Marine Corps Colonel: we're building a “domestic army”

Armed TSA teams now roam in public, conducting suspicionless searches:

America’s illusions of freedom are becoming more and more transparent, with the federal government’s now standard practice of deploying armed agents to actively roam public venues and conducting “suspicionless searches” on anyone they want. The TSA sends out its Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams to set up unannounced checkpoints used to “Dominate, Intimidate, & Control” American travelers. The purpose of VIPR teams is to maintain a presence in public areas and force travelers to submit to searches, including opening up bags and being patted down.

The New York Times wrote of the TSA on August 8, “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.”

TSA records show that the teams ran more than 8,800 unannounced checkpoints outside of airports last year alone. These included searches at train stations, bus stations, the Indianapolis 500, the Superbowl, the Democratic and Republican national conventions, political speeches, and sports stadiums, more.  CBS Los Angeles reported that TSA conduct an estimated 9,300 “suspicionless” spot searches of travelers in 2011.

Brian Bennett wrote in 2011, that “TSA teams have checked people at the gangplanks of cruise ships, the entrance to NASCAR races, and at ferry terminals taking tourists to the Outer Banks.”
The Feds are also deploying “TSA assets” in and around sporting arenas.  The official TSA Blog wrote in February, “Super Bowl fans may encounter TSA Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams on local transportation venues, including commercial and general aviation facilities and mass transit… TSA assets will also work with law enforcement at Mercedes-Benz Superdome during the high-profile game.”   Fans had their clothing searched, their bags X-rayed, and their persons sniffed with dogs.
In one shocking story from New Mexico, TSA agents were scheduled to conduct warrantless searches of high school students attending their Senior Prom.  The TSA ended up not having time to comply with the court order, but another disturbing precedent was set.
TSA has also made their presence felt on America’s roads, setting up VIPR teams to perform checkpoints right in the middle of highways.  After all, as one TSA official pointed out, “We are not the Airport Security Administration.”  Federal roadblocks have been set up in Virginia and Tennessee, among other states.  Vehicles were subject to VIPR agents inspecting them for terrorists and terror-related materials.VIPR now has a $100 million annual budget and is growing rapidly, increasing to several hundred people and 37 teams last year, up from 10 teams in 2008.

“It was an incredible waste of taxpayers’ money,” said attorney Robert Fickman, after being searched in a train station. “Did we need to have T.S.A. in here for a couple of minor busts?”

“The problem with TSA stopping and searching people in public places outside the airport is that there are no real legal standards, or probable cause,” said Khaliah Barnes, law counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). “It’s something that is easily abused because the reason that they are conducting the stops is shrouded in secrecy.”

To justify their unconstitutional infringements, they claim the checkpoints are “administrative searches” that are exempt from probable cause therefore conveniently impervious to constitutional scrutiny.

TSA now has grown to a whopping 56,000 agents, violating rights en masse at 450 American airports. Its complete disregard for individual liberties and the constitution illustrates the uncomfortable fact that the United States is becoming a police state.http://www.policestateusa.com/archives/71

ACLU says U.S. government shouldn't be allowed to secretly track our every movement:

The Justice Department claims that it should not have to turn over the memos because they are attorney work-product. While we agree that executive branch lawyers should be able to freely discuss legal theories, once those opinions become official government policy the public has an absolute right to know what they are. Otherwise, the government is operating under secret law that makes accountability to the people impossible.

The memos in this case were written in the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark decision in U.S. v. Jones, which held that the government's attachment and use of a GPS tracker to monitor a car's movements is a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Although Jones was a major victory for privacy, it also left a host of unanswered questions about the proper use of surveillance technologies going forward. The court did not decide whether the government must obtain a warrant to use GPS devices, nor did it explain how the Fourth Amendment applies to other types of location tracking technology, such as cell phone tracking, domestic surveillance drones, and license plate readers.

While we wait for the courts to hash out these difficult issues, the political branches are setting polices that are determining how much privacy Americans have in our movements over the course of weeks or months – movements that paint a very detailed picture of our personal and professional lives. That is why these memos are so important. And yet the only reason we even know about their existence is because FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann happened to mention them in a law school talk that ended up on YouTube (you can watch it here).

One of the memos instructs investigators about when they can use GPS tracking devices, while the other explains how Jones applies to, as Weissmann put it, "other types of techniques, beyond GPS."What "other types" does he mean? Probably at least cell phone tracking, perhaps license plate readers, or drones, or something else altogether. We don't know what the government thinks its constitutional obligations are in these areas – and that's the problem.

Democracy requires accountability. The people have a right to know what checks the executive branch has put in place to regulate law enforcement's use of the powerful new surveillance tools at its disposal. Without that knowledge, we cannot have an informed public debate about whether the government has struck the right balance between effective law enforcement and respect for Americans' privacy. That is why the ACLU is asking the court to order the Justice Department to release these memos to the public – without 99 percent of them redacted.
http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-national-security/court-thursday-demanding-justice-departments-secret