# Tyrannosaurus skeleton sold for $1.1 million to be seized by feds **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924 "2012-06-22T06:43:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![szabrocki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@szabrocki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/szabrocki)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924/1 "2012-06-22T06:43:58Z")
Just a general Question. Why is Homeland Security involved in this at all? I would think US Customs would be more appropriate. Is Homeland Security afraid that it will come alive? Become a terrorist from Mongolia? It is dead for millions of years. Maybe I don’t understand what Homeland Security is there for. > **[Tyrannosaurus skeleton sold for $1.1 million to be seized by feds](https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-1-1-million-seized-feds-011604647.html)** > > Intrigue continues to surround the Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton that was sold for a whopping $1,052,000 at auction back in May. Even before the auction took place, the government of Mongolia stepped forward to claim that the bones were... ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924/2 "2012-06-22T06:50:54Z")
Customs & Border Protection is an agency of the Department of Homeland Security. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924/3 "2012-06-22T12:06:05Z")
What **friedo** said. U.S. Customs got rolled into the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, along with the rest of the [Immigration and Naturalization Service](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Naturalization_Service). ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924/4 "2012-06-22T12:07:55Z")
The DHS is basically a grab-bag of the gov’t departments that have to do with “border stuff”. INS, Customs, Coast Guard, TSA, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924/5 "2012-06-22T14:44:09Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > The DHS is basically a grab-bag of the gov’t departments that have to do with “border stuff”. INS, Customs, Coast Guard, TSA, etc. And boy, does the USCG hate this new arrangement. Under the Department of Transportation, they were a significant agency with a multi-role mandate to support maritime safety and and legitimate law enforcement. Under DHS, they’ve been marginalized and redirected against the nebulous threat of terrorists to the diminishment (in authority and budget) of their traditional roles. Personally, I don’t think anyone wants to be lumped in with TSA, which is nothing more than a massive jobs program for people who couldn’t get work as shopping mall security. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924/6 "2012-06-22T14:45:02Z")
> [@simplicio](#): > > the dhs is basically a grab-bag of the gov’t departments that have to do with “border stuff”. Ins, customs, coast guard, tsa, etc. [del]Ins[/del] USCIS. ---
**Author:** ![szabrocki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@szabrocki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/szabrocki)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924/7 "2012-06-23T14:58:50Z")
Thanks to all who replied. I have been enlightened and extremely worried about this. So, Homeland Security is just another layer of bureaucracy? Why was the Coast Guard absorbed by them? I thought the already were doing a fine job under the DOT. Has their “Mission Statement” changed? Or did the definition of guarding our coasts change? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924/8 "2012-06-24T02:59:07Z")
> [@szabrocki](#): > > So, Homeland Security is just another layer of bureaucracy? Sure. All cabinet departments are. That’s what they’re for. > [@](#): > > Why was the Coast Guard absorbed by them? I thought the already were doing a fine job under the DOT. Has their “Mission Statement” changed? Or did the definition of guarding our coasts change? The Coast Guard has always had an unusual mission of half-law enforcement, half-military. They never really comfortably fit anywhere. They were originally under the Treasury Department owing to their roots as the Revenue Cutter Service. But then they absorbed responsibility for lifesaving and lighthouses and non-revenue-related law-enforcement functions. It didn’t particularly make sense to have them in the Department of Transportation, either. And during some periods they were temporarily transferred to the Department of the Navy when they were needed for fighting wars. So they ended up like a lot of miscellaneous agencies - dumped into the newly created DHS because they have a mission related to security and protection. These days they’re focused more on anti-terrorism, but their overall mission hasn’t changed. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924/9 "2012-06-24T04:41:23Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > It didn’t particularly make sense to have them in the Department of Transportation, either. And during some periods they were temporarily transferred to the Department of the Navy when they were needed for fighting wars. So they ended up like a lot of miscellaneous agencies - dumped into the newly created DHS because they have a mission related to security and protection. > > These days they’re focused more on anti-terrorism, but their overall mission hasn’t changed. Actually, the DOT was a pretty good fit, given that one of the primary missions of the USCG was regulatory control of ships, licensed operators, and navigable waterways, analogous to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Of course, they have also had rescue and law enforcement functions (and in time of war or threat, a quasi-military fuction that caused them to occasionally be transfered to the Department of the Navy), but until the War on Drugs, and more recently, the War on Terror, those functions were transitory. Now, as a result of being moved under DHS, their primary role as a safety regulatory agency has been diminished in competition with their tasking to “fight terrorism”, however nebulous the threat. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924/10 "2012-06-24T05:54:34Z")
> [@szabrocki](#): > > Is Homeland Security afraid that it will come alive? Become a terrorist from Mongolia? Now that the GQ has been answered, I just want to point out that this has the makings of another quality movie production from the Syfy channel. ---
**Author:** ![szabrocki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@szabrocki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/szabrocki)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-skeleton-sold-for-1-1-million-to-be-seized-by-feds/625924/11 "2012-06-24T14:11:02Z")
Quote: Originally Posted by szabrocki Is Homeland Security afraid that it will come alive? Become a terrorist from Mongolia? Now that the GQ has been answered, I just want to point out that this has the makings of another quality movie production from the Syfy channel. Thanks Spoiler and all. My questions have been answered.! I now claim Copyright to all movies made that have a T-Rex skeleton from Mongolia come alive after being seized by Homeland Security. OOH and become a terrorist.🙂