The Obama administration said Tuesday the federal government and the military were not to blame for disturbing scenes like the heavily armored police who confronted citizens last month in Ferguson, Missouri, saying responsibility lies instead with the local police who are asking for more firepower and state officials who approve the requests.
Federal agencies acknowledged they don’t track how the automatic weapons and armored trucks — which are paid for through federal grants or in some cases given for free — are used by state and local police, the Defense and Homeland Security departments testified to Congress.
“We, the Department of Defense, do not push any of this equipment on any police force. The states decide what they need,” said Alan F. Estevez, the principal deputy undersecretary at the Defense Department who oversees the Pentagon’s technology transfer program.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were stunned with that response, saying the government does in fact make decisions on requests under the transfer program. It has decided it will not transfer grenade launchers, heavy crew-fired machine guns and tanks to local police, but has concluded that automatic rifles, armored trucks and bayonets are worthwhile.
Sen. Rand Paul said more than 12,000 bayonets have been given out.
“What’s President Obama’s administration’s position of handing out bayonets to the police force?” the Kentucky Republican demanded. “You guys create the list. You gonna take it off the list?”
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Mr. Estevez said officials are reviewing their previous decisions, but wouldn’t commit to removing any of the equipment from the acceptable list. He said they are following the dictates of Congress, which approved the transfers under what’s known as the Section 1033 program.
The 1033 program has come under scrutiny, along with several other programs that aid local law enforcement in buying military equipment, after protesters angered over the killing of a young black man by a white police officer in Ferguson were met by heavily armed and armored police.
President Obama has ordered investigations into both the killing and the police response to the protests, and has also asked the Justice Department, Homeland Security and the Pentagon to review their grant and equipment transfer programs.
Lawmakers from both parties said they expect to see changes, saying the internationally televised images of police outfitted as if they were an invading army were disturbing.
“There is no role for the federal government in the local and state police forces in our country,” said Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, the top Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “I hope we can winnow that out today and see where we stepped across the line.”
Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, where the protests took place, said the information they received showed that nearly 40 percent of the equipment transferred to state and local police under the 1033 program was new — making her wonder why it had been bought in the first place.
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“What is going to drive me crazy is when I figure out that what you gave away last year, you bought [again] this year,” she told Mr. Estevez.
The equipment and grant money are supposed to be used for limited purposes, including counterdrug and anti-terrorism operations, and some disaster relief.
The equipment is not supposed to be used for riot suppression, Obama administration officials testified.
In the case of Ferguson, the investigation the president ordered will determine whether federally supported equipment was misused.
But that is difficult to tell in other cases since the government doesn’t track use, nor does it even require police be trained for the equipment they’ve been given.
A Washington Times investigation last month found several agencies had been given large armored and tracked vehicles that have been sitting idle for years, as officials decided they were totally inappropriate for police work.
One police agency said it’s been trying to give the equipment back, to no avail.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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