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DHS Explains Plans To Buy 1.6B Rounds Of Ammo
DHS Explains Plans To Buy 1.6B Rounds Of Ammo: We’re Buying in Bulk to ‘Significantly Lower Costs’
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has responded to a letter dated November 13, 2012 from Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) regarding the agency’s ammunition purchases.
Sen. Coburn published the response on the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs website yesterday, April 1, 2013.
The response, dated February 4, 2013, says that DHS buys ammunition in bulk to “significantly lower costs.”
The letter states:
“DHS routinely establishes strategic sourcing contracts that combine the requirements of all its Components for commonly purchased goods and services such as ammunition, computer equipment and information technology services. These strategic sourcing contracts help leverage the purchasing power of DHS to efficiently procure equipment and supplies at significantly lower costs.”
While it has been previously reported that DHS has solicited the purchase of 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the next four to five years, the government agency shows only 263,733,362 rounds in its current inventory.
But, DHS estimates it will spend $37,263,698 on ammunition in FY 2013.
Last year, DHS spent $36,535,910, a decrease from 2011′s ammunition expense of $38,237,305.
Also, over the last three years the number of rounds purchased by DHS has declined.
In 2010, the agency purchased 148,314,825 rounds. In 2011, 108,664,054 rounds were purchased; and in 2012, 103,178,200 rounds.
In response to how the ammunition will be used by DHS, the various component agencies answered specific to their usage:
- CBP (Customs & Border Protection) said that “70 percent of CBP ammunition is used for quarterly qualifications.”
- ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) says it “allocates 1,000 rounds of ammunition per firearm per year for quarterly qualifications and training.”
- TSA (Transportation Security Administration) says “35 percent of TSA ammunition is allocated for operational use (qualifications and duty carry).”
For Full DHS Response, Click Here.
Man With 4th Amendment Written on Chest Wins Trial Over Airport Arrest
via Wired.com
Government photo of Aaron Tobey being held at Richmond International Airport on December 30, 2010
A Virginia man who wrote an abbreviated version of the Fourth Amendment on his body and stripped to his shorts at an airport security screening area won a trial Friday in his lawsuit seeking $250,000 in damages for being detained on a disorderly conduct charge.
Aaron Tobey claimed in a civil rights lawsuit(.pdf) that in 2010 he was handcuffed and held for about 90 minutes by the Transportation Security Administration at the Richmond International Airport after he began removing his clothing to display on his chest a magic-marker protest of airport security measures.
“Amendment 4: The right of the people to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated,” his chest and gut read.
In sending the case to trial, unless there’s a settlement, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 and reversed a lower court judge and invoked Benjamin Franklin in the process. According to the opinion by Judge Roger Gregory:
Here, Mr. Tobey engaged in a silent, peaceful protest using the text of our Constitution—he was well within the ambit of First Amendment protections. And while it is tempting to hold that First Amendment rights should acquiesce to national security in this instance, our Forefather Benjamin Franklin warned against such a temptation by opining that those ‘who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.’ We take heed of his warning and are therefore unwilling to relinquish our First Amendment protections—even in an airport.
MORE . . .
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- Politics & NWO – Re: Man With 4th Amendment Written on Chest Wins Trial (disclose.tv)
- Man With 4th Amendment Written on Chest Wins Trial Over Airport Arrest (consciouslifenews.com)
- 4th & 1st Amendments Upheld In TSA Case To The Tune Of $250K (charlesoliverblog.wordpress.com)
- An update on Aaron Tobey’s TSA lawsuit – he won today! (dailypaul.com)
- IN THE LATEST TSA NEWS: Man With 4th Amendment Written on Chest Wins Trial Over Airport Arrest. “A… (pjmedia.com)
TSA Pulls Plug on Airport Nude Body Scanners
via Wired.com
Automated Target Recognition software produces generic outlines of passengers instead of virtual nude images.
The Transportation Security Administration is pulling the plug on its nude body scanner program, a decision announced Friday that closes the door to a tumultuous privacy battle with the public scoring a rare victory.
Travelers will continue to go through one of two types of scanners already deployed, but images of naked bodies will no longer be produced. Instead, software will instead show a generic outline of a person.
