DoD, DHS to Work With Governors To Deploy Guardsmen To Southern Border

Lisa Ferdinando at the DoD News offers the below piece:

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2018 — President Donald J. Trump has directed the Defense and Homeland Security departments to work with state governors to deploy National Guard troops to the southern U.S. border, a top official said today.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen (seen in the above photo) said the troops would augment U.S. Customs and Border Protection and provide support where needed to secure the border with Mexico.

Trump is issuing a proclamation today on the matter, she said.

In a statement, chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White highlighted DoD support for border security efforts.

"We are working with the Department of Homeland Security to enhance the support we provide to the DHS border security mission,” White said. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with DHS to ensure the defense of our nation and security of the American people."

Unacceptable Levels’ of Illegal Activity

Nielsen said the deployment is aimed at filling the gaps in border security and stopping illegal activities that pose a threat to the country.

"We continue to see unacceptable levels of illegal drugs, dangerous gang activity, transnational criminal organizations and illegal immigration flow across our border," she said.

Border security is national security, Nielsen said.

“We do hope that the deployment begins immediately,” she said, adding the troops would support the mission in conjunction of the needs of the specific border state.

DoD Support to DHS Mission

The Defense Department has long supported DHS efforts to protect the nation’s borders, Nielsen said, including counternarcotics missions, infrastructure construction, persistent surveillance operations training and aerial support throughout the Western Hemisphere.

At the White House yesterday, Trump said he wants to use the military to secure the U.S. border with Mexico, in response to gaps in security there. “Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military,” he said.

Previous presidents have deployed National Guard troops to support security along the U.S. southern border; 6,000 were sent under President George W. Bush, and 1,200 under President Barack Obama.

From Russia With Love: My Washington Times Piece on Russian Assassins

The Washington Times published my piece on Russian assassins.

In Ian Fleming’s 1957 thriller “From Russia With Love,” his finest novel in my view, a psychopath assassin named Donovan “Red” Grant is sent by Soviet intelligence to the West to kill British operative James Bond.

The late Mr. Fleming, a naval intelligence officer during WWII and a journalist who covered espionage cases both before and after the war, acknowledged that his thriller plots were fantastic, but yet, he added, that they were often based on the real world of intelligence. He said that on occasion a news story would “lift a corner of the veil” and reveal the real world of spies, assassins and commandos.

For example, Mr. Fleming noted the case of Russian assassin Capt. Nikoly Khokhlov, who was ordered to murder a Russian dissident in Germany in 1954. Khokhlov was equipped with an electrically operated gun fitted with a silencer and concealed in a gold cigarette case. The gun fired bullets tipped in cyanide, which were designed to lead a pathologist to rule the cause of death to be heart failure.

While today the United Kingdom, the U.S. and other Western nations condemn Russia for the attempted murder of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, the brazen poisoning and attempted murder of him and his daughter in the United Kingdom was by no means the first of its kind.

The Russians in the bad old days of the Soviet Union sent forth a good number of assassins to the West to murder Soviet “enemies of the state.” The Russian government under Vladimir Putin, himself a former KGB officer, appears to be carrying on the old tradition.

“It has long been known that the Soviet state security service (currently the KGB) resorts to abduction and murder to combat what are considered to be actual or potential threats to the Soviet regime,” stated a 1964 CIA report that was declassified in 1993.

 “These techniques, frequently designated as ‘executive action’ and known within the KGB as ‘liquid affairs’ (Mokryye Dela), can be and are employed abroad as well as within the borders of the USSR. They have been used against Soviet citizens, Soviet emigres, and even foreign nationals. A list of those who have fallen victim to such action over the years would be a very long one and would include even the co-founder of the Soviet state, Leon Trotsky. Several well-known Soviet assassination operations which have occurred since the rise of Khrushchev attest to the fact that the present leadership of the USSR still employs this method of dealing with its enemies.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link: 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/apr/3/how-russias-long-history-of-assassinations-can-gui/

Note: The top photo is of Vladimir Putin. The next photo shows an array of poison guns used by Russian assassins. The third photo is of Ian Fleming. The last photo is the cover of a paperback copy of Ian Fleming's From Russia With Love novel after the release of the film based on Fleming's novel, starring Sean Connery as James Bond. 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Announces Results Of J-Code’s First Law Enforcement Operation Targeting Opioid Trafficking On The Darknet

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

Today, the Department of Justice, FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) announced the results of a four-day long, nationwide law enforcement operation, called Operation Disarray, which targeted vendors and buyers of opioids and cocaine on the Darknet.  This operation was the first coordinated action by the new Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) Team.

