We will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms.”

—-  George W. Bush, September 12, 2001

       While the United States Armed Forces (private mercenaries) are in Afghanistan and the Philippines defending “all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world”—the ostensibly pro-State sovereignty—Republican (fascist/socialist) de facto President George W. Bush (having received an unlawful advantage of 52 ineligible Electoral votes) signs house resolution 5005, creating the Department of Homeland Security.  The DHS is to be a behemoth department with over 170,000 Federal employees (French for “government workers).  Among the 23 agencies transferred to the new department are,

1. part of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (from the Department of Agriculture);
2. the Federal Computer Incident Response Center (from the General Services Administration);
3. the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office (from the Department of Commerce);
4. the office of Domestic Emergency Support (from the department of justice);
5. the Energy Security and Assurance Program (from the Department of Energy);
6. the Environmental Measurements Laboratory (from the Department of the Energy);
7. the Federal Emergency Management Agency (previously an independent agency);
8. the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (from the department of the treasury);
9. the Federal Protective Service (from the General Services Administration);
10. part of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (from the department of justice);
11. the National Biological Weapons Defense Analysis Center (from the Department of Defense);
12. the National Communications System (from the Department of Defense);
13. the National Domestic Preparedness Office (from the Federal Bureau of Investigation);
14. the National Infrastructure Protection Center (from the Federal Bureau Investigation);
15. the National Strategic Stockpile and the National Disaster Medical System (from the Department of Health and Human Services);
16. the Nuclear Incident Response Team (from the Department of Energy)
17. the Office for Domestic Preparedness (from the department of justice);
18. the Office of Countermeasures Programs (from the Department of Energy)
19. the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (from the Department of Agriculture);
20. the Secret Service (from the department of the treasury);
21. the Transportation Security Administration (from the Department of Transportation);
22. the United States Coast Guard (from the Department of Transportation);
23. the U.s. Customs Service (from the department of the treasury).

       The DHS will be the third largest department, in terms of both its budget and workforce, behind the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs; the DHS will be exempt from having to comply with the Freedom of Information Act; and the DHS will make a record of every e-mail message, every web site visited, every academic grade, every bank deposit, every credit card transaction in the nation. The act also contains unrelated provisions exempting drug companies from civil liability for vaccines they distribute. 

       NOTE: Also in the act, CONgress required that the president submit unaltered reports regarding security at chemical plants and screening of checked bags at airports.  After signing this act, Bush issued a “signing statement” explaining why he was going to disregard the provision regarding the reporting stipulations.

       [restored 11/26/2023] Thanks to Freedom’s Phoenix for this entry.