TSA "viper" teams run more than 9,300 unannounced checkpoints in the last year

TSA screenings aren't just for airports anymore
Roving security teams increasingly visit train stations, subways and other mass transit sites to deter terrorism. Critics say it's largely political theater.



By Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau

December 20, 2011, 5:03 p.m.
Reporting from Charlotte, N.C.—
Rick Vetter was rushing to board the Amtrak train in Charlotte, N.C., on a recent Sunday afternoon when a canine officer suddenly blocked the way.

Three federal air marshals in bulletproof vests and two officers trained to spot suspicious behavior watched closely as Seiko, a German shepherd, nosed Vetter's trousers for chemical traces of a bomb. Radiation detectors carried by the marshals scanned the 57-year-old lawyer for concealed nuclear materials.

When Seiko indicated a scent, his handler, Julian Swaringen, asked Vetter whether he had pets at home in Garner, N.C. Two mutts, Vetter replied. "You can go ahead," Swaringen said.

The Transportation Security Administration isn't just in airports anymore. TSA teams are increasingly conducting searches and screenings at train stations, subways, ferry terminals and other mass transit locations around the country.

"We are not the Airport Security Administration," said Ray Dineen, the air marshal in charge of the TSA office in Charlotte. "We take that transportation part seriously."

The TSA's 25 "viper" teams — for Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response — have run more than 9,300 unannounced checkpoints and other search operations in the last year. Department of Homeland Security officials have asked Congress for funding to add 12 more teams next year.

Read the rest here...
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-terror-checkpoints-20111220,0,3213641.story

Thanks AF I repost this stuff o a lot of other sites

Thanks, but actually it was my boss ConSigCor who posted this. He's been all over this issue; see also this thread .

Onward and upward,
airforce

Sorry I repost a lot of both of y'alls writings. Just gave credit to the wrong guy this time.

Heinrich would be so proud of the "new and improved" GESTAPO - Doc

A ‘Spot Searches’ Expand To Union Station

Increasing focus on searches of travelers disembarking from trains

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Random TSA ‘spot searches’ are expanding to Los Angeles’ busiest train station as the federal agency gets set to receive a massive boost in funding as part of a program to set up thousands more unnanounced checkpoints across the country.
TSA Spot Searches Expand To Union Station tsa%20trains

“An all-too-familiar sight at LAX and the rest of the nation’s airports will soon be coming to the city’s busiest train station,” reports CBS News.

“Rail passengers have started seeing Transportation Security Administration on patrol at Union Station on a more frequent basis.”

The TSA is set to deploy 12 more VIPR (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) teams in addition to the 25 already active, who will be responsible for manning checkpoints on highways, in bus and train terminals, at sports events and even high school prom nights.

Over the course of this year, roughly 9,300 checkpoints were set up, with that figure set to increase in 2012.

The demand for $24 million in extra funding is in addition to the $110 million spent in fiscal year 2011. The figures are completely independent from the federal agency’s role inside the nation’s airports, which costs taxpayers $5 billion a year.

The extra money is being demanded despite the fact that there is “no proof that the roving viper teams have foiled any terrorist plots or thwarted any major threat to public safety,” according to a recent L.A. Times report, which also highlights how the TSA’s sniffer dogs are used to single out people for questioning if the dog smells the scent of the owner’s pets on their clothing.

“Those searches may happen when passengers step off a train into the station, instead of the more expected pre-boarding search,” reports Lindsay William-Ross.

The use of searches on passengers who are disembarking from trains has become more prevalent. In one instance, passengers who had already completed their journey when arriving in Savannah were subjected to airport-style pat downs.

Can we assume we are looking at Obams's civilian army?

Why not? It already has its infrastructure set up, as well as people willing to do the job of being a Tyrant at the local and state level.

Job almost complete, and with the economy going even further south than it already is. People will do whatever and to whomever it takes to pay their bills. Gotta eat! Serve the new massa? No problem.

