{"id":67202,"date":"2017-02-28T10:23:52","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T14:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=67202"},"modified":"2017-02-28T10:23:52","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T14:23:52","slug":"deep-state-update-the-department-of-homeland-security-takes-on-president-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=67202","title":{"rendered":"Deep State Update \u2014 the Department of Homeland Security Takes on President Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

BNN Edit<\/p><\/div>\n

by VIRGIL<\/p>\n

The Deep State never sleeps.\u00a0 It\u2019s always doing something.\u00a0 Doing something, that is, to undermine the Trump administration.\u00a0 And sometimes, in its zeal to de-Trumpify its home turf of Washington, DC, it jeopardizes American national security.\u00a0 The Deep State doesn\u2019t seem to care much about that, but maybe the rest of us should.\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

As Virgil wrote back in December, the Deep State can be defined as<\/span><\/a>, \u201cThe complex of bureaucrats, technocrats, and plutocrats that likes things just the way they are and wants to keep them like that\u2014elections be damned.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So let\u2019s take a look at some of the latest Deep State doings:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of its continuing its effort to subvert, in every way possible, the Trump administration\u2019s January 27 Executive Order 13769<\/span><\/a>, the Deep State has resorted, once again, to one of its favorite tools\u2014the media leak.<\/span><\/p>\n

That Executive Order, of course, sought to limit the inflow of people from seven countries, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.\u00a0 The order touched off a vast firestorm of protests<\/span><\/a>, followed by an infinity of legal challenges<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 (Virgil has written about the full plenitude of Deep State activities, in a satiric manner, here<\/span><\/a> and here<\/span><\/a>.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So now let\u2019s take a look at a February 24 story from the Associated Press, headlined, \u201cHomeland Security intel report disputes threat posed by travel ban nations<\/span><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At first glance, this news seems to be a big deal.\u00a0 The innocent reader might see that headline and perhaps think, Gee, if even the experts at the Department of Homeland Security think Trump is wrong, maybe I should think so, too.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

So is that really what the report said?\u00a0 Uh, not quite.\u00a0 Actually, not at all.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems that the AP got its hands on an undated draft document<\/span><\/a> from the Department of Homeland Security written in response to Trump\u2019s Executive Order.\u00a0 Entitled \u201cCitizenship Likely an Unreliable Indicator of Terrorist Threats to the United States,\u201d it asserts that people from those seven countries are \u201crarely implicated in US-based terrorism.\u201d\u00a0 Got that?\u00a0 Only rarely<\/i>.\u00a0 So what is there to worry about? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We might note that the total population of the seven countries in question is 218 million; in other words, that\u2019s a huge pool of people\u2014and potential trouble.\u00a0 Even if only a relative few of them are bad hombres, that could be disastrous if they get to the US.\u00a0 And did Virgil mention that the ultra-discount airline Norwegian Air will soon be offering flights across the Atlantic for $85<\/a>?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So maybe we should take a closer look at this DHS document.\u00a0 Although come to think of it, maybe calling it a \u201cdocument\u201d gives it too much credence.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s better simply to call it \u201cthree sheets of paper.\u201d\u00a0 For all we know, it could have been written by a single DHS employee, or by a\u00a0contractor, or even by a clever intern.\u00a0 Or perhaps it was composed by someone not even connected to DHS: With anonymous sources, the reader has to take the reporter\u2019s word for it.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But who knows: Maybe the document is truly the considered opinion of the career staff at DHS.\u00a0 If so, then career-staff opinion is not at all aligned with the view of President Trump, who is, after all, their commander-in-chief.\u00a0 For his part, Trump has declared many times that immigration, absent \u201cextreme vetting,\u201d is a serious national security threat. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So we can see: The issue of immigration, connected, as it is, to the larger issues of globalization and sovereignty, is perhaps the ultimate disagreement between Trump and the liberal Establishment, of which the Deep State is a key component. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And one of the Deep State\u2019s favored tools, of course, is the leak\u2014the ambush-type unauthorized disclosure.\u00a0 Trump understands all that; as he tweeted on February 16, in regard to an earlier off-the-books disclosure, \u201cLeaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, covert leaking is a problem, but perhaps an even bigger problem, from Trump\u2019s point of view, is the overt<\/i> willingness of executive branch officials mostly to confirm the essence of the leak.\u00a0 For example, we might consider the statement from a DHS spokesperson in response to the AP story; as we can see, the denial is actually a kind of confirmation:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

While DHS was asked to draft a comprehensive report on this issue, the document you\u2019re referencing was commentary from a single intelligence source versus an official, robust document with thorough interagency sourcing.\u00a0 The . . .\u00a0 report does not include data from other intelligence community sources.\u00a0 It is incomplete.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We can observe: In saying, merely, that the paper was \u201cincomplete,\u201d the DHS spokesperson gave it legitimacy.\u00a0 That is, the implication is that the paper, as written, will be a key element of the forthcoming overall picture.<\/span><\/p>\n

