The U.S. Department of Security has been angering musicians for many reasons, but one of them is putting out recruitment adverts using songs they haven’t got permission for from artists that don’t agree with them.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club fell into this category, so they sent a direct message: “It’s obvious that you don’t respect Copyright Law and Artist Rights any more than you respect Habeas Corpus and Due Process rights, not to mention the separation of Church and State per the US Constitution. For the record, we hereby order @dhsgov to cease and desist the use of our recording and demand that you immediately pull down your video… Oh, and go f… yourselves…”

The band have now told NME what happened next: “I actually wanted to have a follow-up post about what they wrote to us from their supposed-legal side, because the administration sent this reply that sounded like an ex-girlfriend… It didn’t sound like a legal [reply] or anything official. It was this really weird message like, ‘Don’t bother us with your complaints. You got attention and media from just being associated with us, and so you should be grateful.’ And this is from the homeland legal department!”

“The next response would’ve been to say, ‘We’ll see you in court then’, but platforms like Instagram and Facebook actually removed [the post ] promptly and acted more professionally than the actual government itself, which is bizarre.”

So, I mean, HS are in the wrong on that, but weirdly for a government organisation, pragmatically right. Odd.