International counterinsurgency has always informed U.S. domestic policy as well as counterintelligence within the United States. The FBI's counterintelligence program, or COINTELPRO, identified Black organizations, civil rights groups and more militant Black liberation organizations as "threats to the national security of the United States.” The response to this perceived threat was both political and military. Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams were developed in the late 1960s to meet the challenge of urban warfare the Black liberation movement was believed to represent. Today, the militarization of police agencies and the targeting of Black and other colonized peoples continues with programs like the U.S. Department of Defense’s 1033 program.
How 9/11 helped to militarize American law enforcement
Following the withdrawal of troops from U.S. imperialist efforts across the world, weapons and other military equipment make their way back to the United States through law enforcement
Almost 65 percent of 18,000 law enforcement agencies have received equipment through the 1033 program as of 2020
The 1122 program, related to the 1033 program, allows law enforcement agencies to use public funds to buy military equipment at discounted military rates
Militarization of police leads to further use of such equipment, yet departments are less likely to reduce crime and increase the public’s perception of safety
House Democrats to offer amendment to limit transfer of military-grade gear to police
Reps. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) are proposing an amendment in the next annual defense policy bill to the House Armed Services Committee
The amendment calls for prohibiting the Pentagon from “sending police departments controlled firearms, ammunition, bayonets, grenade launchers, grenades, including stun and flash-bang grenades, explosives, certain controlled vehicles including mine-resistant vehicles, armored or weaponized drones, combat-configured or combat-coded aircraft, silencers, and long-range acoustic devices.”
This amendment is no longer part of the recent police-reform legislation because it had been stalled, so they are hoping to see it addressed through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
It remains unclear why no clear call was made for the end of the whole 1033 program
No clear plan forward can be seen, but the Biden administration reportedly could be open to proposing executive action, given the failure to implement 1033 restrictions in police-reform bills introduced in Congress
Additional Stories:
Bay Area lawmaker’s bill regulating police obtaining military equipment heads to Newsom’s desk
San Diego mayor proposes greater scrutiny on police use of military weapons
Learn more about BAP’s work on the 1033 program by visiting the 1033 resources page.
Banner image: Heavily armed police officers facing off with protestors last year in downtown San Diego. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)