War on terror or political purge? (Insider Report).

Jimmy Wynn, self-described commanding officer of the self-styled Militia of Georgia, is by all accounts a law-abiding citizen. However, his political beliefs brought him to the attention of Georgia's state-level Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Last spring, after Wynn was hired by Southeastern Guns in Norcross, Georgia, a police detective issued a classified "intelligence release" warning local police that the militia leader's new job could allow him "to collect intelligence" on law enforcement officers. The memo crossed the desk of John Lang, an agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) assigned to the Georgia DHS. Lang "called the gun shop owner and told him about the memo concerning his employee," reported the May 2nd Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Wynn was fired."

To the GBI's credit, the agency reprimanded Lang and transferred him to a different post, noting that the agent's actions resulted in "the termination of a subject's job because of his association with a particular group with no evidence of a crime being planned or committed...." In his defense, Lang declared: "This delay and sitting on information is precisely why incidents like Sept. 11 occurred." ...