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LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO THE RESCUE
Michael Cutler
Author: Michael Cutler
Source: The Family Security Matters Foundation, Inc.
Date: January 1, 2007

The federal government is at it again. Actually the real problem is that the federal government is not at it. As FSM Contributing Editor Mike Cutler reports, local law enforcement agencies are creating their own intelligence networks, called fusion centers, to augment what they do not receive from the Feds. This is the good news. The bad news is that the Feds aren’t moving fast enough to assist these vital centers.

LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO THE RESCUE

By Mike Cutler

I’ve often heard politicians on Capitol Hill make the statement that the war on terror needs to be fought with good intelligence. While this is true, it is also true that the federal government has been slow to cooperate with local police in the sharing of that vital information. Consequently, our states and cities are quite rightly building their own network of intelligence centers called "fusion centers", led by local law enforcement, to foil terror plots against America. According to the Washington Post, "Frustrated by poor federal cooperation, U.S. states and cities are building their own network of intelligence centers led by police to help detect and disrupt terrorist plots."

These same politicians often say that immigration is not related to terrorism, which is patently naïve and untrue. In fact, not only do terrorists cross our borders illegally, the cultivation of informants would help greatly to obtain and verify intelligence within the borders of the United States to help us apprehend said terrorists. This is where local law enforcement, who tend to know members of their own communities better than anyone, could be extremely useful.

Illegal aliens who are apprehended, generally in conjunction with other violations of law, can often be enticed into working as informants. Because they blend into the communities in which the terrorists may well have imbedded themselves, these informants can act as the "eyes and ears" of law enforcement agencies. ICE is responsible for this type of work. This process, however, would require that there are an adequate number of special agents of ICE who are in the position to work with other agencies to identify and recruit such potential informants. The lack of manpower at ICE, however, along with the failure of the agency to provide foreign language training, hobbles any such efforts. Local law enforcement can help.



The fact that more than 5 years after the terrorist attacks that slaughtered nearly 3,000 innocent victims and may ultimately claim many more, especially among the first responders who inhaled lethal toxins and have become grievously sickened by that exposure, makes it impossible to understand why our nation is still not up to speed. If you consider that the first attack on the World Trade Center occurred nearly 14 years ago, on February 26, 1993 and that nothing was done to secure our borders or create an immigration system that had even a modicum of meaningful integrity in the ensuing years is utterly unfathomable.

The first attack on the World Trade Center complex killed 6 victims, injured thousands and inflicted an estimated 500 million dollars in damage to the towers and nearby buildings, that would ultimately be destroyed totally, more than 8 years later because of the failure of our government to secure the borders, create a secure immigration system and take other reasonable and prudent measures. That first attack nearly brought one of the 110 story tall towers down sideways. Had that happened, it is possible that huge numbers of people would have perished because virtually no one would have been able to evacuate the tower before it toppled into other buildings that could have fallen like dominoes. Yet the federal government has continued to ignore the obvious even though the "War on Terror" is supposed to be fought and run by the federal government.



Much is being made of the assignment of National Guard troops to the Mexican border to augment the beleaguered and out-gunned Border Patrol. I will remind you that when the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 the United States reacted swiftly and decisively. In less than 4 years our nation created fleets of a wide variety of aircraft, naval vessels, tanks and other weaponry that had never existed before. Our nation undertook the successful construction of nuclear weapons with unproven technology.

In short, under the leadership of Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, along with other leaders in the Congress, both the federal bureaucracy and American industry demonstrated what has been called the "Can Do" spirit, the hallmark of the "Greatest Generation." But today, bitter partisanship, lack of resolve, leadership, and common sense that have been demonstrated by all levels of our government may cause the current generation also to earn a nickname. I fear that ours may well be remembered as the "Last Generation". I fervently hope that this will not be our nation's fate, but to borrow a quote, "Hope is not a strategy".



The comedian George Carlin enjoys playing with words. He has spoken about such oxymorons as "Jumbo shrimps" and "Military intelligence." He is in the business of entertaining his audience. However, the obvious lack of intelligence that has been demonstrated by our government and our leaders coupled with the lack of sharing intelligence between our intelligence and law enforcement agencies is no laughing matter. This is of deadly serious importance and the clock is ticking.

"U.S. officials are vowing to speed background checks and to send Homeland Security intelligence officers to work at 18 state and local fusion centers in 2007 and 35 by 2008", proclaims the Washington Post. This is "speed"? My question is…why does this process take so long? Time is on the side of those who would slaughter our citizens, destroy our nation and our democratic traditions. The time to act is now.



Lead, follow or get out of the way!