Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano suddenly announced last week that she was resigning her position at the embattled agency in order to take a $750,000-a-year job as president of the University of California system. This will more than triple her salary, which was $200,000 at DHS. The timing of her resignation is highly unusual for a member of the president’s cabinet. …read more
Source: The Christian Post
The leadership vacancy created by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s resignation is the latest blow to a department where nearly one-third of the heads of key agencies and divisions have been filled with acting officials or have remained vacant for months.
Napolitano’s departure slated for September will create the 15th hole in the department’s 45 leadership positions.
Napolitano’s chief of staff and the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement are leaving this month. The deputy secretary, general counsel, heads of Customs and Border Protection, privacy, legislative affairs, intelligence and analysis and more are filled with acting officials.
This swath of vacancies raises questions about how a department depleted of permanent leadership could implement changes, particularly as Congress considers overhauling the nation’s immigration system.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
By NewsEditor
Rick Joyner says the DHS has blood on its hands for failing to stop the Boston Marathon bombing and says that it was treason.
People sure do say a lot of crazy things in the wake of a ‘human-caused disaster.’ Others try to understand, looking for truth; or they fear the PC police and stand silently. Others bind wounds and comfort the victims. Many more reach out in unity, attempting to stabilize and heal. And some always believe there is a global conspiracy at work using staged atrocities to demonize, then control.
On the day of the attack, the President implies that tax protesters could be responsible; then the next day, he calls it a terror attack. Others note it was Patriot Day in Boston, leading some to conclude that anti-government forces were at work, an unlikely scenario given the track record.
At the moment, not much is known publicly about what happened precisely: why this attack, who was involved, how did they avoid security, who were they after, what is the message, etc. It is odd no one has yet claimed responsibility. Usually, Al Qaeda is glad to chest-thump.
All we really know is that four are dead, including a sweet-faced eight-year-old named Martin Richard. Upwards of 30 lost limbs, with 170 injured overall. Speculation abounds: What about the guy on the roof? What about the fire at the library? How do you explain the guys in tan pants and black jackets communicating with each other and watching? What about various men with backpacks who look as if they are carrying large, heavy objects?
One prominent broadcaster blames the government, calling this attack a false flag operation. This conclusion was issued one hour after the event. An actor says that the bombing results from the gun culture in America. The only rational explanation: he must be on drugs. The head of DHS says the attack is not part of a broader conspiracy. Really? How on earth can she determine that so quickly and with certainty? This from the woman who thinks Americans are the problem: a chief of insecurity at best.
A Leftist writer says he hopes white terrorists are to blame because that will put an end to our extraordinary military spending and the drumbeat to preemptively strike. Geez. Other Leftists immediately blame the Right, without a shred of evidence of course.
On the other side, people on the Right immediately blame Jihadists, some inferring that Leftists are at least complicit.
Given the use of pressure cookers filled with ball bearings and sharp metal objects detonated at precise times, the attack is likely the work of Al Qaeda or a related group, since these are known methods used by such groups. Walid Shoebat, respected terrorism expert and reliable source concerning authoritative Islam, points the finger at Saudi Arabia activating sleepers domestically, coordinating with Al Qaeda.
Congressman Peter King of New York suggests this may be the beginning of an entirely new front in the war on terror; and former CIA Director Michael Hayden, Lt. Col. Oliver North, and others agree. Still, the commander in chief does not recognize a war on terror on any front, begging the questions: how
This morning the President, joined by Vice President Biden, convened a briefing in the Oval Office with his national security team on the ongoing investigation into the explosions in Boston. Participating in the briefing was Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco, Deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken, White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco, Deputy National Security Advisor For Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes, and National Security Advisor to the Vice President Jake Sullivan.
In the briefing, which was led by Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco, the President received an update from Attorney General Holder and FBI Director Mueller on the collaborative efforts underway as part of the investigation, including the agency’s close coordination with state and local law enforcement in Boston. The President also received an update from Secretary Napolitano on coordination underway between DHS and state and local partners across the country to share information, including any additional security steps state and local law enforcement may take.
A photo of the briefing can be found HERE.
From: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/04/16/readout-president-s-briefing-explosions-boston
The Homeland Security Department’s No. 2 is leaving the government.
Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute announced her resignation this week.
Lute has been with DHS since 2009 and is credited with leading negotiations to create an agreement on sharing air passenger name records with the European Union.
Before helping run DHS, Lute was a United Nations assistant secretary general in charge of logistical and administrative support to UN peacekeeping operations.
