The 2012 National Defense Authorization Bill has gotten some attention recently, though not nearly as much as the wrangling over payroll tax cut extension. Bear with me, there’s gear news in here. People are not upset about what’s in the bill (S.1867), but what’s not in the bill. There was language in an early draft of the bill that explicitly protected American citizens from another portion of the bill that authorized detention of America’s enemies by the military. Somewhere along the way, the bill was amended and this language adding protection to U.S. citizens was struck from the bill.
Protectors of civil liberties were enraged and news reports circulated and opinions were formed. I’m not going to get into the politics, but as I said, there is actual gear news in here.
Since the NDAA is the blueprint for next year’s military spending, many companies’ profits are staked to its passage. Surefire among them. 99%ers and hackers have taken up the call and are threatening all kinds of action against those whom they perceive were involved. Surefire, along with AAC, won what could be a healthy portion of government’s suppressor business (it’s an IDIQ contract), so portions of the Internet see them as supporting the idea that Americans can be indefinitely detained by U.S. military forces.
The DoD is buying a lot of gear and Surefire isn’t alone in getting lumped in with supporters of the bill, Honeywell and Bluewater Defense were also called out. Surefire felt strongly enough to draft a response, which I’ve included below.
Statement from Surefire:
We’ve been made aware of various articles pertaining to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and SureFire’s alleged role as a lobbyist and/or financial supporter of the bill and its primary political backer, Sen. Robert Portman. The news reports are using our associations with a Political Action Committee (PAC), a former consulting group, and a government contract to infer that we support indefinite military detention of American citizens without charge or trial. These reports are false and misleading. Our association with this bill has nothing to do with citizens’ rights and SureFire is now the casualty of a disregard for sound journalism.
We’ve never supported the removal of citizens’ rights let alone do we have any connection with those responsible for the injustice. Any news outlet alleging SureFire’s support of anti-American rights, is reporting lies. SureFire’s support of unrelated parts of the NDAA does not constitute support for every part of the bill like those that are now being contested.
Read More
Recent Comments