Degrading American Sovereignty via Executive Order

On December 16, 2009, President Obama amended Executive Order 12425 giving INTERPOL immunity to operate in the U.S.  Today, the White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stated that the order was really nothing significant and that it just gave INTERPOL the same rights and privileges as other agencies; in particular the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), Red Cross and the IMF (International Monetary Fund).

The statement by the Press Secretary lacks the truth and is an outright attempt to downplay the significance and the impact of the order.  None of the agencies Gibbs notes above have an international Law Enforcement mission that conducts investigations, search and seizures or collect and stores personal information of individuals; particularly U.S. citizens.  It is simply against the law. There is an obvious misalignment of the duties of these other agencies and INTERPOL and this administration knows it.

Ok…What does this mean?  It takes some chasing back through the numerous amendments to get the full meaning.  In short, this could be problematic to American sovereignty.  Given this latest update, INTERPOL is afforded full diplomatic immunity to foreign embassies and select other “International Organizations” as set forth in the United States International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945.  This allows INTERPOL to operate on U.S. soil, beyond the reach of the FBI and is not held to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

As noted in the E.O. text, paragraph 2(c) is modified. The order now states: “Property and assets of international organizations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation. The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable.”

Ironically, the U.S. headquarters of INTERPOL is within the Department of Justice building in Washington, DC.  While U.S. Law Enforcement personnel are held to restrictions for collecting and maintaining records on U.S. persons in 28 Code of Federal Regulations, such restrictions do not exist for INTERPOL operating on U.S. soil. In a sense, INTERPOL has been granted the latitude to collect information on anyone during their operations in the U.S. That information is legally held at bay from the Congress, Senate, Law Enforcement, media representatives and American citizens.  Collected information can legally be maintained within our own Department of Justice building, yet kept from our own personnel that work there.

INTERPOL works closely with the International Criminal Court.  This entity if allowed oversight of specific cases, could in effect indict and prosecute our own military and intelligence personnel for doing their jobs. For some, this is seen as an easy political exit to hot button issues remaining from the previous administration.   This amendment challenges and opens the door to weaken American sovereignty within our own borders.