Terrorism and the Maritime Transportation System reached the Amazon Law Enforcement bestseller list for a period of 60-weeks straight; at one point climbing to the number three spot. At the time of that accomplishment, the Law Enforcement category consisted of nearly 90,000 law enforcement related books.

The book is available online at over 50 international booksellers, including Amazon.com.  Additionally, readers can receive autographed copies directly from the author at the Homeland Security Group website.  After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Davis founded the Homeland Security Group and subsequently began the Homeland Security Reports, now read worldwide as a free resource to inform Security and Law Enforcement professionals.  According to Davis, he began the reports nearly nine years ago as a free resource and he is committed to keeping it that way.  “We must keep our folks safe and informed” he says.

The full article at DEFENCE IQ is available HERE.

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.