Pentagon asks DHS to justify moving funds for Trump's border wall

[riversedge]

Source: The Hill




By Ellen Mitchell - 02/21/19 06:40 PM EST



The Pentagon signaled Thursday that it has asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a priorities list to justify using military funds to build President Trump's desired border wall.

“We’ve asked DHS for input facts, data, priorities; we are waiting to receive those,” Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters at the Pentagon.

“When we do, we will then ... match that with our mission analysis and begin the process I think I've described to many of you.”

The Military Times first reported Thursday that the Pentagon asked DHS for such a list in a Feb. 18 memo. The document asks for locations where border wall construction would improve the “effectiveness" of military troops deployed there.

Shanahan also told reporters that Pentagon officials will brief lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Friday “on the way forward and to give people a sense of not just the activities we are going to undertake but [also] the timing.”

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Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/431065-pentagon-asks-dhs-to-justify-moving-funds-for-trumps-border-wall

[Achilleaze]

1. "We are under strict orders to defend Dirty Donny*s ego." - DHS

* aka republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief

[Historic NY]

2. Wouldn't that mean they would have to have a permanent deployment of

troops along the border? Military taking on the role as border guards-police performing the task a designated Federal Agency is charged with?

[Maxheader]

3. Just going through the motions?

[watoos]

4. Neilson, is that her name?

the head of DHS. She is going to have to take her shades off to write the report, or will Stephen Miller write it for her?

[onenote]

5. A smart move by the administration

They rarely make smart moves, but they know what they're doing in this instance. One of the vulnerabilities of the implementation of the national emergency order is that it relies on a provision that relates to military need. If they didn't make any effort to show military need, they'd be dead in the water. So by going through the motions of seeking a military justification, they put themselves in a stronger position, particularly since courts are typically reluctant to second guess matters of military judgment and strategy.