The Unsustainable Military and Prison Industrial Complex

David Camp is a CPA in private practice in Bellingham. He writes Port Watcher for Whatcom Watch.

We live in a political world where the lone voice of foreign policy and fiscal sanity among Republican presidential candidates is Ron Paul’s (who is portrayed as representing the lunatic fringe), and in which the corporatist media continuously beats the drum for spending cuts, but only to programs which benefit citizens.

Not even discussed in the propaganda-fest our rulers pretend to be the “national debate” is the untouchable sacred cow: the trillions spent on the extravagant and unsustainable military and prison industrial complex.

The complex’s tentacles have been heavily extended into our green county. Control of the Port of Bellingham’s airport, by virtue of accepting federal funding, has effectively been ceded to the federal government (according to Port Commissioners and staff in open meeting). Federal agencies are among the airport’s larger tenants: the Department of Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard are among the agencies that maintain helicopter fleets that can be seen flying overhead on a daily basis.

The “temporary” Olympic Security Coordination center has been made a permanent fixture under a bill sponsored by U.S. Senator Patty Murray, who apparently believes she controls unlimited funds for any boondoggle proposed by the Complex.

This is not to demean or give short shrift to the legitimate and useful agencies which serve us locally, such as the Coast Guard, which protects and rescues people in distress in local waters and other remote areas. But how many such useful acts as rescuing injured climbers has the Customs and Border Patrol performed with their paramilitary speedboats and armored ninjas? Rather, they routinely break the Fourth Amendment as a matter of policy, having defined that it does not apply within the “border zone” one hundred miles wide (per the ACLU). They routinely board and search US pleasure boats in US territorial waters, whose course begins, ends, and never leaves US territory. (This happened to acquaintances of mine in the yachting community, who were boarded and searched in Hales Passage on the way to Sucia.)

Such disrespect for the Constitution by those sworn to defend it is breathtaking, not to mention the disrespect for the people who actually pay their wages. When our own government copies the British empire’s illegal actions, which we fought a bloody revolution to right, what can we say about that government?

I am somewhat familiar with the helicopter traffic that passes over our fair city on a daily basis. I even recognize the Homeland Security helicopters with their dashing blue flash as they burn a gallon a minute circling over town for hours on end. I guess if you have a job as a helicopter pilot, and a helicopter, you should be doing something, useful or not.

However, recently I investigated a helicopter I had not seen before flying very low over my neighborhood over the course of several days. This was a red helicopter with a pod on its belly containing some kind of monitoring devices which was systematically flying what looked like a grid pattern just above treetop level.

I was concerned enough so I called 9-1-1. I was told “Homeland Security.” So I looked it up in the phone book, and finding no listing, called U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I asked what was going on. I felt I had the right to know if they were looking for a criminal in my neighborhood so I could take appropriate precautions to protect myself and my family.

Again, I heard “Homeland Security,” and the CBP gave me a number to call. Upon calling that number, I spoke with an agent who was very reluctant to give me any information. I left my name and phone number, and received a call back telling me that the helicopter was “checking the power lines.”

Ah, no cause for alarm, I said. I for one am very grateful for a federal government agency that spends our money so wisely checking power lines since no doubt the utility workers need federal assistance in this regard. What else would a Homeland Security helicopter be doing but helping out a grateful populace by making sure their power lines are safe?

I was happy to put aside my fears of surveillance and monitoring by an unaccountable federal agency and put on a happy face: they’re keeping us and our power lines safe and I can now sleep better at night.

Too bad about Wayne Groen. He’s the Lynden resident who was driven so batty by constant CBP helicopter overflights of his house while he was trying to sleep that he shone a spotlight on the helicopter and now faces a felony charge.

(In April, Groen was found guilty of incapacitation of an individual during the authorized operation of an aircraft and is scheduled for sentencing by a U.S. District Judge on Aug. 4. Apparently, the charge is a felony with a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison, though in this case he likely would get something far below that, The Bellingham Herald reported on April 28.)

Seemingly, Groen doesn’t appreciate how safe he will be in the constant all-seeing care and protection of federal custody. Some people just don’t understand that freedom has to be constantly defended against enemies, which he is not, just so long as he submits to the authority of its protectors, which he gets to pay for also. §