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Originally Posted by Show Me
Homeland security guy still a mystery to me....can't figure out why or what he is doing in the picture?
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For what it is worth, Gary Phillips, the "Homeland Security guy," has shown up in the news once before, back in 2003. Then, he was identified as a customs attache to the U.S. Embassy in Thailand. So, he is a Homeland Security guy in the sense that ultimately, the things he does as part of his job protect America, but in the more direct sense, he is not employed by the Department of Homeland Security, at least not in the usual domestic sense that we tend to understand.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0306/S00126.htm
Wednesday, 18 June 2003, 9:54 am
BANGKOK, Thailand -- U.S. investigators said they want to send to America a sample of the illegal radioactive cesium-137 seized from a Thai smuggler in a hotel parking lot, amid fear that it may have been destined to create a "dirty bomb".
U.S. officials also want to determine if the seller had access to more radioactive material after police indicated he boasted of an additional supply available to anyone with enough cash.
U.S. agents involved in the joint American-Thai sting operation also faced confusion after local and international media reported Narong Penanam was caught with 30 kilograms of cesium-137.
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The U.S. Embassy's deputy customs attache, Gary Phillips, "has had initial discussions" with Mr. Narong inside Bangkok's heavily guarded Crime Suppression Division building, but details of the interrogation were not announced.
I think we can figure that Phillips is involved in investigating Karr as concerns possible child porn charges related to activity in Thailand (thus the little snippet of video of him handling Karr's passport), but he would have no role in investigating the entirely domestic murder of JonBenet.
Edited to add:
When Lacy described his role at her initial outdoor press conference about Karr, she said he was "SA assigned to the US Embassy with ICE under the EPT of Homeland Security." So, Special Agent, assigned to the US Embassy with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under the Emergency Preparedness Team of Homeland Security. Based on this link:
http://singapore.usembassy.gov/ice.html
we see that Phillips's job intersects with the investigation of Karr as part of what ICE did involving "Trafficking of Child Pornography via the Internet. Child pornography can be defined as a visual depiction of anyone under the age of eighteen engaged in explicit sexual conduct (real or simulated), or the lewd exhibition of the genitals."
I am going to conclude that Phillips is being used to check out Karr for possible child porn transactions, but really, he has absolutely nothing to do with the actual Ramsey case.
Edited to further add: See how Tracey manipulates the public's perceptions? He emphasizes Phillips's connection to Homeland Security, because it is not as sexy to tie him into the case by emphasizing his role as part of Customs enforcement, since the average American is going to say, "What does the JonBenet Ramsey case have to do with Customs?"