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2008-11-07 - 11:14 a.m.
Submitted to: Change.gov
"Dear President Obama,
Congratulations on your election, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to issues in your agenda.
I believe the formation of the Department of Homeland Security was a inappropriate response to the issues leading up to and following the attacks of September 11, 2001. It has added another layer of bureaucracy further distancing the personnel on the ground who are charged with the security and protection of our country from resources and leadership.
Additionally the very name, Department of Homeland Security, brings to mind associations with nationalistic groups in history that are the anathema of this country's ideals.
We should disband the Department of Homeland Security and return authority to the traditional domestic intelligence and security, and law enforcement agencies like the FBI, ATF, Secret Service, Border Patrol, Coast Guard, and others. We should allow, and encourage, the traditional agencies in these areas to excel at what they do best.
Instead our government should use the budget allocated to DHS, and additional money, to fund a comprehensive domestic intelligence, security, and law enforcement computer network and database/s that all domestic agencies would use and have access to.
There is no doubt that our country needs and deserves the very best security our government can provide, but we've seen DHS in action, and it has not been effective. DHS has wasted vast amounts of taxpayer dollars, and fostered a sense of fear and distrust to both the citizenry and law enforcement agencies.
After September 11th, the sense was that because of mistakes made by the FBI, and others, that they should be reprimanded. That their authority should be taken away from them and given to DHS, much like a child who has had a failure with a pet has the pet taken away and given to someone else "who can better take care of it". We should have, instead, given these agencies the resources and training to make sure they don't repeat their mistakes. Not punish them.
Thank you very much,"
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So, how do you like them apples?