A quick google revealed this article in Huffington Post by Radley Baldo in early September, as though anticipating the stepped up violence against OWS protesters. It seems the War on Drugs has been enough pretext for well over two decades now to militarize local police. Police departments for years have been receiving surplus Pentagon weaponry since 1994.
The main culprit was a 1994 law authorizing the Pentagon to donate surplus military equipment to local police departments. In the 17 years since, literally millions of pieces of equipment designed for use on a foreign battlefield have been handed over for use on U.S. streets, against U.S. citizens. Another law passed in 1997 further streamlined the process. As National Journal reported in 2000, in the first three years after the 1994 law alone, the Pentagon distributed 3,800 M-16s, 2,185 M-14s, 73 grenade launchers, and 112 armored personnel carriers to civilian police agencies across America. Domestic police agencies also got bayonets, tanks, helicopters and even airplanes.
All of that equipment then facilitated a dramatic rise in the number and use of paramilitary police units, more commonly known as SWAT teams.
Corporatism is a cancer eating away at our democracy, but it is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the police state apparatus that has been assembled in order to defend power and wealth. Individuals involved in the OWS movement have put their bodies and lives on the line and identified the police state for all to see, bringing it into the light, so to speak.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has in place a grant program that is giving out funds for the ongoing militarization, training and equipment of police forces in the name of "State" and "National Preparedeness":
State Homeland Security Program (SHSP)
Total Funding Available in FY 2010: $842 Million
Purpose: This core assistance program provides funds to build capabilities at the state and local levels and to implement the goals and objectives included in state homeland security strategies and initiatives in their State Preparedness Report. Consistent with the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-53) (9/11 Act), states are required to ensure that at least 25 percent of SHSP appropriated funds are dedicated towards law enforcement terrorism prevention-oriented planning, organization, training, exercise, and equipment activities, including those activities which support the development and operation of fusion centers.
and here:
Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI)
Total Funding Available in FY 2010: $832.5 Million
Purpose: The UASI program focuses on enhancing regional preparedness in major metropolitan areas. The UASI program directly supports the National Priority on expanding regional collaboration in the National Preparedness Guidelines and is intended to assist participating jurisdictions in developing integrated regional systems for prevention, protection, response, and recovery. Consistent with the 9/11 Act, states are required to ensure that at least 25 percent of UASI appropriated funds are dedicated towards law enforcement terrorism prevention-oriented planning, organization, training, exercise, and equipment activities, including those activities which support the development and operation of fusion centers.
Eligible Applicants: The SAA is the only entity eligible to apply to FEMA for UASI funds. Prospective recipients for the UASI program include the 64 highest risk Urban Areas.
Program Awards: The ten highest risk urban areas, designated Tier I Urban Areas, will be eligible for $524,487,600. The remaining 54 urban areas, designated Tier II Urban Areas, will be eligible for $308,032,400. Funds will be allocated based on DHS’ risk methodology and effectiveness.
Here on the Gulf coast we are well ahead of you guys in terms of awareness of the state security apparatus that we were treated to during the BP oil disaster that is ongoing.
The Coast Guard was moved under Homeland Security after 9/11. The Coast Guard allowed BP to spray Corexit virtually anywhere it wanted along the coast, including in Barataria Bay, which used to be one of the world's most productive estuaries. The shrimping industry is collapsing along the coast, sick fish are showing up in catches, and dead dolphins are still washing up in record numbers. There continue to be eye witness accounts of Corexit spraying, even as beaches are open for business. Hundreds of Gulf coast residents have become ill, some seriously, some have died, even as the Feds and state governments ignore the problem.
Here is a statement from the history section of the U.S. Coast Guard online:
The U.S. Coast Guard is one of the five armed forces of the United States and the only military organization within the Department of Homeland Security. Since 1790 the Coast Guard has safeguarded our Nation's maritime interests and environment around the world. The Coast Guard is an adaptable, responsive military force of maritime professionals whose broad legal authorities, capable assets, geographic diversity and expansive partnerships provide a persistent presence along our rivers, in the ports, littoral regions and on the high seas. Coast Guard presence and impact is local, regional, national and international. These attributes make the Coast Guard a unique instrument of maritime safety, security and environmental stewardship.
Gulf coast residents might have a quibble with "environmental stewardship". The BP oil disaster is a worse case scenario of government and corporate collusion, resulting in illness and death for human and marine life, and ongoing misery for residents who rely on the water.
The Coast Guard as a part of the state security apparatus participated in protecting BP, not the residents of the Gulf coast. Why do I write about this, moving from the Reagan era to the BP disaster? Because it is the ongoing stories that Americans are experiencing on a daily basis that illustrates the dangers we are all subject to. Police repression of OWS is yet another example of what Americans have to look forward to as the police/corporate state consolidates and strengthens.