Your Government is Protecting You

Why do American citizens want to own personal firearms when we have the state and federal governments to protect us?  Certainly, we have to carry because those governments are filled with top level officials who are corrupt and incompetent and can’t protect us.  Am I talking about the recently resigned Secret Service head Kimberly Cheatle?  No.  There are plenty other scandals and would be scandals floating around the Biden/ Harris administration.

Here's one you may not have heard about.

Pauline (Polly) Hanson, was appointed on June 14th as Deputy Director of the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS).  On July 16th, Judicial Watch reported that she has “stepped down”.  Judicial Watch reported that the appointment “came just months after the administration quietly replaced the last FAMS director, marking the fourth time in around as many years that the agency got a new leader.”

Hanson previously was Amtrak police chief and also served as chief of Metro Transit Police in the District of Columbia and Executive Director of the D.C. Police’s Strategic Service Bureau.  Sounds like she had ‘connections’ in Washington D C.

Hanson, was appointed to the FAMS’ position despite previously being investigated for fraud and conflict of interest as Amtrak police chief.  Hanson was investigated for “unethical and illegal” behavior after awarding her then live in boyfriend, ABS Consulting senior director Kerry Thomas, a million-dollar counterterrorism contract to train officers in her agency.  An investigation was initiated in December 2015, based on allegations about Hanson and Thomas’s relationship. The allegations included that Hanson and Thomas have been romantically involved for a “substantial period of time, that they cohabitated in Arlington, Va., and own a residence together in Delaware, and that, consequently, their actions regarding the procurement of the contract. . .were unethical and illegal.”

The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General stated that as deputy director, Hanson would have been in charge of all purchasing and contracts for FAMS. “If the allegations are true this is akin to letting the fox into the hen house,” the Air Marshal National Council wrote.

Hanson fought in court to limit investigators’ access to her bank records and when a judge ordered her to turn them over, she resigned as chief of the Amtrak Police.

Hanson’s appointment by TSA Director David Pekoske to be second in command at FAMS raised questions about the criteria to qualify for the top-secret clearance required for the position and ignited fury among air marshals nationwide. The Air Marshal National Council, the union that represents thousands of agents nationwide, asked the DHS Inspector General to reopen Hanson’s investigation, days after Pekoske’s appointment, to ensure she is eligible to hold a position of public trust and top-secret security clearance.

Judicial Watch also investigated after it was advised of this issue by aviation security specialists and the Air Marshal National Council.  Judicial Watch immediately fired off two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to TSA and the National Railroad Passenger Corporation Inspector General, asking for details about Hanson’s criminal and ethical investigation as Amtrak Police Chief and her subsequent resignation.

Was Hanson a Diversity, Inclusion, Equity (DIE) appointee instead of being appointed on merit?  We’ll never know.  But one has to ask, wasn’t there anyone better available and doesn’t anyone in the Biden / Harris administration bother with background checks?

Yes, American citizens need to continue exercising their right to ‘keep and bear arms,’ especially since the government which is supposed to protect us is prioritizing politics and ignoring merit when appointing people to protect us.

On the positive side, at least Hanson wasn’t going to be in charge of airplane maintenance.

Given that they first raised this issue, the men and women who make up the ‘grassroots’ of the FAMS seem to be more competent and honest than their leadership.  Those of us who will be flying soon will appreciate that.  We need that competence since we can’t carry on airplanes.