The question is not if, but how Homeland Security is involved in the ongoing, violent debacle that is the police/militarized presence in Ferguson, MO. Here is the state web site for the Office of Homeland Security:
Executive Order 05-20 was signed on July 21, 2005, moving the Missouri Office of Homeland Security to the Missouri Department of Public Safety. Placing the office here has allowed for better coordination between the Department of Public Safety agencies that do much of the daily work that makes up homeland security, such as the State Emergency Management Agency and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. In the same executive order, the Homeland Security Advisory Council was established to review state and local security plans and grant funding requests and make recommendations for changes to better protect Missourians. The Homeland Security Advisory Council was designed to be comprised of the director of the Department of Public Safety and relevant Public Safety division directors and, equally as important, directors of other state departments. This ensures a statewide focus for homeland security and an effective means for coordination of resources.
Here is the link to the hierarchy of the state government regarding authority and public safety. Please take note that Homeland Security is directly below the Governor, within the Department of Public Safety, in this hierarchy when it comes to "public safety". Also, the Director of the Department of Public Safety is the Homeland Security "Advisor". From the site:
The overall responsibility for Missouri's Homeland Security Program falls under the Department of Public Safety. The Director of Public Safety, which is a Cabinet-level position, is the Governor's designated "Homeland Security Advisor".
As to the recent diary here that quotes a White House administrative official as saying they were not advised that the National Guard was being called in...if this is true, then the advise the Missouri Homeland Security Director is giving Governor Nixon is not being vetted with D.C. connections.
Remember the revelations regarding Occupy and Homeland Security:
"The U.S. Fusion Centers are using their vast counter-terrorism resources to target the domestic social justice movement as a criminal or terrorist enterprise," PCJF Executive Director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard stated. "This is an abuse of power and corruption of democracy."
"Although the Fusion Centers’ existence is justified by the DHS as a necessary component in stopping terrorism and violent crime, the documents show that the Fusion Centers in the Fall of 2011 and Winter of 2012 were devoted to unconstrained targeting of a grassroots movement for social change that was acknowledged to be peaceful in character," the report states.
Police chiefs of major metropolitan areas used the Southern Nevada Counter Terrorism Center to produce regular reports on the occupy movement.