US agencies heavily arming themselves, says report

US federal agencies have been quietly investing heavily in weapons and tactical gear, says a report, including administrative agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Health and Human Services (HHS), and its subsidiary National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Open the Books, an organization which tracks government spending, published an updated report last week showing a recent jump in military purchases by federal bodies outside the Department of Defense (DoD).

While the militarization of federal agencies is not new — Open the Books has been tracking such spending since 2006 — the organization estimates there are now more armed federal employees and contractors outside of law enforcement than US Marines.

Most administrative agencies, including Veterans Affairs (VA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Executive Office of the President, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Agriculture, and 70 others maintain their own armed forces.

Also among that list is the HHS, which is larger than most police departments with about 500 armed special agents. The department, which oversees the NIH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Office of Assistant Secretary of Health has dramatically increased its militarization in the last three years.

Between 2006 and 2019, HHS spent $13,883,616 on guns, ammunition, and tactical gear. By March 31, 2023, that number shot up to $154 million — an 11-fold increase since the pandemic.

The Office of Assistant Secretary of Health alone, which employs 6,000 officers — some of whom protected Dr. Anthony Fauci throughout the pandemic — spent $100 million in militarization.

The NIH employs 105 armed officers who have gone through sophisticated training and hold state-of-the-art weaponry and night vision goggles.

Prior to the pandemic, the HHS stockpiled eight million rounds of ammunition, submachine guns, shotguns and firearms, among other items. Since 2020, the department’s purchases include $250,000 on more ammunition, $100,000 on new guns, $400,000 on tactical gear, and 240 new black chrome batons.

HHS explained the armaments by saying there is a “need to arm agents who participate in undercover work and assist law enforcement in their efforts.”

The IRS has also been making heavy investments in arms. In the last three years alone, the agency spent $10 million on weapons and tactical gear. These purchases included $2.3 million on ammunition, $474,000 on rifles, $463,000 on tactical shotguns and many other items.

Between 2006 and 2019, the IRS accumulated 2,100 armed special agents called Criminal Investigators. The agency is now hiring 360 new CIs in all 50 states after an $80 billion infusion from Joe Biden last year, which included $45.6 billion for tax enforcement. Criteria for CI duty includes the willingness to use deadly force.

Further militarization of the IRS is concerning given the agency has been mostly pursuing low-income taxpayers.

According to a report from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), the IRS targeted mostly low-income families for audits while largely steering clear of high-income earners in fiscal year 2022.

TRAC analyzed data it received from the IRS and found that the agency preyed on lower-income brackets last year who were collecting earned income tax credits. 

In fact, the report says the IRS subjected low-income taxpayers to “unbelievably high” audit rates — over five times more than nearly everyone else. On the other hand, just 1.1% of millionaires — those who earned a million dollars or more in positive income — were audited. 

The agency’s gusto in pursuing low-income taxpayers is also concerning when considering the Inflation Reduction Act 2022. The Act includes a corporate tax which would hit the middle and lower classes hard, despite Joe Biden’s pledge not to increase taxes for those making less than $400,000 per year.

“As a result of the policy, those with incomes below $200,000 would pay almost $17 billion in combined additional tax in 2023, according to a Joint Committee on Taxation analysis published July 29,” reports CNBC. According to the analysis, only 4%–9% of tax revenue from the Act’s $80 billion investment will come from businesses making above $500,000. 

“The approach here is to double the IRS workforce, take the leash off, and see how much they can collect,” National Taxpayers Union Foundation Executive Vice President Joe Hinchman told The New York Post. “I think they’ll collect it but it will be quite painful.”