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What the original Executive Order issued by President Reagan did in 1983 was to designate INTERPOL as a recognized international organization pursuant to his executive authority, as authorized by P.L. 79-291, but in so doing, Regan limited certain of the privileges and immunities that INTERPOL would enjoy under the law, including immunity from search and seizure provided by Section 2 (c). At the time, and up until 2004, INTERPOL had no permanent offices in the United States, so the issue was largely moot.

Section 2 (c), says, “Property and assets of international organizations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation. The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable.”

Admittedly this is a very broad protection for an organization to enjoy in the U.S., and it’s one that domestic organizations do not enjoy, but this is hardly new. The law has been in effect since 1945, and that provision has applied to every designated international organization (including the United Nations) except INTERPOL since President Reagan issued his Executive Order in 1983.

In 1995, President Clinton amended Reagan’s order to extend the privileges and immunities extended to all other international organizations regarding customs duties, IRS taxes, foreign agent registration requirements and treatment of their official communications to the “foreign government” standards to INTERPOL by removing references to Section 2 (d).

What President Obama did by further amending Regan’s order was to eliminate all of the other restrictions on INTERPOL enjoying all of the provisions of Public Law 79-291 that Reagan had put in place. This action in no way expands the powers of INTERPOL or makes U.S. citizens subject to plenary jurisdiction of INTERPOL or anyone else. Moreover, provisions in the law permit either the President or the Secretary of State to revoke the designation of any international organization under the law should the organization abuse the privileges and immunities offered. The amendment of the Regan order can be amended again at any time by the President to limit the applicability of the law to any such organization at his will.

So, contrary to conspiracy theory hysterics, the simple fact is that INTERPOL now enjoys the same limited immunities and privileges that all of the approximately 75 other designated international organizations enjoy, and have enjoyed as the result of an Act of Congress since 1945.

While Section 2 (c) does provide some immunities that are of concern, these immunities are of concern not just as applied to INTERPOL, but as applied to every designated international organization. If there is a debate to be had, it’s whether or not Public Law 79-291 should provide such absolute immunity from lawful, court-approved search and seizure for any organization operating within the United States, international or otherwise.

Rather than concocting wild theories about how U.S. citizens are now at the mercy of INTERPOL, which is flatly untrue, we should be asking Congress to review the law and decide if the “inviolable” immunity from lawful search and seizure pursuant to a warrant of international organizations is appropriate. Of course, as Mr. Whiteley points out in his paper, the reason such immunities are offered is because other countries offer the same sort of privileges and immunities to U.S. organizations operating in their countries.

That is a matter of some concern, to be sure, but panic is not called for, and it’s going to be lost in the hysteria of the blogosphere if someone doesn’t apply some common sense.

A concerned Tennessee resident on the topic:

With the signing of an under-publicized amendment to Executive Order 12425, Barack Obama has fundamentally altered our constitutional rights. His actions are undermining our rights to protect personal privacy from a foreign internationalist police agency named Interpol. A one-paragraph executive order may seem inconsequential to many, but this action has far-reaching implications and threatens the sovereignty of America.

Obama's secretive executive order amended an order issued by President Reagan in 1983. Reagan's order recognized Interpol as an international organization and gave it privileges and immunities commonly extended to foreign diplomats. Reagan opened the door to allow Interpol to operate in partnership with the U.S. but with significant constitutional safeguards. Specifically, Interpol's property and assets remained subject to search and seizure by American law enforcement, and its archived records remained subject to public scrutiny under provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Interpol had to answer to the FBI and U.S. courts under Reagan's order. These safeguards were stripped away by Obama's action the week before Christmas without debate or explanation. Obama picked the holiday season to make this radical change, to minimize media coverage.

This order marks a significant change in federal policy and usurps the constitutional power of our government by yielding it to an international organization. Michael van Der Galien writes, "This foreign law-enforcement organization can operate free of an important safeguard against government and abuse. Property and assets, including the organization's records, cannot now be searched or seized. Their physical operational locations are now immune from U.S. legal and investigative authorities."

Obama has given an international organization unsupervised freedom to investigate Americans on our own soil without recourse or the supervision of our own government.Andy McCarthy writing for the National Review asks some very significant questions: "Why would we elevate an international police force above American law? Why would we immunize an international police force from the limitations that constrain the FBI and other American law-enforcement agencies? Why is it suddenly necessary to have, within the Justice Department, a repository for stashing government files which, therefore, will be beyond the ability of Congress, American law-enforcement, the media and the American people to scrutinize? Interpol is the enforcement arm of the International Criminal Court, or ICC. The United States never signed onto the Rome Treaty, which created the ICC, because of the potential for ABUSE by foreign interests. Obama has signaled he may sign the treaty over these objections and subject Americans to prosecution overseas in the ICC. This is harmful for two reasons. First, the U.S. Constitution clearly states that it is the supreme law of our land, and allowing the ICC to supersede the U.S. Constitution violates America's sovereignty. Second, the War on Terror is unpopular with Europeans, and the ICC may attempt to prosecute heroic American soldiers with trumped-up war crimes. Obama is putting brave American men and women at grave risk.An added wrinkle to this executive order is that Interpol's operations center for the United States is housed within our own Justice Department. Many of the agents are Americans who work under the aegis of Interpol. This order has potentially created the new civilian security force that Obama proposed during his campaign. This group of law-enforcement officials is no longer subject to the restraints enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.The order guarantees that Interpol officers have immunity from prosecution for crimes they may commit in the United States. Ironically, some Interpol nations are attempting to try American intelligence agents for their work abroad in the War on Terror.This order shows blatant disregard for the U.S. Constitution. While Obama is extending due process rights to terrorists he is weakening those same rights for American citizens. If a citizen were to be prosecuted by Interpol, their newly granted immunity would interfere with the discovery process. Since Interpol files are immune to disclosure, a citizen could be denied his right to see the information used to prosecute him or her.

Obama's executive order has done more to weaken civil liberties than the much-maligned Patriot Act. The silence in the mainstream media on this issue should scare all freedom-loving Americans. Obama just signed away parts of our precious legal protections. Therefore Obama and his supporters are now guilty of HIGH TREASON and as such should all be arrested, tried, convicted and either imprisoned for life or executed! Any who aid Obama in the furtherance of his treasonous attack on American Sovereignty are to be considered traitors and dealt with accordingly! It is time that Congress stand up and do the job you were elected to do...UPHOLD AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

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