We’re a country that changed our laws and way of life because two dozen or so idiot sociopaths hijacked down planes in a one time only event. We became a nation of cowards. And We invade Iraq. And We ‘fight terror’. And all we had to do was armor the cockpit doors. Done and done

Then our war on crime merged with our war on crime. And now it’s endless war. And we ruined so much with our slogans to never return to a pre-September 11th, 2001 mindset. And yet all we had to do was be smarter than we were on September 10th, 2001. We don’t have to be this way.

And then we said if a threat was possible it was now inevitable. If you thought otherwise you were a terrorist. We hated foreigners and hated our neighbors. We point our guns at what we don’t understand & what we don’t understand is growing every second.

And finally we became a country that said there were only 2 options to any challenge: keep doing it wrong or don’t do anything. Criticize cops? You want murder. Criticize historic oppression? You hate history. And here we are. And we don’t have to be this way. But we are this way

Our war on challenges is decades long. It’s our excuse for not handling it. From a war on poverty to a war on crime to a war on terror etc etc. it’s not something we simply should address smartly and daily, no! It’s a war! We deliberately conflate blame with responsibility.

And so our wars go on & on & on. The ‘other’ is to blame but no one is responsive. I see this clearly as a local cop. We are a nation of amputations for want of antibiotics. And we’re angry. And we’re armed. And we are determined to do our worst. And we don’t have to be this way

And forget ‘we’. How about me? I was graduating US Capitol Police training when 9/11 happened. Literally. I took that job cuz I lived on Capitol Hill & Theresa & i only had one car. That was the reason. I could ride a bike to work. Plus my Coast Guard ‘law enforcement background

9/11 happens. I & 100,000 others apply for CIA & I get hired. But that took a few years. In the meantime I became an Air Marshal cuz I liked to shoot & it gave me a TS clearance. But that job was redundant after armored cockpit doors & aware passengers. I learned a lot then..

I joined CIA, an amazing job. Lots of training. Amazing colleagues. Get assigned to the counterterrorism center cuz I had no specific skills. Go to Afghanistan when everyone was in Iraq. Go to Iraq when everyone was in Afghanistan. Saw our war on terror. Real close.

Was actually decent at parts of the job; loved the ‘why’ of it; hated some of the ‘how’ of it. Resigned to care for my sick father but didn’t go back cuz I was done with all that. Was adrift. Ended up back home. In savannah.

First and only job I had after that was with my friend @Ali_H_Soufan at the @TheSoufanGroup . Wanted to do good work with good people. And we did. They still do. But I kept seeing my literal neighbors here. Struggling. And I felt like a fraud. So I became an old rookie cop.

I’m still an old rookie cop. And all around me our nation is saying enough of historic and bad police work. And I’ve seen this. I saw it overseas. Injustice causes unrest, not the other way round. So here I am almost 50 and I’ve got so much to do. I’m not alone.