The AG's Secret Police Force

Around the start of the Second World War the State Department and the Military realized that they needed to have a working division of Intelligence. Anyway, eventually this happened and during the war secret operations, intelligence gathering and analysis of data were carried out in both theaters of the war by a group formed in 1942 called the Office of Strategic Services or OSS. Consequently, after the war as the Military and the State Department disagreed over who should manage intelligence gathering, President Truman promoted the  National Security Act of 1947; out of that Act came a new division for the military called the Department of Defense  the merger of the Army Air Corps into the Air Force and the National Security Council which eventually formed he Central Intelligence Agency or (CIA).  

There was much debate about the range of duties for this new agency; many in Congress who had seen the excesses of the USSR and Stalin’s Secret Police and the German Gestapo warned against the formation of a domestic secret police agency. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) warned that this group would threaten civil liberties. Eventually this was all worked out when it was determined that the CIA would be limited to intelligence gathering and secret operations outside the boundaries of the United States and would have no domestic authority or policy making role.  The State Department, the Military and the FBI were to continue in their usual roles and the citizens of the US would not have to fear the secret police.

US Attorney General William Barr has now changed all of this careful legislation of some 73 years ago and has created his own police force.  Barr, who never served in the military, must fancy himself a real General after his widely condemned escapade in Lafayette Park and along the streets of Washington, DC in reaction to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests recently. There he commanded unmarked police, guard troops and military forces in a massive show of force at a mostly peaceful demonstration.  He ordered the tear gas and pepper spray which was used indiscriminately against all present including women and the press corps. Now, in Portland Oregon, under the guise of protecting Federal buildings which were defaced and damaged, he has sent in the southern border patrol SWAT teams. These teams, which are heavily armed, and operating out of unmarked vehicles are roaming the streets of Portland at will snatching peaceful protesters off the streets without warnings. Despite pleas from all levels of state officials and local law enforcement to cease and disband, these patrols continue to be an occupying force. The ACLU has filed a court suit to stop these illegal activities. 

Homeland security officials and others have said they plan to take these operations to other cities where they claim terrorists are in control. The authorities in Portland had been working with the protesters, who had been in place for 50 days since the death of George Floyd and numbered about 50 people; now the armed presence of unidentified police has so outraged the community that hundreds more have joined the protest.  AG Barr now has his secret police in place and is preparing for his domestic war. This, as I see it, is in keeping with the Presidents’ attempt to beef up his Law and Order campaign and justify these outrageous and unconstitutional acts. It seems to me that when one cannot govern by the rule of law one turns to governing by creating fear. It now seems that they wish to frighten people that peaceful protesters will come after them in their homes so they must be protected. While officials have not yet invoked martial law or used the Insurrection Act of 1807, such abuses of Law do not seem beyond their reach and level of unlawfulness. And then AG Barr can wander around and order pepper spray on some more peaceful demonstrators from his private little police force which is accountable to no one. 

Now to turn to a sad note in the news: Congressman John Lewis of Atlanta died this week from pancreatic cancer at the age of 80.  He was the last living speaker from the 1963 March on Washington. He marched with Dr. King, organized voter drives and Freedom Rides and was beaten by mobs and police multiple times and jailed many times during the turbulent sixties. But it was at the March to Selma across the Edmund Pettus Bridge that he became known to many Americans. He was nearly beaten to death and suffered a fractured skull as the police charged the peaceful demonstrators on what became known as “Bloody Sunday”. This show of brutality led to President Lyndon Johnson giving a speech to a joint session of Congress where he introduced the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would follow; Johnson ended his speech that night with words from the movement song that said: “We shall overcome”.

Congressman Lewis has said his parents were sharecroppers who lived so deep in the country that, as a child, he never saw a white person.  One of ten children, he wanted to become a preacher and practiced sermons while feeding the chickens. He was denied access to the local public library after being told that the books were for white people. Today he has been described as the conscience of the Congress; one who lived by the goals set by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. regarding the “Beloved Community” where there would be a world without racism, poverty or war. To that he added his own beliefs in non-violence, a thirst for justice and voting rights. He voted against the Iraq war and worked for gun control. Shortly before his death he visited the Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington DC.  He talked about it to CBS news:

“It was very moving, very moving to see hundreds of thousands of people from all over America and around the world take to the streets — to speak up, to speak out, to get into what I call ‘good trouble,’” Lewis told CBS in June, referring to massive Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country. “This feels and looks so different. It is so much more massive and all inclusive. There will be no turning back,” he said. 

President Barack Obama cited Lewis’ “gentleness and humility” in a Medium post. 

“In so many ways, John’s life was exceptional,” Obama wrote. “But he never believed that what he did was more than any citizen of this country might do. He believed that in all of us, there exists the capacity for great courage, a longing to do what’s right, a willingness to love all people, and to extend to them their God-given rights to dignity and respect. And it’s because he saw the best in all of us that he will continue, even in his passing, to serve as a beacon in that long journey towards a more perfect union.”

Timely Tidbits:

• The Washington Post today reported in its Fact Checker column that the President has been caught out in more than 20,000 lies or misleading statements during his term in office.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a President who tells the truth for a change?

• The United Kingdom, Canada and the US all announced that Russian hackers had been trying to weasel into the networks of the major researchers for a vaccine for COVID-19 and steal valuable research in that area.  So far, they have been thwarted, it appears without any words from the White House, however.  
•  The Center for Disease Control Director, Robert Redfield, has been silenced by the White House and forbidden to answer a call from Congress to testify about school openings; Dr. Fauci has already been silenced and is the victim of an irresponsible attack from some on the White House staff. (Doesn't this remind you of the toddler who covers his eyes with his hands and thinks he cannot be seen?)

CDC COVID-19  Stats – (data is still available on the CDC website).

United States - Total Cases – 3,630,587 - total deaths 137,864.  

New cases last 24 hours - 74,710 - new deaths 918.

Maryland data: total cases: 77,206  New cases 835 Deaths – 3,368 New deaths 7.

United States percent of positive tests to total tested: 9%. As a comparison, Germany and Italy are testing positive at the rate of 0.5%, France is at 1.1%.  Argentina is at 33.3% while India is at 10.2%.

To close, a personal note:  I once heard John Lewis speak; it was a large gathering and I did not meet him, but I did not need to.  His words silenced the room, reached out to all and mesmerized the audience. Tears rolled silently down my cheeks as I listened. It was so obvious when he spoke about the Civil Rights struggles, and even modern times, that he cared deeply about the things that mattered. It is my hope that his death does not end these efforts; it seems that the widespread support of the BLM movement has given us all hope that the fight will continue.

‘Til next week – Peace.