06:49 AM Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Report: Secret Service Can't Handle All Threats
Date: Friday, October 23, 2009, 5:11 am
By: Michael H. Cottman, BlackAmericaWeb.com
Can federal agents keep track of all the white supremacist groups hating on President Barack Obama?
Probably not.
A new internal government report says the U.S. Secret Service is not equipped to handle the unprecedented number of death threats against Obama, according to the Boston Globe.
The report, a Congressional Research Service document, is not only raising questions about funding and staffing for the Secret Service, but it also examines how the 144-year-old agency plans to protect the nation’s first black president.
“A key difference this time is that the federal government - the entity that almost the entire radical right views as its primary enemy - is headed by a black man," the report said. “One result has been a remarkable rash of domestic terror incidents since the presidential campaign, most of them related to anger over the election of Barack Obama."
One black columnist, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, says in the past two months, there have been a stunning 22 million references to anti-Obama Web sites.
In August, the Secret Service investigated a Maryland man who held a sign reading "Death to Obama" and "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids" outside a town hall meeting.
In New Hampshire, where Obama spoke to residents, a man stood across the street from a town hall meeting displaying his gun.
And in Northern California, a man was indicted on charges of sending a racist, profanity-filled e-mail threatening to kill Obama and his family. The e-mail included specific references to Michelle Obama and the phrase, “do it to his children and family first in front of him,’’ according to the indictment.
And that’s just for starters.
The Southern Poverty Law Center issued a report in August that found that the number of white supremacist militia groups has increased by 35 percent since 2000.
Charles Ellison, a senior fellow and chief advisor for the Center for New Politics and Policy at the University of Denver, said the rise in hate groups targeting Obama is no surprise.
"The unfortunate reality regarding the surge in death threats faced by President Obama is that we somehow expected that,” Ellison told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
“It is a result of a country adjusting to its first black president and the inability of certain segments of the population to accept it,” he said.
Ellison said the increase in hate groups targeting Obama could escalate.
“A 400 percent increase in death threats is of great concern, as that's compounded by the chalkboard scratching tone of polarizing racial and ideological posturing from the right,” Ellison said. “Even more disturbing are reports that the Secret Service is stretched thin, with plans to cut back or somehow downsize presidential protection."
The Boston Globe reported that the Secret Service increased its employees from 6,700 two years ago to 7,055 in the coming fiscal year, almost entirely devoted to protecting national leaders. But that's a staff increase of just 5.3 percent - nowhere near the 400 percent increase in threats to Obama.
“Two troubling measures that warn of real danger from the hate mongers is the number of hate crimes, and that's violent crimes,” Earl Ofari Hutchinson, an author and political analyst, wrote in a recent column. “They have edged up to over 7,000 in 2007. Experts say the number of hate crimes could be 10 times higher than that since most hate crimes go unreported.”
Hutchinson said the overt and vocal bitterness toward Obama is spreading across the country.
“Hate groups bank on the volatile mix of frustration, anger and hostility toward a government they feel has betrayed them, and a black president whose message of change spells socialism to them, to swell their ranks,” he said. “That's a chilling prospect for Obama and all of us.”
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I think the white folks better rethink their actions. This is a different time different era!
by
CustomSystems
October 26, 2009, 2:03 am
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THIS IS SOME UNMITIGATED BULLSH*T!!!! Like the saying goes....TRUST IN GOD,BUT LOCK UR CAR!!!
I have already CLEANED 'BEULAH'----now,I see,WHY GANGMEMBERS ARE STILL IN PLACE(but I TRULY HOPE, we'd NEVER NEED them)!!!!! (9(999(((9(((
by
Rubinisk
October 24, 2009, 9:36 am
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Don't worry Barack, we got your back along with the Black Panthers and The Nation of Islam! Amerikkk Will Burn to the Ground if these MOFO's try anything!!! Believe that!!!
by
Barackie
October 24, 2009, 4:29 am
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I feel you Dopamine.
Im not sure what to make of UncleTom and Jiggy yet, because Sevennotrump look like he keepin them in check LoL.
I dont know if I can actually believe white folks are really coming here to start some bs with us.
Also, I actually read through some info the other day on crime, and it illustrates how we as black Americans are moving forward and becoming more educated, thus committing less crime
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm
It put a smile on my face, but we still have work to do
by
A_day_in_the_life
October 23, 2009, 5:08 pm
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I don't like the tone of this article. Saying that the Secret Service is spread too thin to protect the president of the Presdient of the United States. I know one thing---as a black man born in America, they had BETTER PROTECT THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE USA. Because it the Secret Service lets something happen to President Barack Obama, I will go stark raving mad!!!!. Anyone who LOOKS like they are Obama haters had better look out. I ain't scared to die!
by
Glatham
October 23, 2009, 5:03 pm
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A new report says the U.S. Secret Service is not equipped to handle the number of death threats against President Obama. (AP)
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