Missouri Top Cop Blasts Agency Over Militia Warning: Doesn’t Meet Standard for “Intelligence”
I recently wrote about the wacko “intelligence” report released by the Missouri Information Analysis Center, or MIAC: The Modern Militia Movement Report: Libertarians, Ron Paul Supporters as Potential Domestic Terrorists. The report, supplied to the Missouri Highway Patrol stated that cops should be on the look out for Ron Paul bumper stickers, Christian literature, or people who are against illegal immigration as potential “domestic terrorists”.
World Net Daily has now reported that the top cop, Chief James Keathley of the Missouri State Patrol, has blasted the report as well as the procedure with which it was released:
“My review of the procedures used by the MIAC in the three years since its inception indicates that the mechanism in place for oversight of reports needs improvement,” he wrote. “Until two weeks ago, the process for release of reports from the MIAC to law enforcement officers around the state required no review by leaders of the Missouri State Highway Patrol or the Department of Public Safety.”
He said the militia report was “created by a MIAC employee, reviewed by the MIAC director, and sent immediately to law enforcement agencies across Missouri. The militia report was never reviewed by me or by the Director of Public Safety, John Britt, at any point prior to its issuance. Had that report been reviewed by either my office or by leaders of the Department of Public Safety, it would never have been released to law enforcement agencies,” he wrote.
The report simply “does not meet” the needed standard for “intelligence,” he said.
This is kind of interesting, here you have a civilian agency, gathering information, compiling “reports”, then making an analysis, which was then released to cops in the field without the supervision or okay of the Director of Public Safety nor Chief Keathley.
As I noted in our previous story, MIAC gathers information, some of it through Federal or state databases, but it also acquires information through “tips” submitted directly to them through their website or by phone.
I also took a look at what the report “found” regarding domestic terrorism and militias:
I’m not going to dispute the existence of militias in America. What I specifically wanted to look at was the criteria used for the “analysis†that led to the conclusion that people, who were Ron Paul supporters, Libertarians, those who oppose illegal immigration, dislike the NAFTA Superhighway, or fear the economy may collapse, could be now be viewed as potential domestic terrorists based on this report. Some have concluded, rightly so, that the existence of a Ron Paul For President bumper sticker on their car, could lead to profiling as a potential domestic terrorist.
Sovereign citizens, according to the report, are potential threats because they “argue that the government has gotten away from the intent of the Constitutionâ€. They are also “strong state’s rights advocatesâ€.
The report also “found” that the police could ascertain whether someone was a member of a militia if they watched the movie, “Rocky”, or read Tom Clancy novels.
Like the top cop, we too, found the report didn’t meet the standard for “intelligence”, but, most likely on several different levels than he implied. While the report sounds “silly”, it was released to cops across the state as an instrument to be used in ascertaining whether certain individuals were members of para-military militia groups, which are known to be fond of weapons. Which, if a cop believed a Ron Paul bumper sticker on car, profiled an innocent driver as being potentially dangerous, could set the scene for a tragic outcome.
While we’re glad to see Chief Keathley “blast the report” and the lack of mechanisms which caused the report to be released without review, we’re still left to wonder what other “reports” were released prior to this one, during the three years since MIAC’s conception as well as other “reports” to come.
Hat tip: pat
By LBG
Image – Rambo Movie Poster
Scary. Wasn’t Missouri also going to investigate Obama’s critics during the presidential campaign? They are the show me state all right, as in show me the tools ready to usher in the marxist bandwagon.
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The hypocrisy of this is that whomever wrote that little missive should have just come out and said..”Anyone who doesn’t like obambi” if they wanted to be honest, as far as they were concerned, but we all know they lack the guts for that.
Unfortunately with how GW treated the Arizona border volunteers a year or so ago, you are correct to point out this may be an older trend than just the last 70 or so days.
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