Her replacement has not been announced.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Ten Federally Qualified Health Centers Collaborate with State to Improve Health Outcomes, Reduce Costs in Minnesota Medicaid Program
ST. PAUL, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Ten federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in the Twin Cities area have formed a coalition to collaborate with the state to improve care and reduce costs for nearly 22,000 Medicaid beneficiaries in Minnesota.
Under terms of the contract with the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), the Federally Qualified Health Center Urban Health Network (FUHN) will be responsible for meeting DHS-established quality and cost benchmarks for Medicaid patients, and will be eligible to share in cost-savings it achieves during a three-year contract period.
Known as an accountable care organization (ACO), the FUHN model – one of the nation’s first “safety net” ACOs – is one component in Minnesota’s Medicaid Health Care Delivery System (HCDS) demonstration project, a payment reform effort aimed at improving Medicaid outcomes and reducing costs by focusing on integrated and coordinated patient care.
To help achieve its goals, FUHN has partnered with Optum, an Eden Prairie-based health care services and technology company. FUHN and Optum have invested time and resources to develop a care coordination model that emphasizes population health management and increased patient engagement. The model relies on data analytics and the deployment of predictive modeling software, which Optum is providing to FUHN as a component of the collaboration.
“This contract represents a fundamental shift in our relationship with the state, and in our relationship with each other, to better serve Medicaid beneficiaries,” said Dr. Jaeson Fournier, chief executive officer of West Side Community Health Services in St. Paul and chairperson of FUHN. “These 10 FQHCs have come together as FUHN to deliver better, more integrated care to those we serve. Optum’s financial commitment to our project, its health care and Medicaid knowledge, and its technical expertise will support FUHN in achieving its goals of increasing patient satisfaction, improving patient health care outcomes, and reducing the total …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
In a bid to improve its IT operations, the Department of Homeland Security has adopted agile development and is implementing cloud-based platforms. …read more
Last fall, Senator Coburn sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding an explanation by the end of November for the agency’s reported purchase of massive quantities of ammunition. Yesterday, Dr. Coburn released correspondence that he finally received from DHS purporting to explain the purchases.
First, here’s what was disclosed by DHS: As of November 2012, it had over 263 million rounds of ammunition on hand. The agency said it was purchasing an additional $37 million of ammunition in this fiscal year, but did not give the actual number of rounds. Using the prior year’s cost per round of approximately 35 cents, it appears that DHS is adding another 105 million rounds on top of the 263 million on hand, minus rounds consumed in training and operations this fiscal year.
Using this 363 million round figure, the agency’s explanation for its large purchases can be assessed. For Immigration (ICE), DHS claims that 1,000 rounds per firearm per year are necessary for training. Assuming training of 250 rounds per quarter, this estimate seems reasonable.
The Federal Protective Service or “FPS” (the agency charged with protecting federal facilities owned or leased by the General Services Administration) also uses “1000 rounds of ammunition per firearm per year for quarterly qualifications and training.” Again, another reasonable number.
Read more at Restoring Liberty. By Joe Miller.
The Department of Homeland Security has a warning for organizations that post a lot of business and personal information on public web pages and social media sites: Don’t do it. …read more
By Kris Zane
The so-called “Gang of Eight” yesterday announced they were very close to coming up with an immigration reform bill.
Leading conservative Republicans, however—not the gaggle of RINOS that make up half of the Gang of Eight—point out that the immigration “reform” bill has a flaw: it will provide a back door for millions of illegal aliens to collect welfare.
The cost? Several trillion dollars.
That’s trillion with a “t.”
That would put our national debt above the “magic number” of twenty trillion, the point that many economists state is the tipping point of our economy. Tipping point meaning the U.S. economy would implode.
Add to this the fact that Obama is actually calling for a second Stimulus—as if a trillion dollars flushed down the toilet wasn’t enough.
Add to this the artificially high level of the stock market due to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s endless printing of money in which many are stating a crash is imminent—losing up to 90% of its value.
If one were a conspiracy theorist, it would seem like Barack Obama was actually trying to collapse the economy, putting us in a place like Cyprus where the EU is “taxing”—that is, confiscating—privately held bank accounts to the tune of 40% of their value.
On April 2, Ben Bernanke was asked if the U.S. would do the same thing in a dire economic crisis.
Bernanke hemmed and hawed for several minutes and finally gave up this answer: “It’s unlikely.”
