by Al Martin

Before his speech, on September 20, 2001, George Bush Jr. kissed Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Everyone knows he should have kissedher because she was the deciding vote in the Florida ballot issue, which formally brought Bush Jr. into the White House. Later during the speech, Bush announced the creation of a Cabinet level position called "Office of Homeland Security."

The Office of Homeland Security will initially be run by former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge. It should be noted that Ridge himself got in trouble a few years ago for praising the efficiency of the Third Reich's civilian administration.

Ridge also spoke highly of Mussolini's ability to keep the Italian trains running on time. Now Ridge will be the guy running the Office of Homeland Security.

Although it hasn't been made public yet, there is a proposal being prepared.  The Bush administration, however is playing it smart. They're being cautious by whipping up public support first. Later they will announce some of the more sinister activities of this agency.

According to an inside source, the "Office of Homeland Security" will operate three divisions. One will be a plain-clothes division similar to the FBI, which will be called the State Security Division (SSD). Ironically SSD is the same acronym as the former East German Secret Police.

The second division of the Office of Homeland Security will be a smaller  uniformed division, which currently remains nameless. It will act as a defacto State Political Police.

By the way, Ridge wants the uniforms of this State Political Police division to be modeled on existing state trooper uniforms - except done in black.  If you've ever seen New Jersey or Pennsylvania State Police uniforms, they have dark blue pants and lighter blue uniform on top. They also have those old-fashioned pants that bag out like the old German or Gestapo pants. They'll have jet-black jackboots, and black uniforms with lots of gold insignias indicating the Power of the State. Of course, "State" here is used in the context of the American Nation State.

The third division of the Office of Homeland Security will be called the  Office of the United States Air Marshals (Air Marshal Services.) They will have to federalize the new air marshal service because security on aircraft is currently being provided by state police. The problem, of course, is that  there will be jurisdictional issues. The actual name of this agency, Office of Homeland Security, is very reminiscent of 20th century era German/Fascist and  Russian/Communist secret police agencies. In America, "Homeland" is a neuter word. In German, however, the word is translated as "Vaterland" (Fatherland), while in Russian, the word is "Rodina" (Motherland). In both cases, these words can be translated into the English neuter word -- "homeland."  There is no precedent for the use of this word "homeland" in the United
States Government.

This new agency will also operate "with extralegal authority." They will  then be able to act under suspension of habeas corpus and under suspension  of the right against self- incrimination, the Fifth Amendment privilege, and also the Fourth Amendment privilege. That power will be in their charter -- they can act in an extra-legal authority, in certain cases, where the security of the "homeland" is"threatened."

The Bush Administration is essentially laying the foundation for a whole new classification of law. That's why, in his speech, Bush purposely never used the words "national security." He did this deliberately so as not to confuse the two.

With this new agency, the seeds are being sown for a new classification of  law that will most likely be called "Homeland Security Law." Nobody knows  what it will be called yet. But this is obviously what they're doing. Anyone, who knows the Bushes for what they are, can see that this will be the groundwork for a new, more powerful, more sinister agency, wherein all sorts of covert activity, illegal and not, will be extant.

In order to take the concept of "illegal" covert activity away, they are  laying the foundation for a whole new separate body of law that will be parallel to, but above, the National Security Acts. The Office of Homeland  Security will be a separate agency, not under any other agency, not even  under the Department of Justice. It will be the most senior agency in the  Cabinet. It will probably fall somewhere between the Department of State  and the Department of Defense, or somewhere between Treasury and Defense.  In terms of authority, it will be called a "Super Agency," which implies it will not be under anyone. It will act as a coordinating agency, but will be above the FBI, CIA, NSA, and DIA. This will, of course, create a whole new set of turf war battles. But no agency head - in this post-WTC environment - will dare say anything against it because they'd lose their job.

Ridge will most likely be a political figurehead. He was probably given this job as political payback for Bush. It hasn't been decided yet, but one of the names that has been mentioned (and I certainly hope it doesn't happen) is Barry McCaffrey. If they put that old nazi in charge, watch out! Meanwhile back in the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, there was a large party of old generals visiting from the Department of Defense and everybody was laughing. They're all interested in seeing what corporations  will be getting the new contracts.

With that in mind, the Al Martin Raw website will remain vigilant to see who gets all the new contracts to create this new agency. These will be contracts not only for a whole new office building, but the furniture as well as contracts for electronic components, surveillance equipment, weapons, etc. Let's see which corporations get these contracts, how many shares the Bush family trust has in these corporations, and how much money the so-called "winning" bidders contribute to right-wing think tanks and  institutes.

The Office of Homeland Security will have its own helicopters. Even the FBI  doesn't have its own helicopters, but has to borrow them from the GSA pool. The Department of Justice doesn't have any of its own helicopters either. The new Office of Homeland Security helicopters will be painted a matte black and have digitized red lettering that says State Security, dark tinted windows, and numerous aerials and dishes with a big searchlight on the front.

Bell Helicopters is supposed to get the new contract to produce this  new super-surveillance helicopter. Supposedly they'll have the most sophisticated surveillance electronics ever made. This equipment will include gear that people don't even know has been invented yet.

It can't happen here? Watch out for jackboots and swagger sticks...

This article originally appeared on the author's own web-site at www.almartinraw.com