These results were announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and U.S. Postal Inspection Service Chief Postal Inspector Guy Cottrell.

“Synthetic opioids are responsible for nearly one-third of the unacceptable 64,000 drug overdoses in America in 2016,” said Attorney General Sessions.  “Some of the deadliest drugs can be purchased with a few clicks of a button and ordered online. That’s why I ordered the creation of J-CODE—the Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement team—back in January.  J-CODE coordinates our efforts to stop online opioid sales, and it is already getting results.  Today, we announce the first nationwide J-CODE operation, one that led to the arrest of alleged traffickers across America. I want to thank all of our law enforcement partners at the FBI, DEA, ATF, our Postal Inspectors, IRS-CI, NCIS, FinCEN and ICE-HSI who helped make this possible, and I want to thank President Trump for his strong support of our efforts. J-CODE is helping us keep deadly drugs out of this great country.”

“Our work to combat drug trafficking has taken us from coast to coast and to the darkest corners of the web.  The opioid epidemic is a public health crisis, and those of us in law enforcement must be relentless in our efforts to disrupt this illicit activity,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.  “We thank our partners in this operation; through J-CODE, we will continue to work together to target the sale of opioids on the Darknet.”

“The Postal Inspection Service is dedicated to protecting the American public,” said Chief Postal Inspector Guy Cottrell.  “One of the ways we fulfill this mission is by working tirelessly with other law enforcement agencies in operations just like this one to keep dangerous drugs out of the communities we serve.”

During the March 27 to 30 operation, FBI, USPIS, and local law enforcement made eight arrests related to Operation Disarray.  Agents conducted more than 160 interviews nationwide of people who have bought or sold opioids and other drugs online.  Leads from the investigation identified 19 overdose deaths of persons of interest.  FBI, USPIS and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) also executed numerous search warrants, which resulted in the seizure of weapons, drugs, counterfeit currency, and computer equipment.  During the operation, law enforcement agents distributed literature regarding the dangers of opioid abuse, as well as, offered support for those affected by the opioid epidemic.  The investigation is ongoing.

The J-CODE Team is a new FBI initiative announced by Attorney General Sessions in January 2018, and is aimed at targeting drug trafficking, especially fentanyl and other opioids, on the Darknet.  With this team, the FBI is bringing together agents, analysts, and professional staff with expertise in drugs, gangs, health care fraud, and more, and our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners from across the U.S. Government, to focus on disrupting the sale of drugs via the Darknet and dismantling criminal enterprises that facilitate this trafficking.  Operation Disarray is the J-CODE’s first joint, nationwide coordinated operation.

Attorney General Sessions thanked our law enforcement partners on the J-CODE team, to include the FBI, USPIS, Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and the Organized Crime and Gang Section; Drug Enforcement Agency; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Department of Defense; IRS-CI; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for bringing expertise, professionalism and a shared desire to combat this epidemic.  Through continued collaboration and determination the successes J-CODE will continue to forge a positive difference and outcome.

Directorate S: The C.I.A. And America's Secret Wars In Afghanistan And Pakistan

Joshua Sinai at the Washington Times offers a review of Steve Coll’s Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America’s Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

With the appointments of John Bolton as the National Security Adviser and Mike Pompeo as the secretary of State, the Trump administration is likely to embark on a major review of the policies and programs guiding the 16-year U.S. political and military involvement in Afghanistan.

They will also examine the extent to which the Pakistani government is cooperating with the U.S. in countering these insurgents, or whether it is playing a double game by shielding the Pakistani Taliban, as well as providing a safe haven to the remnants of al Qaeda, especially to Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s successor, somewhere in Pakistan.

How these strategic and military challenges will likely play out and the historical background that has shaped them since the beginning of the American intervention in Afghanistan in October 2001, are central to Steve Coll’s important book, “Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America’s Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

This book is the second volume and update of the author’s best-selling “Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001,” published in 2004.

This book, according to Mr. Coll, seeks to provide a “history of how the C.I.A., I.S.I. [the Pakistani intelligence service], and the Afghan intelligence agencies influenced the rise of a new war in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban [in late 2001], and how that war fostered a revival of al Qaeda, allied terrorist networks, and, eventually branches of the Islamic State. The book also seeks to connect American, Afghan, Pakistani, and international policy failures to the worldwide persistence of jihadi terrorism.”

