As hundreds of commuters emerged from Amtrak and commuter trains at Union Station on a recent morning, an armed squad of men and women dressed in bulletproof vests made their way through the crowds.
The squad was not with the Washington police department or Amtrak’s police force, but was one of the Transportation Security Administration’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response squads —VIPR teams for short —assigned to perform random security sweeps to prevent terrorist attacks at transportation hubs across the United States.
“The T.S.A., huh,” said Donald Neubauer of Greenville, Ohio, as he walked past the squad. “I thought they were just at the airports.”
With little fanfare, the agency best known for airport screenings has vastly expanded its reach to sporting events, music festivals, rodeos, highway weigh stations and train terminals. Not everyone is happy.
T.S.A. and local law enforcement officials say the teams are a critical component of the nation’s counterterrorism efforts,but some members of Congress, auditors at the Department of Homeland Security and civil liberties groups are sounding alarms. The teams are also raising hackles among passengers who call them unnecessary and intrusive.
“Our mandate is to provide security and counterterrorism operations for all high-risk transportation targets, not just airports and aviation,” said John S. Pistole, the administrator of the agency. “The VIPR teams are a big part of that.”
Some in Congress, however, say the T.S.A. has not demonstrated that the teams are effective. Auditors at the Department of Homeland Security are asking questions about whether the teams are properly trained and deployed based on actual security threats.
Civil liberties groups say that the VIPR teams have little to do with the agency’s original mission to provide security screenings at airports and that in some cases their actions amount to warrantless searches in violation of constitutional protections.
“The problem with T.S.A. stopping and searching people in public places outside the airport is that there are no real legal standards, or probable cause,” said Khaliah Barnes, administrative law counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. “It’s something that is easily abused because the reason that they are conducting the stops is shrouded in secrecy.”
T.S.A. officials respond that the random searches are “special needs” or “administrative searches” that are exempt from probable cause because they further the government’s need to prevent terrorist attacks.
T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security - NYTimes.com
Yet another governmental agency using the terrorism threat to circumvent the U.S. Constitution and harass American citizens without probable cause.
I sure hope the "I'm okay with it" meme crowd is against these practices.
T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security - NYTimes.com
Yet another governmental agency using the terrorism threat to circumvent the U.S. Constitution and harass American citizens without probable cause.
I sure hope the "I'm okay with it" meme crowd is against these practices.
If you're not doing anything wrong, why do you care about something that has the potential to save your life? I've never understood the mindset, frankly. If they'd have been in the right place at the right time, the Boston bombing could have been prevented. We live in a complicated world. Strangers are trying to annihilate us. I wish they'd walk around with portable metal detectors. Might get some illegal guns off the streets.
If you're not doing anything wrong, why do you care about something that has the potential to save your life? I've never understood the mindset, frankly. If they'd have been in the right place at the right time, the Boston bombing could have been prevented. We live in a complicated world. Strangers are trying to annihilate us. I wish they'd walk around with portable metal detectors. Might get some illegal guns off the streets.
So I assume you are for the NSA spying as well right? I mean, if you aren't doing anything wrong you shouldn't care about something that can "potentially" save your life right? What's next? Support for strip searches and cavity checks before boarding a plane, train, or even local bus or government office? It could save your life.
I wonder how many aggression apologists would be OK with random searches of their house and property. I mean, if you're not doing anything wrong it should be OK, right?
(That's strange that the system picked up a different quote than you posted...you must've edited it.)
At any rate, the government can search my home any time it presents me with a good reason to do so -- a missing child . . . looking for illegal guns . . . looking for illegal drugs . . . I couldn't care less. If I were doing something illegal, then I'd demand a warrant.
Why does it need a good reason? Why can't they just check? You're not doing anything wrong, are you?
T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security - NYTimes.com
Yet another governmental agency using the terrorism threat to circumvent the U.S. Constitution and harass American citizens without probable cause.
I sure hope the "I'm okay with it" meme crowd is against these practices.
When we are forced to live in a police state the terrorist have won, much like shutting down all our mid east embassies with a little internet chatter.
If you're not doing anything wrong, why do you care about something that has the potential to save your life? I've never understood the mindset, frankly. If they'd have been in the right place at the right time, the Boston bombing could have been prevented. We live in a complicated world. Strangers are trying to annihilate us. I wish they'd walk around with portable metal detectors. Might get some illegal guns off the streets.
I believe I already answered that.
There was a thread recently over in the *BN* Forums that detailed incidents of known terrorists being given new identities and their past eradicated as part of the WPP. The Justice Department do not share the new identity names of these known terrorists with the agencies who make up the terrorist watchlists. Madness.
http://www.debatepolitics.com/break...wn-terrorists-witness-protection-program.html
Meanwhile, ordinary law abiding American citizens continue to be harrassed without probable cause.
There's something very wrong with that don't you think?
When we are forced to live in a police state the terrorist have won, much like shutting down all our mid east embassies with a little internet chatter.
I can see how looking at events like this would draw the ire of the civil libertarians, and those who see a fascist police state at every turn, however, what we are really seeing is the secretive nature of this "most transparent government in history" as coined by the current administration, to the laughter of those who know better.
I don't agree with what the TSA is doing, but I hardly think it is "secrative" if they are walking around in uniforms with bulletproof vests on.
I don't agree with what the TSA is doing, but I hardly think it is "secrative" if they are walking around in uniforms with bulletproof vests on.
Put them on horseback and we can call them cowboys. It is beyond ridiculous and it does feel like a police state. I lived in a police state for some time. Freedom is better.
I don't disagree with you, but I don't agree its secrative either. I also don't think the majority of peopole care, which is a shame since they keep electing the same representatives that don't do anything about it.
Police states aren't necessarily secretive. Anybody that lives in one knows they live in one.
I believe I already answered that.
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