Spymaster may help target pot growers | SignOnSanDiego.com
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) was formed in 2005 by the George W. Bush administration to improve the intelligence used to protect national security interests against terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps due to the lack of terror attacks against America during the Obama administration, the DNI office ostensibly created to deal with the war on terror could soon be utilized in the never-ending battle the federal government has been waging for almost 75 years – the war on marijuana.
The 2012 intelligence authorization bill includes a provision written by U.S. Rep Mike Thompson (D-CA) which requests that the DNI and US intelligence agencies assist federal park rangers, game wardens and land managers in eradicating cannabis allegedly grown by foreign (primarily Mexican) drug traffickers who pose an ecological threat to wildlife via their growing tactics and a physical danger to people intruding upon their illicit gardens.
The proposed use of the DNI office to weed out weed in national parks is a disturbing escalation of a growing trend. Already the U.S. Forest Service and the Interior Department (which oversees national parks) coordinate anti-pot efforts with the National Counterterrorism Center, another agency that seems to be overstepping its bounds in going after cannabis simply because it's being grown by Mexicans.
This development lends further credence to the criticism some cannabis activists have made that the war on terror is being used primarily to intensify the war on drugs – for instance, intrusive airport searches of passengers that have resulted in more seizures of illegal substances than of dirty bombs.
The aforementioned bill is presently before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (it was already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in September). If it becomes law, it remains to be seen if the DNI will limit itself to pursuing Mexican cartel grow-ops or if anyone growing pot on federal land represents a threat to national security
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) was formed in 2005 by the George W. Bush administration to improve the intelligence used to protect national security interests against terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps due to the lack of terror attacks against America during the Obama administration, the DNI office ostensibly created to deal with the war on terror could soon be utilized in the never-ending battle the federal government has been waging for almost 75 years – the war on marijuana.
The 2012 intelligence authorization bill includes a provision written by U.S. Rep Mike Thompson (D-CA) which requests that the DNI and US intelligence agencies assist federal park rangers, game wardens and land managers in eradicating cannabis allegedly grown by foreign (primarily Mexican) drug traffickers who pose an ecological threat to wildlife via their growing tactics and a physical danger to people intruding upon their illicit gardens.
The proposed use of the DNI office to weed out weed in national parks is a disturbing escalation of a growing trend. Already the U.S. Forest Service and the Interior Department (which oversees national parks) coordinate anti-pot efforts with the National Counterterrorism Center, another agency that seems to be overstepping its bounds in going after cannabis simply because it's being grown by Mexicans.
This development lends further credence to the criticism some cannabis activists have made that the war on terror is being used primarily to intensify the war on drugs – for instance, intrusive airport searches of passengers that have resulted in more seizures of illegal substances than of dirty bombs.
The aforementioned bill is presently before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (it was already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in September). If it becomes law, it remains to be seen if the DNI will limit itself to pursuing Mexican cartel grow-ops or if anyone growing pot on federal land represents a threat to national security
