13 states refuse to disclose how many tanks, assualt weapons etc., they’ve gotten from the 1033 program



MassPrivateI

Since the Pentagon refuses to disclose which police departments nationwide had received weapons, armored vehicles and even bomb robots. MuckRock submitted public records requests to all 50 state coordinators.

More than half the states had released their spreadsheets. To date, 37 states have done so, opening up the 1033 program to public accountability.
Thirteen state coordinators that have yet to disclose which agencies have received excess military equipment.
The reasons that state coordinators cited for withholding agency-by-agency data varied. The Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, for instance, cited an exemption under the state public records statute for “Investigating records compiled for law enforcement purposes,” but failed to explain how the 1033 program spreadsheets fall into this category.
The Massachusetts State Police similarly claimed that releasing the 1033 equipment transfer spreadsheet would “undermine public safety as it relates to security measures and emergency preparedness.”

Mass. State Police training at Fort Devens:

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety suggested that releasing the spreadsheet would “be like providing criminals a blueprint on how to harm law enforcement or get around their security tactics when trying to prevent crime and/or a serious event.”

Six states in total rejected the request outright:

  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • New Jersey
  • North Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • West Virginia

MuckRock has appealed these rejections for Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and South Dakota. There is no administrative appeal available to requesters under the public records statutes in North Carolina and West Virginia.

Six states claim not to have any such spreadsheet:

  • Alabama
  • Delaware
  • Maine
  • Rhode Island
  • Virginia
  • Wyoming

The Louisiana Federal Property Assistance Agency of Louisiana insisted that fulfilling the same request would involve printing approximately 20,000 pages of paper files at a cost of $5,000.

Shipping would cost extra, the agency indicated.
Notably, the LFPAA has not provided a copy of the memorandum of agreement each state coordinator must sign with the Defense Logistics Agency. Even states that rejected the request for agency-by-agency spreadsheets provided this basic agreement.

One thought on “13 states refuse to disclose how many tanks, assualt weapons etc., they’ve gotten from the 1033 program”

  1. “as a tax payer I paid for this”
    NO YOU DID NOT
    YOUR TAXES(criminal) serviced the debt to the fed res.

    \
    cops with titles like Sgt. and all dressed in camo… = law enforcement?

    Reply

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