Gee, that sure instills confidence in our banking system.
I guess we’re just a bunch of knuckle-dragging conspiracy theorists who think Obama is actually trying to collapse the economy—by devaluing (killing) the U.S. dollar.
Except that is exactly what a high level source in the intelligence community has stated, as reported in the Canada Free Press on Monday, in the widely read article, “Intelligence Insider: Obama Administration Agenda to Kill U.S Dollar.”
But that is just the beginning. According to the source, after the collapse of the economy, after the collapse of the dollar—after the U.S. dollar is properly devalued and buried long after the collapse of the euro—there will be a banshee cry by the globalists and banksters for an international currency with global government in order to prevent another world-wide economic crisis.
Yes, the economic crisis that they caused.
Obama’s push to gut the Second Amendment, the DHS’s stockpiling of two billion rounds of hollow point ammunition and tens of thousands of assault weapons, and Obama pushing George W. Bush’s Patriot Act to Orwellian levels by spying on literally every single American—is all part of a plan to institute a totalitarian New World Order.
Welcome to Barack Hussein Obama’s fundamental transformation of America.
By The Huffington Post News Editors
NEW YORK — A Department of Homeland Security division produced daily briefings on “peaceful activist demonstrations” during the height of the Occupy Wall Street protests, documents released Tuesday revealed.
The 252 pages of documents were obtained in a March 14 letter from DHS by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which in November 2011 launched a campaign to unearth public records that would show whether the federal government was spying on Occupy Wall Street. FBI records obtained by the group in December showed that the bureau investigated Occupy as a potential “domestic terrorism” threat.
“Taken together, the two sets of documents paint a disturbing picture of federal law enforcement agencies using their vast power in a systematic effort to surveil and disrupt peaceful demonstrations,” Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, said in a statement. “The federal agencies’ actions were not because Occupy represented a ‘terrorist threat’ or a ‘criminal threat,’ but rather because it posed a significant grassroots political challenge to the status quo.”
Read More…
More on Occupy Wall Street
This week, I had a series of very sobering discussions with my highly-placed source within the intelligence world. The information he provided hit me like a proverbial tons of bricks. It connects everything we are seeing play out across the world, from the economic problems in Europe to the U.S. DHS ammunition acquisition orders and even the “gun control” debate. If you’re like me, you’re looking for clarity, context and focus with regard to all of the events we’re constantly hearing about but seem to lack legitimate explanation. I believe this report will provide the context and clarity we are all seeking, but I must warn you that the picture is not pretty.
The economic agenda: In plain sight
Some might be surprised to learn that the fate of America’s economy has already been determined, verified and announced by the Obama White House. Yet, it has received scant attention from the corporate media. In 2011, economist Kyle Bass interviewed a senior member of the Obama administration about its planned solutions for fixing the US economy and trade deficit [i].
Among the questions he asked was about U.S. exports and wages, but the question itself was not nearly as important as the response he received from this senior administration official. In fact, this single, seven word response clarifies everything, explains everything, and leaves little else to discuss: “We’re just going to kill the dollar.”
There it is, the entire agenda in one short sentence. It explains everything we’ve been seeing domestically and globally. That one statement makes every other question irrelevant, or otherwise answers all economic questions and explains everything. Nothing else matters. I urge you to ponder that statement and all that it implies. Doing so will provide you with the clarity to understand not only what is taking place today, but what is yet to come.
Read More at The Daily Sheeple . By Donald J. Hagmann.
Are America’s treasured National Parks being co-opted by the New World Order under the guise of designating them World Heritage Sites, thus allowing foreign troops and United Nations agencies to take over our country in a soft coup d’etat? A blogger has photographed heavily equipped armored vehicles carrying the “Special Response Team” logo in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Heritage site in Gatlinburg, TN. (1) ”It is a deadly serious piece of equipment never before used inside the US until now,” says the blogger “Sherrie” who then adds, “The vehicles don’t come more heavily armored.”
Sherrie has put up several pictures of these in-country tanks which she said she saw on and near Interstate 75 when she was traveling back roads near Winchester, Richmond, KY, and lists Rt. # 627 as an area of interest. “This spot is (around) the US Army Chemical Depot” which covers 14,000 acres in Kentucky backwoods,” the blogger says on the video which the Liberty web site is putting up for general viewing. She mentions chemical weapons involving 523 tons of nerve agents and shows aerial photography of train tracks going up to several buildings in this compound! “I’m not sure what they are,” she says, positing the notion of a possible FEMA camp in the Kentucky woods.
