Beauty_pact
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 Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:37 pm Post subject: VIPR - the broad extension of the TSA |
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www.examiner.com/homeland-security-in-chicago/vipr-tsa-extends-policy-that-preys-on-the-innocent
www.examiner.com/homeland-security-in-chicago/it-s-official-vipr-formally-debuts-first-u-s-state
I know that the articles are old, and I apologize for that.
Excerpts from the article found in the first link:
| Quote: | Over the last year, reports of U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s TSA Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams have gradually increased their presence near and even on buses, trains, ships, ferries, subways, and highways and cars across the nation.
VIPR teams include Federal Air Marshals, explosive-detection canine teams, Aviation Security Inspectors, and Transportation Security Officers. Other agencies have participated in VIPR exercises, although not formally listed as VIPR members, include representatives from CBP and ICE.
On December 11, a bomb-sniffing dog made his way through a crowd of about one hundred passengers at the Charlotte, N.C. train station as they waited to board a train. One Amtrak passenger said air marshals scanned him for concealed nuclear materials. After a thorough search turned up nothing, the VIPR team asked if he dogs at home, to which he replied "yes" - he was free to go.
In the Carolinas in 2011, VIPR teams have checked people at the gangplanks of cruise ships, the entrances to NASCAR races, and at ferry terminals to the Outer Banks.
In April, several commuters at a Greyhound bus station in Tampa, Florida - including some senior citizens were visibly shaken after they were met by dozens of local, state and federal law enforcement agents dressed in black SWAT-style uniforms. The Greyhound bus passengers were reportedly subjected to pat-downs and screenings by TSA and local immigration officials.
/ ... /
TSA officials said the statewide "VIPR" operation, as well as all other VIPR operations - have not been in response to any particular threat.
Civil rights advocates believe that the government is steadily increasing the unconstitutional VIPR program in order to test how much the American public is willing to tolerate before the line is drawn.
Jim Harper, Director of Information Policy Studies at the Cato Institute warned more than two years ago that VIPR was "sinking its fangs into Americans’ civil liberties."
“The natural illogic of VIPR stings is that terrorism can strike anywhere, so VIPR teams should search anywhere,” he wrote. “It’s the undoing of the Fourth Amendment, and it’s unwarranted counterterrorism because it expends resources on things that won’t catch or deter terrorists. Indeed, VIPR ‘stings’ may encourage terrorism because they show that terrorism successfully undermines the American way of life.”
/ ... /
Perhaps the most surprising factor has been the attitudes of acceptance by the majority of the American public to the VIPR stings.
Following last weeks operations in North Carolina, instead of frustration due to inconvenience, the majority of the passengers appeared to accept the intrusive measures.
"It's cool," said Marcus Baldwin, 21, who was heading home to Mebane, where he waits tables to help pay for computer technology classes. "They're doing what our tax money is paying them to do." Barbara Spencer, 75, said "I'm mostly curious." She asked the officers whether a terrorist threat had required the extra security. No, they replied. |
Excerpts from the second article (but older one):
| Quote: | One of the most controversial counterterrorism measures in U.S. history, the Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) program was officially introduced in the state of Tennessee on Tuesday, and chances are that more states will soon follow.
VIPR teams include Federal Air Marshals, explosive-detection canine teams, Aviation Security Inspectors, and Transportation Security Officers. Other agencies that have participated in VIPR exercises, although not formally listed as VIPR members, include representatives from CBP and ICE.
In April 2011, Homeland Security, TSA, CBP, ICE and local law enforcement officers surprised unsuspecting commuters at a Tampa Greyhound bus station, leaving many shaken. Commuters were met by dozens of local, state and federal law enforcement agents dressed in black SWAT-style uniforms.
Then in June, witness reports of what appeared to be cases of racial profiling during a VIPR operation at a Des Moines Greyhound bus depot were brought to the attention of the ACLU.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and TSA officials confirmed that two “routine operations” occurred on the same day at separate locations in Des Moines, Iowa. In Chicago, recent VIPR sightings include the Ogilvie train station downtown and another back in January at a station in Hinsdale, IL. In November and December 2010 VIPR teams were highly visible at train stations. Since July 4, 2007, TSA confirmed that Chicago participated in several national and local VIPR operations.
On June 14, 2011 TSA Chief John Pistole testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that evidence seized from Osama bin-Laden’s computer files revealed al-Qaeda plans to target U.S. rails, prompting the agency's stepped-up random and unpredictable operations by its Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams. Pistole's excuse hardly explains why in the last year more than 300 of the operations were performed in the state of Iowa alone.
However, Tennessee officials say the statewide "VIPR" operation isn't in response to any particular threat. Tennessee's VIPR was deployed simultaneously at five weigh stations and at two busy bus terminals in Nashville and Knoxville across the state, for a total of seven locations.
TSA's Federal Security Director for Nashville International Airport, Paul Armes explained:
"Somebody sees something somewhere and we want them to be responsible citizens, report that and let us work it through our processes to abet the concern that they had when they saw something suspicious"
Armes said intelligence indicates law enforcement should focus on the highways as well as the airports. Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel Tracy Trott says paying attention to details can make a difference. Trott referenced the Oklahoma state trooper who stopped Timothy McVeigh for not having a license plate after the Oklahoma City bombing in the early 1990s.
The TSA is recruiting truck drivers into the First Observer Highway Security Program to say something if they see something. One recruit, truck driver Rudy Gonzales says:
"Not only truck drivers, but cars, everybody should be aware of what's going on, on the road," said Gonzales.
/ ... /
In September 2010, the Chicago Examiner first reported that Federal agents were spotted on three separate occasions in a ten day period using mobile backscatter x-ray technology in Atlanta, Georgia. After a local news station received a tip regarding the operation, cameras were able to captured video of the operation and conduct interviews. TSA spokesman, Jon Allen downplayed the incident, saying it was a routine training exercise conducted with local authorities. A man in handcuffs at the scene told reporters he was a truck driver who was placed under arrest after VIPR agents found less than a joint worth of marijuana during a search of his semi during the operation.
Initiated in December 2005, VIPR was first publically introduced as part of the 2007 'Play Your Part' campaign to mark the five year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Since then, VIPR teams have been increasingly spotted across the nation.
Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons said:
"Where is a terrorist more apt to be found? Not these days on an airplane more likely on the interstate" |
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Beauty_pact
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Beauty_pact
Observer
Joined: Oct 15, 2010
Age: 132
Posts: 1253
Location: Svíþjoð
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Beauty_pact
Observer
Joined: Oct 15, 2010
Age: 132
Posts: 1253
Location: Svíþjoð
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