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  • 2012-08-15 (xsd:date)
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  • Are SSA and DHS Buying Bullets in Preparation for Civil Unrest? (en)
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  • An August 2012 Infowars.com post pointed to a Request for Quote (RFQ) issued by the Social Security Administration (SSA) for the purchase of 174,000 rounds of .357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow point pistol ammunition. The article opined that as the ammunition was to be sent to a number of major cities around the U.S., it was not outlandish to suggest that the Social Security Administration is purchasing the bullets as part of preparations for civil unrest. Examples: In fact, the spreadsheet showing the destination locations of the ammunition to be purchased by the SSA indicated that it was for duty carry purposes and was being procured for Field Division locations of the Office of Investigations (OI), part of the SSA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The OIconducts and coordinates investigative activity related to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in Social Security Administration programs and operations and conducts joint investigations with other Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies. The OIG's Office of External Relations posted a notice explaining that the reason behind the ammunition procurement was to supply the nearly 300 special agents who work for the OIG and are armed while on duty: (As for the question of why the SSA would need hollow point bullets for target practice and training purposes, many law enforcement agencies require their personnel train and practice with the same type of ammunition they use in the field.) A similar invitation for bids to supply 46,000 rounds of hollow point bullets along with 500 paper targets was issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). That ammunition is destined for the NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which is tasked with protecting fish stocks from depletion, marine mammals from extinction, the livelihoods of commercial fishers, the hobbies of recreational fishers, and the health of seafood consumers. NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen stated that the ammunition is standard issue for many law enforcement agencies, and it will be used by 63 NOAA enforcement agents in their twice annual target qualifications and training. In 2013 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a number of different requests for quotes for various types of ammunition totaling hundreds of millions of rounds. However, those quotes represented the upper limits of options to buy ammunition over the course of several years, not a one-time mass purchase of that number of rounds. The purpose of the proposed buys was to supply ammunition for training and use by agents of the DHS and other federal law enforcement agencies: A March 2013 claim that the Department of Homeland Security had purchased 2,700 tanks for use in the U.S. was based on a year-old (i.e., March 2012) notice posted on the DHS web site announcing that a contractor had been engaged to install new chassis on a number of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles (not tanks) that were being returned from deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although similar vehicles have been used by DHS (and local police forces) for functions such as carrying Rapid Response Teams to disaster sites, the DHS did not purchase the MRAP vehicles referenced in that announcement, and the chassis work was contracted for by the Marine Corps Systems Command. (en)
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