The head of the Department of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, went about on Sunday Talk Shows talking about the dire consequences of de-funding the DHS. Apparently, if we defund the DHS, we might as well stop going to the mall:

“I would say that, if anyone is planning to go to the Mall of America today, they have got to be particularly careful. And, as the statement you read indicates, there will be enhanced security there that will be apparent to people who are there,” Johnson told CNN’s “State of the Union” with Gloria Borger.

Oh no. Better tell all those Republicans to fund the DHS immediately, or all our malls will be destroyed by terrorists! Whatever. I’m so tired of this garbage. Right after Bleh Johnson tried to scare us all into pressuring the GOP about funding the DHS, official statements started surfacing from DHS officials undermining Johnson’s claims. Apparently there is not any real reason to fear an attack on the malls. In case you were wondering.

Furthermore, why do we need the DHS to protect our malls? The whole point is that the DHS is redundant. They were carved out of already existing intelligence and security departments to increase inter-departmental communication about possible terrorist threats on domestic targets. They have failed in this mission. In fact, it was never clear that they were ever in a place to accomplish it.

This inter-departmental communication could have been accomplished without creating another very expensive agency with its own self-interested personnel and agenda. In other words, the DHS has only served to make this situation worse, not better.

Anyway, can we just skip over this fear-mongering, end the DHS, and move on? That would be nice. I have no confidence it will happen, however. There’s just no way to get the federal government to reduce its spending, no matter how superfluous that spending might be. Aside from that, the DHS, with its emphasis on “right-wing domestic terrorists,” is a perfect instrument for continuing the federal government’s war against anyone who dares to speak out of place. Oh bother.