Now in addition to sighting of MRAP vehicles, “Sherrie” tells readers that “Russians were stopping and questioning people in the Gatlinburg, Smoky Mountain Parks region.” She quotes a high ranking individual in a local area state militia organization who she says she trusts as being truthful. The scenario developed when these apparently foreign troops wearing DHS uniforms with the Eagle insignia tried to enter Tennessee from Kentucky. “They were NOT Americans. . .appeared to be Russian or Eastern European!”
The Tennessee State Guard is being formulated as part of the 22 state Governors’ Militia Organization of volunteers which answers only to the Governors, not to the Federal government. (2) What has developed is the confiscation of equipment belong to National Guard Units nationwide. Trucks and other equipment sent to Iraq are not being replaced or returned to the states by the federal government because it is “too expensive” to transport the vehicles and equipment back into the country. This has prompted 22 governors to form State Militia Units paid for by the states and thus kept out of the reach of the federal government. (2)
Has the Division of Homeland Security partnered with the United Nations One World military apparatus with a sleight of hand operation known as World Heritage Site designation? The observant blogger lists these US treasures also as being so designated: Statue of Liberty, Everglades, Mammoth Cave, Yellowstone, Yosemite, all former National Parks. Folks, this designation and UN involvement coincides with the ten region DHS map of the United States! Has this under-the-radar give away of America already taken place, thus allowing the constitutionally prohibited onus of foreign troops being …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism
By Gabor Zolna
It certainly appears that way! There are many parallels that clearly show that DHS has grown its own militia…
Consider the evidence and the growing alarm expressed from many quarters:
“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
–Barack Obama, Colorado campaign speech, July 2008
The American people have been patient and far too accommodating. For many years, we have respected the rule of law, even as those who rule over us break the law. We have been too accommodating. And now, it is clear that our worst enemy is our own federal government.
When things collapse (and it won’t be long), can there be any question that the resulting disorder will be catastrophic? Imagine an energy or monetary crisis so severe that trucks cannot deliver food. Imagine stores stripped bare. Hunger makes people crazy.
Barack Obama is out of control. Even though he says “I am not a dictator,” it’s clear he is working to become one since he hates Congress and threatens the Supreme Court. He would rather have a free hand, something he is close to achieving.
Bottom line: either we throw a net over this bugger; or he will destroy our country, vaporize our liberty, and confiscate our property.
The outrage known as ObamaCare should have been sufficient cause for rebellion.
By corrupt means, he rammed this atrocity through against the will of the majority; and now, we have Sen. Orin Hatch claiming it was purposefully designed to fail so as to make way for complete government takeover.
. . . within the immediate future the Democrats are going to throw their hands in the air and say, ‘It’s not working. It’s unaffordable. And we have to go to a single-payer system,’”Hatch said, adding, “. . . where the government controls everybody’s lives.
All of this thoroughly trashes our Constitution, ushering in an age of despotism we once thought of as impossible in America.
The Poser is purposefully destroying our economy. You have to be blind not to see it. He is selling us down the river to our enemies. You have to be deaf not to hear the war drums. He is destroying our liberty by centralizing control in the executive branch. You have to be dumb not to perceive it.
The clearest signal of all: the combined efforts to disarm American citizens and the massive weapons build-up within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
DHS does not have war powers. With whom are they preparing to fight? We’ll give you one guess. Take the Los Angeles riots (or better, the riots in the 60s) and multiply them many fold, nationally. Get the picture?
Ask yourself: Why does DHS need billions of rounds of ammunition, much of it hollow point? Hollow point rounds are specifically designed to blow giant holes in people, not to wound but to kill.
Why does DHS needs thousands upon thousands of assault rifles, the very rifles the Poser wants to ban generally?
Why does DHS need 3,000 armor-plated troop carriers, detention camps, and ready-made plastic …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism
By Gene Daily
I am writing from a very fearful Spain. The looming Banking crisis in Cypress has nearly everyone in Spain concerned. When the story first broke nearly ten days ago, the Spanish Stock Market dropped, and the price of interest on Spanish Bonds doubled in one day. The Troika (as they are being called), the IMF, the EU, and the ECB, calmed fears somewhat by saying it was only a one-off decision in relation to Cypress. But is it really?
