Jesse Ventura on Homeland Security Former Independent MN Governor

I'd rather face terrorists than lose any of my freedoms

Let's look at how the government has been intent on keeping us safe. First, did you know that the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) already had detention centers in place since it was established in March 2003 Second, the Army went on to establish a Civilian Inmate Labor Program back in 2005. "This regulation provides Army policy and guidance for establishing civilian inmate labor programs and civilian prison camps on Army installations."

Federal surveillance is a waste of taxpayer dollars

Why were there no black boxes from any of the 9/11 planes?

After Pearl Harbor, General Martin Shore and some admirals were fired because of their alleged negligence. After 9/11, not a single employee at the FAA or NORAD got punished. In fact, all the major military men involved received promotions.

Vietnam War was all about somebody making money

When I, in turn, went into the service and learned a whole lot more about Vietnam, I had the good fortune to come home and tell my father that he was right. Especially growing up in the Midwest, you never even contemplate that your government might not be telling the truth. You don't realize until you get much older that government is nothing but people--and people lie, especially where money and power are concerned.

Lesson from JFK: Don't let feds investigate momentous events

I'm more afraid of the culture of fear than of al Qaeda

I've gone to some lengths to trace these developments since 9/11, because I'm a lot more afraid of this than an assault by al-Qaeda. What's going on inside our military also frightens me. More and more, we're seeing an army run by Christianist extremists and an accompanying cadre of what can only be described as neo-Nazis. Since the endless "war on terror" began, our armed services have been turning a blind eye to their own military statutes. A 2005 DoD report said: "Effectively, the military has a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy pertaining to extremism." White supremacists are walking as enlisted men around our bases.

1999: Special Ops ID'ed several 9/11 hijackers, but ignored

But when the 9/11 Commission came up with reasons for leaving Able Danger out of its report, the media nodded off again. One 9/11 expert concluded that the commission and the Pentagon were "covering up dangerous information that suggested Atta was being protected. Combine this observation with the money reportedly sent to Atta--the Able Danger evidence provides additional reason to suspect that the 'hijackers' were really paid assets."

War isn’t civilized; don’t expect warriors to be

I don’t like what happened in the navy’s Tailhook scandal; I think what those officers did was wrong. But I understand why it happened. When you get a force of that many hundreds of warriors together, there’s bound to be trouble. We’re responsible for making them what they are. You just can’t bring them back into civilization and expect that everything that was drilled into them is going to go away.

When you’re dealing with death face-to-face, there are no rules. It’s all about survival. After that, bad behavior doesn’t affect you all that much.

War isn’t civilized. War is failure. It’s the ultimate result of a breakdown in public policy, and soldiers are the machines that handle that breakdown. In warfare, you’re taught to do whatever you have to, to stay alive. Can you imagine bringing that mind-set into a party?

Military is stronger if all-volunteer

I loved the braless thing. I’m very heterosexual. I’d see women out burning their bras, and I’d go over with a lighter, “Can I help?” I did participate seriously, though, in the anti-draft movement. To this day, I’m against the draft. I believe the military is much stronger if it’s an all-volunteer organization.

Against the draft; for including women except in combat

If we’re going to draft at all, then we should draft women too, as long as we don’t send them into combat. The problem is men, [not women’s effectiveness in combat]. There’s something protective in men that makes us want to protect women. And that would be disastrous in battle.

Deal with terrorism as a joint federal-state responsibility.

• Handling Information Needs.
  Many of the operational, programmatic, and funding activities associated with terrorism consequence management preparedness are classified because of national security. Thus, the sharing of critical information is hampered. State governments must be viewed as strong partners in the US’ national security efforts, particularly as related to terrorism.
• Managing Consequences.
  Managing the short- and long-term consequences of terrorism is among the responsibilities of state and local government supplemented by the resources of the federal government, coordinated by FEMA.
• Supporting Public-Private Cooperation.
  Terrorism preparedness efforts should be inclusive of key private sector entities such as defining the appropriate roles and responsibilities for public and private health and medical communities.
• Clarifying the Role of the National Guard.
  The role of the National Guard in terrorism response activities is to support federal, state, and local response agencies with equipment, facilities, and personnel. Any assignment of responsibility should enhance the nation’s terrorism consequence management capability and provide for the contingency of the National Guard being called to assist active and reserve components in dealing with a major military conflict.
• Federal Responsibility
  Governors recognize the need to coordinate programs among federal agencies to address domestic terrorism and appreciate the efforts of the National Domestic Preparedness Office. However, they encourage greater clarification of the currently fragmented structure of federal responsibilities and support increased cooperation among federal agencies to better enable states to plan for domestic terrorism responses. Governors urge appropriate funding, maximum coordination of program components, and coordinated service delivery within states and localities.

Include states in anti-terrorism planning.

The Issue

NGA’s Position