Leo out

Perhaps then all of the Patriot and Militia groups should stop considering these guys as Tyrannical Idiots and begin to do their planning around how they work.
Just as we see the overweight beat cop and forget the Special Ops Cops we tend to see the Airport gropers and not see the VIPER quality Mercs.
Where do they work out of? Where do they meet to gear up? What type of vehicles do they use?
Intel keeps the bear in the cage.

Being a fat, juicy target is no way to go through life.

Hope they bring lots of cool shit with them.

People need to be gathering hard intell on all opposition forces such as the TSA gestapo. Use it to plan carefully your future response to their tyranny.

This is Treason, this is Unamerican, yet we will tolerate more of this, until? I don"t know about you but ,I think Traffic Check Points are not Constitutional, or at least should Be. I have had enough of these JBT overeach.We bide our time, but time is running out...

The fact that they are harassing people LEAVING the trains tells you that safety is not an issue. It is just another mechanism for mass shakedown. I am told that the Portland commuter train system (known as the "MAX" is a training ground for this. They set the train up for an unscheduled stop and do a mass offload and search of passengers, but usually keep the searches to the less than legitimate looking people which nets enough dope and outstanding warrant arrests to keep public outcry from getting very far.

The personnel I have seen are not exactly the flatfoot donut shop crowd. Lots of tough guys, the sort who probably did some time in the military, definitely go to the gym and want to get some "front lines" type of law enforcement work. The general population is visibly supportive with a few notable exceptions, then there is little or no sympathy for those who oppose them, however you can see the "mood" when some big quiet guy just gives them dirty looks (like I do) and they decide to move on and bother someone else, but sometimes they swarm a train pretty hard and are looking for anyone to even think wrong in their direction. Even then though, it is loud rowdy punk teenagers who usually get the brunt of it, then there are a couple of neighborhoods where they had been getting hit every few days, mainly where there are concentrations of low end apartment buildings, ex-convicts and teenagers. The Apartment complex owners usually respond by raising rents, putting in gates and running background checks on applicants. That keeps the openly declared felons out, but lots of misdemeanor level miscreants who snitch their way out of real prison time tend to be the bulk of the problems anyway.

What I see is a combined force of about 20 officers from various jurisdictions per "raid" location, and it usually results in two to five people taken into custody (I am told it is usually for dope they were carrying or outstanding warrants). The firepower is generally very light (no visible long guns), dogs relatively polite and no unusual equipment visible. In some cases there are local transit security people who appear to be unarmed. I suspect the unarmed people avoid confrontation with the targeted hoodlums if there is intel on there being any danger, and then wait to direct action until the task force is assembled. The mass stop and searches are not initiated by the unarmed persons though. What I tended to see was a classic prisoner search format where the armed persons (usually appearing to be regular police of some sort) stayed nearby, but most of the actual hands-on with the mixed crowds is the unarmed people, then once someone in the crowd is singled out/identified, it will be a mix of armed and unarmed people dealing with them.

Someone deciding to go hard core as a group would see themselves in a target rich environment since the cop types have usually already declared turf and segregate themselves from the crowd. The outer cordon (usually armed) is usually about half still looking and dealing inward, the inner cordon generally half unarmed. It is very clear from their behavior that they do not realistically expect someone on the inside to simply get on the cell phone and call in for an armed extraction, but the design of the plan indicates that the original tactical planners have set the their tactics up to deal with such a hit, just in practice, it is so rare that it is not something the guys on the ground condition themselves to expect.

The teams also tend to make use of natural barriers, like speeding traffic. The traffic, mixed crowd and their own people mingled in the crowd are probably the main reasons these teams don't appear to be sporting much (if any) paramilitary hardware. Their tactics when encountering a troublemaker or targeted person usually involve segregate, surround, subdue. It just is not set up for dealing with someone who is toting a subgun and a couple of grenades.

Excellent

Breacher I copied and posted your reply on my blog it's an excellent breakdown of TSA tactics.