Watch What You Buy: DHS to Guide Retailers in Spotting Terrorists

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson

Homeland Security Secretary, Jeh Johnson, announced that the Department of Homeland Security will be giving retailers guidance on how to spot a potential terrorist based on what a customer buys. The Washington Times reports:

While saying the government cannot prohibit sales of some everyday materials, Mr. Johnson said retailers should be trained to look for anyone who buys a lot from what he described as a “long list of materials that could be used as explosive precursors.”

He said it was an extension of the “If you see something, say something” campaign launched by his predecessor, former Secretary Janet Napolitano, which tries to enlist average Americans to be aware of their immediate environment.

“We can’t and we shouldn’t prohibit the sale of a pressure cooker. We can sensitize retail businesses to be on guard for suspicious behavior by those who buy this kind of stuff,” Mr. Johnson said during a question-and-answer session after a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Other than pressure cookers, Johnson gave away no more information as to what exactly would make the suspicious items list.

DHS’s “If you see something, say something” campaign has been labeled by many skeptics as a tool to legitimize the War on Terror while acclimating the general public to the police/spy state we currently live under.

As Infowars.com reporter Kurt Nimmo puts it:

As we have noted, the lavishly promoted (If you see something, say something) campaign rolled out at Wal-mart and other high visibility venues around the country is not intended to actually apprehend and punish criminals and would-be terrorists. It is instead a calculated propaganda device designed to foster and expand the phony and profitable war on manufactured terror and decidedly acclimate citizens to an ever encroaching police state.

The report of Jeh Johnson’s words come as DHS hypes a potential ISIS attack on US soil and the eve of the 13th anniversary of 9/11.

Paul Lawrance writes for Eyes Open Report, where this first appeared.