Obama's DHS Appointee: Career Lawyer, Political Crony who OK'd Drone Strikes on Americans
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Obama’s DHS Appointee: Career Lawyer, Political Crony Who OK’d Drone Strikes on AmericansOct 17th, 2013 @ 05:20 pm › John Hill
Above: Obama’s DHS Secretary-designee Jeh Johnson, former DOD General Counsel who led the reversal of the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” restrictions on “gays in the military”.
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Barack Obama once again demonstrated his lack of interest in choosing national security and immigration enforcement officials who have actual experience in their fields.
Back in August, Obama surprised many in D.C. by selecting John Sandweg for new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director – despite the fact that Sandweg had zero law enforcement experience and had fought for the release of violent sexual predators and pedophiles as an attorney.
Now Obama continues his disturbing contempt for law enforcement, by choosing a career lawyer and political crony with zero immigration enforcement experience to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – and also one with very controversial views on the military and drone powers of the president.
Jeh Johnson, who was previously General Counsel at the Department of Defense before entering private practice, is a lifelong Democrat political hack, who served numerous campaigns including John Kerry and Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. In the Obama Administration , Johnson has been at the center of deeply-contentious political battles.
As chief lawyer at the DOD, Johnson spearheaded the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” restrictions on “gays in the military”.
And libertarians will not be pleased with Johnson’s central role in the approval of drone strikes against American citizens abroad and potentially on U.S. soil - having helped Obama ok the drone killing of New Mexico-born Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen in 2011 – and also the temporary position of the Administration that they had the power to target Americans suspected of terrorism on U.S. soil. Both actions are deeply unpopular with the American people.
Sen, Rand Paul (R-KY) led a filibuster on the floor of the Senate to force the Administration to reverse their position and ”clarify” that the United States would not use drone strikes against noncombatant American citizens suspected of terrorism on American soil. It is unclear how much of a role Jeh Johnson played in this debate. Americans strongly supported Paul’s filibuster to stop this policy (79-13%).
Johnson support for drone strike on Americans is in sync with his deeply disturbing view, as explained in a March 2013 speech, that the President “alone” has the power to deploy troops and take military action – completely ignoring the role of Congress as enshrined in the Constitution:
“Let’s not lose sight of the reality that in this country we have…entrusted the President with awesome powers and responsibilities as Commander in Chief; he controls the nuclear arsenal and he alone has the authority to use it;he alone has the constitutional authority, with certain limits, to deploy thousands of men and women in the U.S. military into hostilities on the other side of the world.“With Johnson at DHS and Sandweg at ICE, America would now have the two individuals completely responsible for border security and immigration enforcement having ZERO days of experience in those areas between them, and with very controversial legal opinions. They are lawyers and political hacks, who will continue Obama’s dismantling of the rule of law against illegal aliens, targeting officials who crack down of them, such as Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, and sue states like Arizona, Georgia and Alabama who pass laws increasing enforcement against foreign invaders.
Johnson would be a disaster as DHS secretary – where he would lead 240,000 employees in 22 divisions – but we can’t imagine a worse one than Big Sis. He is almost certain to be confirmed.
All the more reason to tell your House Reps to oppose ANY bills that hand a “pathway to citizenship” to illegal aliens – regardless of promises of border security. The Obama Administration simply cannot be trusted to properly enforce ANY immigration enforcement provisions, but will most certainly grant amnesty to any many foreign invaders as possible.
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