What is remarkable about this book is Mr. Coll’s recounting of numerous behind-the-scenes meetings and memos by high level Bush and Obama administration officials and their Pakistani and Afghanistan government counterparts, as each side attempted to press its case to manage and, if possible, resolve, the difficult and problematic political and military situation in Afghanistan.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/apr/2/book-review-directorate-s-by-steve-coll/ 

DEA Surge In Drug Diversion Investigations Leads To 28 Arrests And 147 Revoked Registrations

The U.S. Justice Department released the below link:

For 45 days in February and March, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration surged its enforcement and administrative resources to identify and investigate prescribers and pharmacies that dispensed disproportionately large amounts of drugs. The ultimate goal of the surge was remediating or removing those whose actions perpetuate the controlled prescription drug crisis in America, particularly opioid drugs.  

During that period, the DEA surged the efforts of special agents, diversion investigators, and intelligence research specialists to analyze 80 million transaction reports from DEA-registered manufacturers and distributors, as well as reports submitted on suspicious orders and drug thefts and information shared by federal partners, such as the Department of Health and Human Services. This resulted in the development of 366 leads to DEA field offices, 188 of which (51 percent) resulted in active investigations by DEA’s 22 field divisions.

“In the midst of the deadliest drug epidemic in American history, we need all hands on deck,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “That’s why the Department of Justice has made enforcing our drug laws a priority. Over the last 45 days, the DEA has surged resources and personnel to prevent the diversion of opioids, arresting dozens of people and taking away drug dispensing authority from nearly 150 medical professionals. And our efforts are just getting started. I recently announced that DEA will surge task force officers and more analysts to places across America where the opioid crisis is at its worst. These new resources will help us catch and convict more of the drug traffickers and corrupt medical professionals who are fueling the opioid crisis.”

“DEA will use every criminal, civil, and regulatory tool possible to target, prosecute and shut down individuals and organizations responsible for the illegal distribution of addictive and potentially deadly pharmaceutical controlled substances,” said Acting DEA Administrator Robert W. Patterson. “We must stop the loss of our loved ones to these drugs.”

The culmination of those investigations was 28 arrests, 54 other enforcement actions including search warrants and administrative inspection warrants, and 283 administrative actions of other types. These additional actions included scheduled inspections, letters of admonition, memoranda of agreement/understanding, surrenders for cause of DEA registrations, orders to show cause, and immediate suspension orders (the immediate revocation of registrations).

DEA works with various federal and state partners on data sharing agreements to enhance its ability to identify individuals and companies who are contributing to the prescription opioid crisis, including a coalition of 41 state attorneys general and the Department of Justice’s Opioid Fraud and Detection Unit, an initiative of Attorney General Sessions. It is also dedicating additional resources to its domestic divisions to carry out investigations.

A Look Back At Mel Gibson's 'The Passion Of Christ'

Every Easter my wife and I try to rewatch Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ, so I was pleased to read that Mel Gibson was going to make a sequel to his powerful and brilliant film, with Jim Caviezel once again portraying Jesus. 

In 2004 I wrote a column about the film for The Orchard Press Online Mystery Magazine, where my Crime Beat column and crime fiction appeared.

You can read the column below:

Mel Gibson and The Passion of the Christ 

I recently saw Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. The film is powerful. I can't think of another film that has so touched me.

Gibson's film, based on the Gospels and history, also offers Gibson's artistic symbolism.

Biblical movies were a part of my growing up in the 1950s and the 1960s, as were westerns, comedies, horror and crime films. I was raised Catholic and the Biblical films, from Ben-Hur to The Greatest Story Ever Told, provided me with far better depictions of my religion than the dry readings I was taught at Catechism. (Later in life, I also very much liked the Franco Zefferilli's TV mini-series Jesus of Nazareth).

I've read theology, philosophy, history, novels, and the original source material - The Bible. But the old movies left an indelible mark on my mind and my soul. Film is a powerful medium and Gibson's film will no doubt be with me all of my life.

As widely reported, Gibson sunk $25 million of his own money into his pet project, the portrayal of the last hours of Jesus. Gibson said he wanted to realistically show the brutal torture and murder of Jesus Christ. With the bloody violence, dialogue spoken in the original languages of Latin and Aramaic with subtitles, Gibson took a huge chance on this film.

His gamble - or, one might say, his faith - appears to have paid off.

