Last week, I blew the whistle on Barack Obama's secret $439 billion plan for a mysterious initiative called the "civilian national security force."

We don't know any more about this plan than we did when Obama announced it July 2 in a speech, with the relevant part covered by almost no media, with the exception of the Chicago Tribune and Congressional Quarterly.

Thanks, however, to talk radio and legions of bloggers, Obama's chilling call to create a "civilian national security force," with a price tag equaling the Defense Department's budget, is beginning to get more attention.

It was in the context of announcing a plan to expand rapidly and dramatically the size of the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps that Obama dropped this bombshell: "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

A few have suggested I am making too much of a benign proposal by Obama — one that merely calls for a greatly increased commitment to the Foreign Service.

If so, why is it that the Obama campaign has gone mum on this proposal? Why is it that operatives keep promising us clarification that never is forthcoming? And furthermore, is an expansion of the Foreign Service to the size of the $439 billion Defense Department (in 2007 dollars) really such an innocent idea?

There are many other questions raised by this nebulous proposal:

— Why did other reporters covering his July 2 speech fail to cover this big idea for a "civilian national security force"? Obviously, this was a pretty hot sound bite. Why did no one take the bait?

— Why was this obviously well-crafted sound bite not a part of the prepared remarks handed out to reporters that day? Had it been scratched from the speech? Or was it added at the last minute? The nation has a right to know!

— When can people expect to get details of this huge initiative from the Obama campaign? Is there a plan at all, or is this just a case of the candidate shooting from the hip?

— Does Barack Obama really intend to push the idea of spending as much on the State Department as America currently spends on defense? This should be the No. 1 question he is asked at every campaign stop until we get a coherent answer.

— Why do transcripts of the July 2 speech in The Denver Post and The Wall Street Journal fail to include Obama's statement about a "civilian national security force"?

— Why hasn't the Obama campaign posted a copy of the speech on its Web site?

— Why have Obama campaign officials not responded to WorldNetDaily's repeated requests for more information about his initiative?

— Or is Barack Obama's notion of a "civilian national security force" something else entirely? Does it have anything to do with the Foreign Service, or does it have more to do with some kind of domestic Big Brother program, as the chilling words first suggested to me?

With all the attention focused on Barack Obama and all the inane questions asked of him by reporters, I find it almost inexplicable that no one has been able to pin him down on the words he uttered just about one month ago.

I am renewing my call for help. I have done my best to bring attention to this curious and alarming Obama initiative.

I fully expect the Obama campaign to continue to stonewall my efforts. The only thing that will force Obama to come clean on this plan is public pressure.

To find out more about Joseph Farah and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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