By Katie Kieffer
Self portrait of Colton Harris-Moore via stolen digital camera
When Usher discovered 15-year-old talent sensation, Justin Bieber, he took him under his wing and helped him use his vocal talents to rise to a star. Likewise, when there’s a superstar teen burglar roaming the country that the cops can’t catch, perhaps the CIA should consider bringing him into its posse.
18-year-old Puget Sound native, Colton Harris-Moore, known as the “Barefoot Burglar” to his nearly 10,000 Facebook® page fans, lives in the woods and is adept at slipping in and out of luxury. However, unlike the Salahi peacocks, who ignore the law in hopes of drawing attention to their salon-enhanced physiques, rugged Harris-Moore does whatever he wants while lurking in the shadows.
Harris-Moore’s conquests include confiscating three planes, speedboats and a car. He’s been known to enter homes for a bite of ice cream, a steamy bath or a quick and hefty credit card purchase on an unattended computer, reports Time Magazine. Such is the life of a smart and stealthy youth who thumbs his nose at the coppers as he joyrides. His third plane theft – and crash – achieved a befuddled police-force and just a few scrapes and bruises on his youthful frame. “We saw him, we think, but it’s like he disappeared in front of our eyes,” said a mystified sheriff pursuing his trail.
Across the coast, the Salahi party-crashers and the Georgia “tourists” have proved that it’s frighteningly easy to obtain access to our top elected official. Clearly, the White House has some explaining to do regarding their “hospitality” to uninvited guests. It is in the interest of our country and our national security to protect President Obama and his family to the highest extent.
I disagree with the logic behind most of the President’s policies – and this is on a different level. This is about our President’s security and our national security. The American people need answers to why characters like the Salahis were able to trounce into the White House uninvited. Do we need a new member in the Secret Service? Do we need a new White House Social Secretary to step in for Desirée Rogers?
I’m amazed at how entrepreneur, Richard Branson, is able to launch Americans into space, but our government can’t track down an 18-year-old bandit who has been running wild since around age seven or provide clear answers to the security issues within the White House. Let’s find a role for this kid that harnesses his natural talents – like Usher did for Bieber – and helps keep our President and country safe. With nearly 10,000 fans on his Facebook® page alone, he’s bound to have copycats. Do we want our police to have to spend time running after ‘Barefoot Burglar’ wannabes?
Here’s an idea: Recruit him into the CIA and he could expand his horizons beyond running from local cops to defying global terrorism. Harris-Moore’s resume certainly seems to fit the bill with lots of upside: We get a criminal off the street – who understands how to evade the highest levels of cops – before he becomes “a career criminal” and mixes violence with his brazen thievery.
Key attributes of successful law enforcement officers include the abilities to outrun and outhink criminals. Harris-Moore has the ability to think like a criminal and outrun the best of them. While he’s still young, he has the potential to be molded into one of our country’s greatest assets. Maybe the Department of Defense could help him advance beyond the flying manual he ordered online and get real pilot training so he could channel his obvious love for aviation into surveillance. We’d all be a little safer at night and more planes would remain intact.
