FLICKR/SCOTTJLOWE
THE SWAT-IFICATION
OF AMERICA
President Joe Biden had championed both programs during his
time in the Senate.
The Pentagon’s 1033 program
has also exploded under Obama.
In the program’s monthly newsletter (Motto: “From Warfighter
to Crimefighter”), its director announced in October 2011 that his
office had given away a record
$500 million in military gear in
fiscal year 2011, which he noted,
“passes the previous mark by sev-
HUFFINGTON
03.31.13
eral hundred million dollars.” He
added, “I believe we can exceed
that in FY 12.”
Then there are the Department
of Homeland Security’s antiterrorism grants. The Center for
Investigative Reporting found in
a 2011 investigation that since
2001, DHS has given out more
than $34 billion in grants to police departments across the country, many of which have been used
to purchase military-grade guns,
tanks, armor and armored personnel carriers. The grants have gone
to such unlikely terrorism targets
A photo of
a Bearcat
vehicle,
like the one
citizens
protested
against in
Keene, N.H.