The film, which no one in Hollywood originally wanted to touch, was number one at the box office for three weeks running. To date, the film has made $315 million and with Good Friday and Easter coming up, the film is expected to earn much more. The film is expected to become one of the highest grossing films ever.

"This is a story about love, hope, faith and forgiveness," Gibson told reporters. "Jesus died for all mankind, suffered for all of us. It’s time to get back to that basic message."

Adding that he thought the world was going "nuts," Gibson noted that we could all use a little more love, faith and forgiveness. In a time of lessening morals, family ties and personal responsibility, as well as suicidal mass murderers acting in the name of God, I'm inclined to agree with Gibson.

Despite the strong public approval via the box office, there has also been much criticism and controversy surrounding the film, from cries of anti-Semitism to his use of graphic violence. The film is indeed violent, but I didn't see anti-Semitism in the film.

In the film we see Caiaphas and the other Jewish leaders judging Jesus and then taking him to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Pilate, as we all know from the Gospels, washed his hands before the Jews and then had Jesus crucified. But Gibson also depicts sympathetic Jews, like Simon and Veronica who came to Jesus's aid. And of course, Mary and Jesus himself were Jews.

As Gibson told ABC News' Diane Sawyer, there were no Norwegians in evidence during Jesus' crucifixion, only Jews and Romans. He also disagreed with the assessment that his film will incite anti-Semitism. After viewing Shindler's List, Gibson told Sawyer, he didn't go out and beat up Germans.

Mankind, Gibson told Sawyer, killed Christ.

The film is truly violent, but I think the violence was necessary. Prior to his crucifixion, Jesus was "scourged" with a particularly nasty weapon called a flagellum, which is a whip with leather throngs holding pieces of metal and bone. In many cases, Ive read, the victim died from the scourging and never made it to the crucifixion.

Gibson shows us Jesus' strength, authority, and grace. I particularly like the way Gibson portrays Jesus' confrontation with Satan at Gethsemane. Satan, as many critics have noted, resembles the bald, female Irish singer Sinad O'Conner, and he appears on the sidelines throughout the film.

"The Prince of Darkness," Gibson suggests, is always close at hand.

After praying on his knees for guidance and strength, Jesus stands and forcefully stomps the symbolically evil snake that Satan had released from his cloak. Jesus is no meek hippie in this film.

Jesus also stood strong and dignified when facing the powerful Roman governor. Beaten, bound and bleeding, Jesus tells Pilate, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above."

Jesus changed the course of history. Michael Grant, the author of The Twelve Caesars and History of Rome, wrote that millions of men and women have found Jesus' life and teaching overwhelmingly significant and moving.

"The most potent figure, not only in the history of religion, but in world history as a whole, is Jesus Christ: the maker of one of the few revolutions which has lasted," Michael Grant wrote in Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels. "His was the most dramatic life ever lived."

Gibson, the director and star of Braveheart, gave us a superb film about Jesus. The Passion of the Christ is a fitting film for our age, I think. With terrorism and crime on the rise worldwide, I believe we need to see, hear, and feel how Jesus suffered and died for our sins.

Widely reported in the press was the case of a couple that fought with each other after seeing Gibson's film. Stating that it was the dumbest thing they've ever done, a Georgia couple admitted that they argued and fought over a theological issue and ended up stabbing and assaulting each other.

The deputy sheriff who arrested the couple told reporters that he thought the couple missed the point of the film.

Millions of us did not. 

You can also read a Hollywood Reporter piece on the Mel Gibson sequel via the below link:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jim-caviezel-talks-play-jesus-mel-gibsons-passion-sequel-1080299 

The Washington Times Offers The Passion Of The Christ From The Gospel Of Mark

Straightaway in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered Him to Pilate.

Pilate asked Him, “Art thou the King of the Jews?” And He answering said unto him, “Thou sayest it.” The chief priests accused Him of many things: but He answered nothing. Pilate asked Him again, saying, “Answerest thou nothing? Behold how many things they witness against thee.” But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marveled.

Now at that feast, he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. There was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the multitude, crying aloud, began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.

Pilate answered them, saying, “Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?” For he knew that the chief priests had delivered Him for envy. But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.

Pilate answered and said again unto them, “What will ye then that I shall do unto Him whom ye call the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Crucify Him.” Then Pilate said unto them, “Why, what evil hath He done?” And they cried out the more exceedingly, “Crucify Him.” And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him, to be crucified.  

You can read the rest via the below link: 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/29/editorial-the-passion-of-the-christ-132831055/

Note: The above painting was by Peter Paul Rubens.