The Euro Group formed by the Troika from a group of European Finance Ministers has made a new demand in face of the opposition to the initial orders, which failed to pass the Parliament in Cypress. They now demand 20% of deposits over 100,000 Euros and the closing of the second largest bank in Cypress. This stipulated because deposits up to 100,000 Euros are insured, and deposits over that amount are not.
All of this works as planned in Europe. The bankers will expect to recoup as much as 10 billion from this so-called “Haircut” on account holders. But wasn’t it the bankers who did the bad investments with the depositors’ money? Why do the depositors who have saved and are receiving virtually no return on their savings currently, due to low interest rates, now have to bear the cost of bailing out the bankers who lost the money in the first place? Think about it. It is because they can. There are strict gun laws in nearly all of Europe. Of course, the people demonstrate; of course, there will be demonstrations against this action. But as people in Cypress are now restricted to a mere 100 Euro per day as a withdrawal limit, what can they possibly do?
Think for a moment what would happen in the USA if the people were restricted to a mere $100 limited withdrawal per day and the banks were closed on Bank Holiday for 10 days. Would there be animosity towards the Bankers, demonstrations, or worse?
Could this be why the 2700 armored vehicles have been purchased for DHS, along with an estimated 1.5 billion rounds of hollow point jacketed ammunitions. The question hangs as a hammer over why Janet Napolitano refuses to answer questions surrounding this subject.
As recently as March 18, 2013, a train was sighted near Peach Springs, Arizona carrying well over 100 of these vehicles along with many other types of support vehicles of a military type (and what appeared to be cases containing unknown material, possibly ammunition.) This was caught on tape by chance. How many of these trains are active in the USA? What is their purpose? Where are they headed for? These are all questions to be put to representatives of the people at all levels. What person can trust a government that carries out such operations without any legislative sanctions?
Personally, I find it difficult to trust an administration that proclaimed it would be the most transparent in history and then refuses to answer honest questions asked in a direct and simple …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism
By Avg Joe
I keep waiting for someone who knows what they are doing to investigate, look at the numbers and do some simple math. Since no one has, here is what I have been able to come up with based on “what has been reported thus far”. Most government contracting includes statements like, up to, which means that they can request more of an item over the period of the contract, but not the full amount if they don’t need that many. Most of the purchases are for a five year period, which means that they are not getting it all right away.
Since 2004, the number of Federal Agents has increased by about 30-40% to somewhere around 120,000 agents employed under about 70 Federal Departments. It is estimated that about 90,000 of these are under DHS. These are Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) and include NOAA, SS, FWP, ICE, FPS, ATF, and just about all the alphabet soup entities of the federal government whose primary purpose is enforcement. It is a lot. However, 1.6 Billion rounds divided by 120,000 agents it is still 13,333 rounds per LEO.
Each LEO has to “qualify” at the range with any weapon that they carry on duty, twice a year. The standard qualification includes various shooting positions, magazine changes, and reloads, and hitting targets at various distances. Standard run of the mill street cops carry a side arm, rifle, and shotgun.
One of the departments that were folded into DHS is the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. It was originally under the Treasury Department. It operates four training centers in the United States and at least two outside. A statement by FLETC is that they use around 15 million rounds a year. This ammo is for all Federal Agents under DHS and the LEOs that work for say, the IRS or Social Security. FLETC also provides training for state and local LEOs that are outside of the aforementioned. It is unclear whether the 15 million rounds per year statement includes all of the training centers, or just the main one, in Georgia, a 1600 acre complex with multiple ranges and even a small town to simulate urban warfare, I mean urban LEO scenarios.
So if each of the FLETC locations uses 15 million rounds a year, which is a stretch, and there are at least six that we know of, a conservative estimate for all training using all three weapons, could be as high as 450 million rounds. That leaves approximately 1.2 billion rounds to be distributed to 120,000 LEOs in the field of operation. Or around 10,000 rounds per LEO.
So how much ammo is distributed to each LEO to carry in the field and how much is kept in reserve at each local office? Well we all know that every LEO in the field already has ammo, and each field office already has a stockpile, what are the additional 10,000 rounds per LEO for? That is an additional 2,000 rounds per year over the five year period.
It is still …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism
The second of two reports examining who’s to blame over the federal anti-gun-running scheme known as Operation Fast and Furious exonerates top officials at the Department of Homeland Security, but paints a picture of ineptitude, ignorance and mismanagement at the DHS operations in Arizona.
Local law enforcement agencies across the country are facing an ammo shortage, as gun owners concerned about new laws at the federal and state level stock up on arms and bullets.
