The twist and turns of Homeland Security justice

On the nationally broadcasted segment, Joseph Webber, special agent in charge of ICE’s Houston office, blasted the FBI, claiming the Bureau had jammed up one of his investigations by holding up a wire tap on someone he suspected of raising money for terrorists. Webber didn't provide any specific details on the case, however, for fear it might “compromise” the investigation.

The Dateline report made it clear that Webber’s turf battle with the FBI has been going on for at least four months or so. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, was interviewed during the segment as well. Grassley indicated he had talked to FBI Director Robert Mueller about the case and the senator is now requesting a formal investigation.

Strangely, Webber is not the type of ICE employee who might be expected to become a whistleblower, according to sources who have talked to Narco News. In fact, those sources say Webber is more adept at fostering the kind of workplace conditions that create whistleblowers.

 In any event, he is due to retire soon -- unexpectedly, according to sources inside DHS.
Webber told Dateline, though, that he has no ax to grind, but rather came forward simply because he is a patriotic American.

However, documents have surfaced recently that raise some serious questions about Webber’s devotion to the patriotic rights of all Americans. Those documents show that Webber was among the federal agents who attended something called the “Good O’ Boy Roundup” -- a racist barbeque “picnic” attended by white federal agents that was held in the outback of Tennessee in the 1980s and 1990s.

From the book, Borderline Security, published by Narco News:

… Customs was among the three federal law-enforcement agencies that were previously “the subject of congressional hearings in connection with the `Good O’ Boy Roundup,’ and all had agents attending or organizing the event. All (three agencies) have tolerated an atmosphere of discrimination, harassment and retaliation for at least three decades.”

The Good O’ Boy Roundup was an annual party held in the backwoods of Tennessee that was marked by blatant racist activity. The other two agencies involved in the 1995 congressional hearings were the U.S. Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) -- both also part of the Treasury Department at the time.

“On July 11, 1995, a newspaper article appeared on the front page of the Washington Times entitled, Racist ways die hard at Lawmen’s retreat -- Annual ‘Good O’ Boy Roundup’ cited as evidence of ‘Klan Attitude’ at BATF,” states a March 2002 court filing by the law firm of Shaffer, Rapaport & Schmidt. “... The article detailed allegations of racist misconduct by personnel of the BATF and other federal law enforcement agencies at an annual retreat outside Ocoee, Tenn.”

The court pleading continues as follows:

“... The tape (of the event) was shocking. It showed a ‘Nigger check point’ sign at which, ostensibly, cars were checked to determine whether blacks were trying to attend the Roundup. Another sign asked, ‘Any niggers in that car?’ There were also Confederate flags posted at the event.

“In his testimony (before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 1995) BATF Director John Magaw … acknowledged that racist activity had taken place at the Roundup every year it occurred since 1985. Director Magaw described to the committee some of the activities at the Roundup, including a skit that was put on in which a person dressed as a Ku Klux Klansman simulated performing sodomy on a person with a blackened face.”

Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by Narco News reveal that Webber was among the agents who attended the Roundup event. An investigation undertaken by the Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General in 1995 included the following information obtained from an interview of Steven Hooper, who at the time was the deputy special agent in charge of U.S. Customs’ Houston office.

Hooper advised that while he was assigned in Atlanta, GA, in 1983, he heard of the GOBR (Good O’ Boy Roundup) through word of mouth and decided to attend…. Hooper recalled that Joseph Webber, DSAIC (deputy special agent in charge) USCS (U.S. Customs Service), El Paso, TX, … (was) in attendance in 1983.

So whatever Webber’s motives were in talking to Dateline, it is clear, according to multiple sources inside DHS, that he has been a longstanding figure in the “good ‘ol boy” network in U.S. Customs, which has since become ICE under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). That “good ‘ol boy” network is responsible for systematically discriminating against minority agents within ICE, according to a pending federal class-action discrimination lawsuit filed by a group of current and former Hispanic ICE agents.

Also ironic is that Webber claimed on national TV tonight that the FBI jammed up an ICE terrorist investigation in order to protect the Bureau’s turf.

Narco News reported in April that a memo leaked by a DHS whistleblower revealed that Marcy Forman, director of ICE’s Office of Investigations, ordered ICE supervisors in the field to sanitize ICE terrorism records contained in a major law-enforcement computer database. Among the theories advanced by experts and law enforcers who analyzed that memo for Narco News was that Forman and ICE were seeking to alter the terrorism-related records in order to keep them hidden from the FBI.

Then, for yet another twist in the strange-brew plot, among the supposed reasons ICE agents visited my home and my workplace a little more than a week ago was allegedly because they wanted to force me to reveal my source for the Forman memo story.

Could this all be a coincidence? And could it also be a coincidence that Webber previously was the head of the U.S. Customs office in El Paso?

Remember, that El Paso office is now crawling with the alligators that are coming out of the swamp behind the House of Death case. That’s the case where ICE agents and U.S. prosecutors are accused of covering up their complicity in allowing a dozen murders to occur in Juárez, Mexico.

Could it be that the real reason certain ICE officials -- and others, possibly in the U.S. Attorney’s Office -- want to know my sources is because they are in fact under investigation themselves, or fear as much, and want to know who their enemies might be? It sure would be convenient for them to have such a list, if that is in fact what is happening.

But then “patriotic Americans” wouldn’t behave that way, would they?

Stay tuned….