In June, U.S. House could have defunded Defense Department program that militarizes police

8/22/2014

Background: Obama Calls For A Civilian Security Force

The nightly clashes between police and protesters in Ferguson, Mo., have prompted a national conversation about the militarization of small town cops.

Much of that militarization — at least in terms of equipment, if not tactics — is the direct result of the 1033 Program, which allows the Defense Department to transfer military surplus equipment to law enforcement agencies.

The program was approved by Congress in 1990, but since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the amount of equipment transferred has ramped up. According to the Department of Defense, more than $5.1 billion in equipment has been handed out to local authorities, including more than $449 million worth of supplies in 2013 alone.

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GETTING THE GOODS: Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles like this one in Arizona are becoming commonplace in increasingly militarized local law enforcment agencies.

After the events in Ferguson, groups from across the political spectrum and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have called for changes to the 1033 Program.

READ WATCHDOG.ORG’s COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE 1033 PROGRAM

“When the government arms cops like soldiers, trains them in counter-insurgency tactics, tells them they are fighting an enemy, we should expect this type of combustive, tragic result,” wrote Kara Dansky, senior counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Center for Justice, in an op-ed this week.

But just two months ago, Congress had the chance to put the brakes on the 1033 Program and stem the flow of military-grade equipment tolocal agencies.

Of course they didn’t. In fact, the measure failed with a vote of 62-355.

That’s overwhelming bipartisan support for handing out assault rifles, grenade launchers and mine-resistant vehicles that are probably best described as mini-tanks.

Had it passed, the proposal from U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., would have partially defunded the 1033 Program, though not shuttered it entirely. He offered it as an amendment to the annual Defense Appropriations Act that funds the military and the Pentagon.

Turns out that the military-industrial complex is a big fan of the 1033 Program — no surprise, really, when you consider that it opens up all sorts of new markets for those weapons of war.

In a report released in June, the ACLU pointed out that some of the equipment being distributed as “military surplus” isn’t really surplus at all — 36 percent of it was brand new— because the Defense Department is allowed to purchase supplies from contractors and immediately turn it over to local law enforcement.

“Given that more than a third of property transferred under the program is in fact new, it appears that this practice happens with some regularity,” the report concluded.

And members of Congress like keeping those defense contractors happy, as the vote from June shows.

MapLight, a nonprofit that tracks lobbying and political spending, shows the 355 members of the U.S. House who voted against Grayson’s amendment received, on average, 73 percent more than the amount of campaign contributions as the 62 members who voted to restrict the 1033 Program.

Maplight

GETTING PAID: The overwhelming bi-partisan majority that voted against limits on the Pentagon’s 1033 program get way more cash from the defense industry than those few who supported it.

The average member who voted against the proposal recevied more than $50,000 from defense contractors during the past two years, according to MapLight. Their analysis shows that dozens of members, including pretty much every high-ranking member from both sides of the aisle, got more than $100,000 from defense contractors during the past two years.

That kind of influence is hard to match.

And it’s a good reason to be skeptical of anything changing in the wake of Ferguson, no matter how loud the public outcry.

But at least a few members of Congress seem willing to take on the defense contractors and reconsider the 1033 Program.

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., who voted for Grayson’s amendment in June, said on Twitter he will soon introduce a bill to de-militarize the police.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has called for reforms to the 1033 Program, and U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said in a statement on Friday the Senate would review the program “to determine if equipment provided by the Defense Department is being used as intended.”

The original intent, according to Levin, was to make sure small town police are not “out-gunned by drug criminal” and to make sure they had adequate protection from terrorism — in the event terrorists decided to take aim at suburbs like Ferguson, perhaps?

Defense contractors are unlikely to back down from supporting the program, and neither is the Pentagon. According to media reports, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is seeking more information about the 1033 Program, but stands behind it and wants to see it continue.

With plenty of cash and lobbyists to help, there is little reason to think it won’t.

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