Monday, September 20, 2010

State's homeland security chief goes in hiding

Ah the plot thickens. When I first read this story and posted link, I thought Mr. Powers had merely proposed one of those ideas that sounds good in your head but does not survive its first exposure the rest of the universe. Now we find out that he went a little bit further signing a no-bid contract. I don't know what the laws are in Pennsylvania but I suspect government agencies are required to have a competitive bid process for all of their large contracts (which usually means anything over $5,000). He did this in response to 5 or 10 incidents against the petroleum industry in Pennsylvania. Would it not have been more appropriate to work with local FBI offices and state law enforcement? The ominous sounding Institute of Terrorism Research and Response has offices in Pennsylvania and Israel? According to their website, ITRR is an American and Israeli nonprofit corporation created to help organizations succeed and prosper; assisting organizations that refuse to surrender their domestic or international operations to terrorism. Mr. Powers is a retired Army colonel who was in Special Forces. He more than most should have been leery of working with an organization with international ties that is proposing to look into the records of US citizens.

State's homeland security chief goes in hiding

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