Customs and Border Protection

Cutting Both Ways

Americans are rightfully concerned about our borders these days – especially the one with Mexico. High-powered drugs come north, high-powered guns go south and illegals go both ways by the millions.

In a Mexican tourist haven like Acapulco, authorities and the bad guys can exchange gunfire and grenade attacks for hours and double-digit body counts, while in the United States, the Deport-Em-All crowd is again rushing to attend anti-immigration rallies – at least just as soon as they pay their housekeepers, nannies and gardeners in cash.

Beyond Mexico, there are other border security concerns. Although the Canadians on our northern border seem pretty well behaved, our several thousand miles of coastline on the east and west are openings for all sorts of mischief and contraband, everything from cigarettes to suitcase nukes.

Clearly the situation should concern the ever-vigilant CBP (Customs and Border Protection), the federal Department of Homeland Security group that, in its own mission-statement words, works to “protect the American Public against terrorists and the instruments of terror.”

Well, it does concern the CBP folks, and they are thinking of cracking down.

On pocket knives.

In a 67-page gush of FedSpeak last month, the CBP folk re-examined the issue of pocket knives that may be opened with one hand, usually by thumbing a stud at the base of the blade. They’re very common – I’ve carried one for years – and many of them are imported.

The reason they are common is that needing to cut something when working around the house, fishing, hunting or camping usually finds you one hand short. Whatever needs cutting goes back to what it was doing while you fumble the blade open.

Because you can open the knife with one hand and the blade locks into place with an audible click, some folks might think these pocket knives, typically with a blade less than four inches long, were forbidden imports under the Switchblade Knife Act of 1958. (Members of Congress in 1958 were all a-twitter after a few teen gang flicks in which switchblades played a role. Besides, it was easier to deal with switchblades than the just-launched Soviet Sputnik 1.)

Previously, the CBP had decided that most of the one-hand-opening knives weren’t switchblades because they had utilitarian purposes, pocket clips and short blades. Besides which, even the CBP could figure out that anyone using a knife with a four-inch blade as a primary weapon is either desperate or suicidal, but in any event not a tremendous threat to the nation’s security.

Of course, that was then and this is now. Determined to protect our shores, the CBP is thinking of banning the import of these knives in case America’s enemies are secretly plotting to whittle down our defenses. Apparently literally. Comments run until June 21.

All of which would be just for laughs if the CPB wasn’t serious and if the times in which we live suggest that the CPB ought to have lots of things – or just about anything – better to do than this sort of foolishness.

A tip of the hat to the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, which e-mailed me the heads-up on this. You can read all about it, its implications and even find a link to the full text at http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=4972.

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Homeland Security’s Laughter Lexicon

 

 

The Department of Homeland Security’s real strategy for keeping the bad guys away surfaced Tuesday in a Washington Times story that made it clear our plan is for terrorists to laugh themselves to death.

 

A couple weeks ago, word got out that our ever-vigilant DHS guardians had decided returning war veterans might be prone to extremism, especially right-wing extremism. You know -- trained and experienced killers and all that.

 

The howl over that anti-veteran slur came from everywhere. But Tuesday’s Washington Times story says even before that bureaucratic belch, DHS had put together – and hastily deep-sixed – a Domestic Extremism Lexicon.

 

The DHS document said the lexicon would assist “ federal, state, local, and tribal homeland security and law enforcement officials in conducting analytic activities.”

 

Maybe, but the  lexicon seems more anal than analytic.

 

Every paragraph begins with (U//FOUO), which Homeland Security says means Unclassified For Official Use Only. (Readers are encouraged to explore what other uses the letter F, U and O might have in describing this tax-dollar-supported effort.)

 

The  Domestic Extremism Lexicon says its purpose is “definitions for key terms and phrases that often appear in DHS analysis that addresses the nature and scope of the threat that domestic, non-Islamic extremism poses to the United States. Definitions were derived from a variety of open source materials and unclassified information, then further developed during facilitated workshops with DHS intelligence analysts knowledgeable about domestic, non-Islamic extremism in the United States. “

 

Sounds pretty impressive, until you read the first of the definitions so thoroughly researched:

 

“(U) aboveground (U//FOUO) A term used to describe extremist groups or individuals who operate overtly and portray themselves as law-abiding.”

 

If the NYPD, LAPD, Chicago, Dallas, Miami and other major police departments were blown away by the insight and clear thinking this revealed, they kept it quiet.

 

That may be because they were stunned to learn also that:

 

“(U) lone terrorist (U//FOUO) An individual motivated by extremist ideology to commit acts of criminal violence independent of any larger terrorist organization. (also: lone wolf)”

 

And in a document remarkable for its completeness of purpose, even if it may not have been the intended purpose, law enforcement agencies could discover:

 

(U) underground (U//FOUO) A term used to describe clandestine extremist groups, individuals, or their activities.

 

We also learn:

 

(U) Cuban independence extremism (U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who do not recognize the legitimacy of the Communist Cuban Government and who attempt to subvert it through acts of violence, mainly within the United States. (also: anti-Castro groups)

 

The Department of Homeland Security is clearly so dedicated that it forgot the Kennedy administration-backed armed invasion at Cuba’s Bay of Pigs, or that the United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Cuba, both of which would seem to fit the terms of its definitions. There’s probably a good explanation for this, but it can’t be shared because, as the document says right at the top:

 

(U) Warning: This document is UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY (U//FOUO). It contains information that may be exempt from public release under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). It is to be controlled, stored, handled, transmitted, distributed, and disposed of in accordance with DHS policy relating toFOUO information and is not to be released to the public, the media, or other personnel who do not have a valid need-to-know without prior approval of an authorized DHS official.

 

Those of us who pay taxes probably don’t have a problem with this sort of thing being exempt from public release. The challenge is to get it exempt from public funding.

 

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