLU just astonishingly recruited as a consultant), and criticized by 
nearly every source on the internet, nonetheless passed the House 299-
121.  Why?  Was it the continuing fear of terrorism?   

I do not think so.

Although Bush apparently did not seriously consider the Homeland 
Security Act (HSA) provisions until after the attacks, its provisions 
were, like those of the USA PATRIOT Act, in the works long before 
September 11.   

The Act, furthermore, promotes the creation of what one senator once 
called "a global security system" controlled by the United States, 
not to mention a budding police state in America. This agenda falls 
neatly in line with the plan for American global dominance endorsed 
by Cheney, Wolfowitz, Powell, and Rumsfeld.   

Finally, the Homeland Security Act was structured on the 
recommendations of a special commission that was closely connected 
to, if not derived from, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), which 
one author notes "has had its hand in every major twentieth century 
conflict."    

Homeland Security, the Hart-Rudman Commission, and the Council on 
Foreign Relations2   

"[T]he proposal for a Homeland Security Department originated in 1998 
with the launching of the so-called Hart-Rudman Commission," officially 
called the United States Commission on National Security/21st 
Century, according to William F. Jasper.3    

The report issued by the Hart-Rudman Commission ("the Commission"), 
"Road Map for National Security: Imperative for Change," is dated 
January 31, 2001.    

The "Executive Summary"4 of the Commission Report ("the
Summary") 
declares: "In the new era, sharp distinctions between 'foreign' and 
'domestic' no longer apply."  The Commission does "not equate security 
with 'defense.'" However, they "do believe in the centrality of strategy, 
and of seizing opportunities as well as confronting dangers."   

"The risk," says the Summary, "is not only death and destruction but 
also a demoralization that could undermine U.S. global leadership."  
(Emphasis added.)   

The Commission recommended "the creation of a new independent 
National Homeland Security Agency (NHSA) with responsibility for 
planning, coordinating, and integrating various U.S. government 
activities involved in homeland security. NHSA would be built upon 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with the three organizations 
currently on the front line of border security - the Coast Guard, the 
Customs Service, and the Border Patrol - transferred to it.  NHSA would 
not only protect American lives, but also assume responsibility for 
overseeing the protection of the nation's critical infrastructure, 
including information technology."   

This is indeed the basic blueprint of the Homeland Security Act.   

Of the "twelve" Hart-Rudman commissioners, Jasper writes, nine were 
members of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR or "the Council"), 
which Jasper calls "the semi-secret, private organization that serves 
as the most visible element of the Internationalist Power Elite."    

[snip snip snip]

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Full article at: "Truthout"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/12.03B.jvb.hsa.1.htm

Cheers, Steve..

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