What the TSA sees using millimeter wave technology without Automated Target Recognition software
First tested in 2007, the advanced imaging technology scanners became the object of intense media and public scrutiny around Thanksgiving in 2010. In addition to privacy concerns, some experts maintained the scanners’ safety was unproven, and that the technology was ineffective in detecting smuggled weapons and explosives. Travelers are permitted to opt-out of the scan, but are then subjected to an aggressive pat-down procedure.
The government said Friday it is abandoning its deployment of so-called backscatter technology machines produced by Rapiscan because the company could not meet deadlines to switch to generic imaging with so-called Automated Target Recognition software, the TSA said. Instead, the TSA will continue to use and deploy more millimeter wave technology scanners produced by L-3 Communications, which has adopted the generic-outline standard.
“Due to its inability to deploy non-imaging Automated Target Recognition (ATR) software by the Congressionally-mandated June 2013 deadline, TSA has terminated part of its contract with Rapiscan,” the TSA said in a statement to Wired. “By June 2013 travelers will only see machines which have ATR that allow for faster throughput.”
What the TSA sees using backscatter technology without Automated Target Recognition software
The announcement comes three months after Rapiscan came under suspicion for possibly manipulating tests on the privacy software designed to prevent the machines from producing graphic body images. The TSA sent a letter in November to the parent company of Rapiscan, the maker of the so-called backscatter machines, requesting information about the testing of the software to determine if there was malfeasance.
MORE . . .
Related articles
- TSA pulls the plug on ‘naked’ x-ray scanners after maker fails to guarantee privacy (theverge.com)
- TSA to remove controversial X-ray scanners (miamiherald.com)
- TSA to Remove Naked-Image Scanners From US Airports (gizmodo.com)
- Naked-Image Scanners to Be Removed From U.S. Airports (bloomberg.com)
- The TSA Has Ended Its Contract With Airport Scanner Maker Rapiscan (theatlantic.com)
Maker of Airport Body Scanners Suspected of Falsifying Software Tests
Maker of Airport Body Scanners Suspected of Falsifying Software Tests
A company that supplies controversial passenger-screening machines for U.S. airports is under suspicion for possibly manipulating tests on privacy software designed to prevent the machines from producing graphic body images.
The Transportation Security Administration sent a letter Nov. 9 to the parent company of Rapiscan, the maker of backscatter machines, requesting information about the testing of the software to determine if there was malfeasance.
The machines use backscatter radiation to detect objects concealed beneath clothes. But after complaints from privacy groups and others that the machines produce graphic images of passenger’s bodies, the government ordered the machines be outfitted with privacy software by June to replace the invasive images with more generic ones that simply show a chalk-like outline of a body.
While L-3 Communications, the maker of another brand of scanners used in airports, successfully developed the privacy software for its machines, Rapiscan was having problems with its software, according to Bloomberg.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/11/rapiscan-fraudulent-tests/
Will Texas Nullify Both NDAA and TSA?
For Immediate Release: November 13, 2012
The Texas legislature will take up two bills designed to protect basic civil liberties in the Lone Star State during the 2013 legislative session.
On Monday morning, Rep. David Simpson (R-Longwood) prefiled The Texas Travel Freedom Act (House Bill 80). If passed, the law would make it a criminal act to intentionally touch “the anus, breast, buttocks, or sexual organ of the other person, including touching through clothing,” without probable cause in the process of determining whether to grant someone access to a public venue or means of public transportation.
The measure also forbids removing a child younger than 18 years of age from the physical custody or control of a parent or guardian. The act would put an end to the most intrusive pat-down searches conducted by the TSA.
“If you walk up to somebody and grab their crotch out on the street, it will land you in jail. Blue uniforms and federal badges don’t grant some goon the power to sexually assault you, or at least they shouldn’t. A person doesn’t forfeit her or his personal dignity or Fourth Amendment protections with the purchase of an airline ticket,” Tenth Amendment Center communications director Mike Maharrey said.
The Texas legislature will also consider a bill that would block any attempt to indefinitely detain people in Texas under sections of the National Defense Authorization Act.
MORE . . .
Related articles
- Will Texas Nullify Both NDAA and TSA? (txwclp.org)
- Will Texas Nullify Both NDAA and TSA? (tenthamendmentcenter.com)
- Rematch: Texas takes on the TSA Again (tenthamendmentcenter.com)
- Michigan Nullifying the NDAA: A Work in Progress (rubinoworld.com)
- Texas NDAA Nullification Bill Includes Criminal Charges for Federal Agents (tenthamendmentcenter.com)
