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Gary Johnson wants to get rid of the Department of Homeland Security

Posted at 4:42 AM, Sep 21, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-21 04:42:59-04

Gary Johnson has a lot of questions about the Department of Homeland Security.

During an interview with Neil Cavuto on Fox Business, Johnson asked: "What do they really do? Why are there armed Homeland Security agents walking the streets now? Why are those black unmarked vehicles Homeland Security? What do they do?"

SEE MORE: Now Gary Johnson Wants National Security Briefings, Too

Apparently, Johnson thinks we'd just be better off without the whole complicated thing.

The Libertarian presidential candidate told Fox Business, if he's elected, he'd shut down the Department of Homeland Security, saying it was just another layer of bureaucracy.

Johnson's comments came after police apprehended a suspect in a series of nonfatal bombings in New York and New Jersey.

SEE MORE: Full Interview: Newsy Sits Down With Libertarian Gary Johnson

The DHS was formally established in 2002, combining the responsibilities of 22 separate agencies into one department. Its current mandate is pretty broad, spanning the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications and the Secret Service.

Johnson says he'd divvy up the department's current responsibilities back into the original agencies they were part of before being consolidated into the DHS.

The candidate cited the department's morale, which is improving but is still at rock-bottom levels, as evidence the agency lacks a sense of purpose. He described the department's foundation as a "corporate reorg gone bad."

As for the most important part of the department's job, homeland security, Johnson wants to hand that back over to the FBI.


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