There has been a rather disturbing trend of bureaucracies becoming ever more militarized. Does the Treasury really need a paramilitary force? Prohibition is over, so I’m going to go with “no” on this one.
Even scarier is when semi-trained paramilitaries act. You end up with a Mexican execution squad joke (with very un-funny consequences, including the deaths of unarmed, presumably-innocent individuals) or shooting up cars because they might look superfacially similar to a dangerous person’s vehicle. Read the Schneier blog post’s comments for a lot of interesting (and some not-so-interesting) discussion, but check out Bear’s comment in particular.
It seems to be time to do a militarization walkback.
Well, Treasury does supply the secret service and investigate counterfeiting. I’m not saying you’re wrong, just playing devil’s advocate.
Comment by Tony Demchak — February 17, 2013 @ 4:15 am
The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security. Yes, Treasury did own the Secret Service, but they were moved post-2003.
Comment by Kevin Feasel — February 18, 2013 @ 12:39 pm