By contrast, if the spokesperson had really<\/i> wanted to knock the paper down, she could have said something more like this:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The paper in question is complete garbage.\u00a0 It does not reflect, in any way, the opinion of Homeland Security Secretary Kelly or the Trump administration.\u00a0 It\u2019s another example of some rogue operator issuing an unauthorized, and probably illegal, leak.\u00a0 In other words, it\u2019s \u201cFAKE NEWS, and the AP should be embarrassed to print it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So Virgil sees the hand of the Deep State twice: First, in the composing of, and leaking of, the original paper. \u00a0 And second, in the non-denial denial. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a safe bet that Deep State-types are high-fiving each other in Northwest Washington, celebrating their latest acts of resistance against Trump.\u00a0 Northwest DC is the location of the DHS headquarters, and where many DHS-ers live.\u00a0 As an aside, it might be worth noting that in the election last year, Trump received less than eight percent of the vote in Ward Three<\/span><\/a>, which is the heart of Northwest.\u00a0 That\u2019s the culture from which this leak originated, and is now celebrated. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If this case were just a matter of Beltway word-play, it might not be such a big deal\u2014even if it is, of course, a violation of rules guiding the conduct of the federal civil service.\u00a0 (Needless to say, there\u2019s virtually zero chance that the leaker will be identified, let alone punished.) \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, the real question is what happens to the safety and security of the American people if the thinking revealed in that paper is allowed to flourish.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We can ask: Don\u2019t people at DHS pay attention to current events?\u00a0 Are they so buried in intelligence reports\u2014or, more likely, dunked in their own ideology\u2014that they are heedless to the news that\u2019s available to the rest of us as we peruse the headlines?\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get specific.\u00a0 One of the countries on the Trump list is Iraq. And here, screamingly, we recently got a reminder of just how wrong the \u201cexperts\u201d can be about who\u2019s a threat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leaving aside the endless skein of violence in that country over the last few decades\u2014which has killed millions of Iraqis and radicalized many more\u2014let\u2019s examine the single case of Abu Zakariya al-Britani<\/span><\/a>, a suicide bomber who died on February 21 while attacking Iraqi government forces in Mosul. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Al-Britani was an interesting figure.\u00a0 He was born Ronald Fiddler, a British citizen of African descent.\u00a0 In 1992, he converted to Islam and became more radicalized over the years.\u00a0 He traveled to South Asia and was detained as a suspected terrorist in Afghanistan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By then he had his new nom de guerre,<\/i> al-Britani; in Arabic, it simply means, \u201cThe Briton.\u201d\u00a0 <\/i>After his capture, he was remanded to the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.\u00a0 Meanwhile, back in the UK, activists launched a coordinated legal and political campaign for his release.\u00a0 And in fact, he was not only released but rewarded.\u00a0<\/i> According to CBS News<\/a>:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

He was one of 16 men paid a total of 10 million pounds (now worth $12.4 million) in compensation in 2010, when the British government settled a lawsuit alleging its intelligence agencies were complicit in the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After his release and enrichment, al-Britani could have lived a life of luxury, thanks to British taxpayers.\u00a0 And yet, true to his radical faith, he chose to go to the Middle East for jihad, and, as we have seen, he died in suicidal service of his god.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So one might wonder: What were the British, and American, authorities doing all this time?\u00a0 Did they care that al-Britani was an Islamist radical?\u00a0 Did they even notice?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s left-wing Guardian<\/i> newspaper, which in the past had championed the cause of al-Britani\u2019s release, reports that the authorities didn\u2019t think of him as a threat<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 To which the rest of us can say, Nice work, guys.<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So let\u2019s step back and further consider the case of al-Britani.\u00a0 Having been captured as a terrorist, he was then released and showered with money.\u00a0 And once he was out, he was then free to resume his jihadi lifestyle.\u00a0 Does anyone doubt that he left a trail of personal associations and electronic social media that would have made his true nature obvious to any onlooker?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the British authorities were clueless about al-Britani.\u00a0 In fairness to them, there are lots of potential suspects\u2014and more coming in every day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Or, perhaps, the authorities knew all about al-Britani, but they were too cowered by PC orthodoxy to do anything about him.\u00a0 That is, if they had made a move against him, the old accusations of improper imprisonment would have been raised, plus perhaps racism, Otherism<\/span><\/a>, Orientalism<\/span><\/a>, and on and on.\u00a0 Only the toughest law-enforcer is willing to put up with that sort of grief, and not all law-enforcers are tough. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So the British should count themselves as lucky that al-Britani chose to end his life in Mosul, as opposed to, say, London.\u00a0 And oh, by the way, what about the other 15 men who were released from Gitmo at the same time as al-Britani?\u00a0 Is anyone, anywhere, keeping tabs on them?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus we can see that the bureaucratic habit of turning a blind eye to terrorism, on both sides of the Atlantic, is fraught with real-world consequences. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here in the US, the Deep State-ocrats are playing with fire.\u00a0 Yes, they can sting the Trump administration with pin-prick leaks, and yet the ultimate issue isn\u2019t keeping on\u2019s neighbors in Northwest DC happy, or being written up favorably by the Main Stream Media\u2014it\u2019s whether or not we are safe in our homeland. \u00a0 We pay the salaries of the people at the Department of Homeland Security to protect us; let others dream up MSM gambits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s always possible that DHS could surprise us.\u00a0 We could wake up tomorrow and learn that the department has tracked down and fired this latest leaker, as well as all the other leakers, and, moreover, instituted tough policies to prevent further leaks. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sure, anything\u2019s possible.\u00a0 But it\u2019s more possible that the Deep State culture of DHS will stay exactly as it is: so hostile to Trump, so addled by PC ideology, and so relentlessly leaky that the mission of the agency is jeopardized. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And that could have tragic consequences.\u00a0 Truly tragic.<\/span><\/p>\n

___
\nhttp:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/big-government\/2017\/02\/27\/virgil-deep-state-update-department-homeland-security-takes-president-trump\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by VIRGIL The Deep State never sleeps.\u00a0 It\u2019s always doing something.\u00a0 Doing something, that is, to undermine the Trump administration.\u00a0 And sometimes, in its zeal to de-Trumpify its home turf of Washington, DC, it jeopardizes American national security.\u00a0 The Deep … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}