Nov 23
As many as 4 million people are expected to attend Obama’s inauguration at the Mall. 
WASHINGTON (AP) - Law enforcement officials bracing for the largest crowds in inaugural history are preparing far-reaching security - thousands of video cameras, sharpshooters, air patrols - to safeguard President-elect Barack Obama’s swearing-in.
People attending the ceremony and parade on Jan. 20 can expect to be searched by machines, security personnel or both. Precautions will range from the routine - magnetometers like those used at airports - to countersnipers trained to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away. Plus undercover officers, bomb sniffing dogs and air patrols.
The Secret Service - the agency coordinating the security - also has assigned trained officials to identify and prevent cyber security risks. And, as it does at every inauguration, the service has mapped out escape routes for the 44th president.
In addition Washington’s 5,265 surveillance cameras, spread around the city, are expected to be fed into a multi-agency command center.
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Tags: Barack Obama, Politics, Secret Service, security, Surveillance, U.S., video surveillance, White House
Sep 05
By: D. H. Williams @ 7:29 PM - EST
Today at the Republican National Convention, as the Ron Paul Delegates were taking a picture in front of the model White House inside the Convention Center, they were surrounded by Secret Service which proceeded to search the bags of all the delegates. They took any and everything related to Ron Paul including signs, buttons, videos, slim jims, cards, even books.
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Tags: election, Government, John McCain, Politics, Pon Paul, Republicans, Secret Service, U.S.
Aug 22
Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) — Two U.S. cities will become virtual fortresses during the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions, protected by airplanes, helicopters, barriers, fences and thousands of police officers, National Guard troops and Secret Service agents.
In Denver, where Democrats assemble next week, police are spending $18 million on equipment alone and will be bolstered by National Guard troops and hundreds of officers from surrounding suburbs. In St. Paul, Minnesota, site of the Sept. 1-4 Republican nominating convention, police are calling on 80 law- enforcement agencies to provide 3,000 officers to supplement the city’s 500-person force.
Congress earmarked $100 million for security at the two meetings, where federal and local authorities are trying to guard against any dangers to candidates or convention-goers.
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Tags: ACLU, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, Denver, DHS, FBI, Government, Homeland Security, John McCain, National Guard, NORAD, Police, Politics, Republicans, Secret Service, U.S.
Apr 12
Dumpster-diving firm collected Social Security numbers of activists
A private security firm managed by former Secret Service officers spied on myriad environmental organizations throughout the 1990s and the year 2000, thieving documents, trying to plant undercover operations and collecting phone records of members, according to a new report.
Documents obtained by James Ridgeway, a Mother Jones correspondent formerly with the Village Voice, reveals the contractor collected confidential internal records — donor lists, financial statements — even Social Security numbers, for public relations outfits and “corporations involved in environmental controversies.”
Beckett Brown International also offered “intelligence” services to the Carlyle Group, the controversial DC-based investment company; “protective services” for the National Rifle Association; “crisis management” for the Gallo wine company and for Pirelli; “information collection” for Wal-Mart.
“Also listed as clients in BBI records,” Ridgeway reveals: “Halliburton and Monsanto.” Continue reading »
Tags: black ops, Carlyle Group, environmental groups, Environmental Media Services, Gallo wine company, Greenpeace, halliburton, Kraft, Monsanto, Mother Jones, National Rifle Association, NRA, Pirelli, Secret Service, Taco Bell, the Center for Food Safety, the Environmental Working Group, the National Environmental Trust, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Village Voice, Wal-Mart
Apr 04
US Homeland Security overlord Michael Chertoff has told reporters that he believes plans for increased use of satellite surveillance by American law-enforcement agencies are ready to move forward. However, Democratic politicians remain unconvinced that adequate privacy and civil liberties safeguards are in place.
“I think the way is now clear to stand NAO up and go warm,” said Chertoff, briefing journalists about the proposed National Applications Office.
NAO would allow US police, immigration, drug-enforcement and other officials to have access to data from various US satellites passing above America. It is understood that the information would be supplied mostly by spacecraft which at the moment are used for meteorological and geological surveying, or other scientific tasks. Satellites of this type can often deliver high-resolution images which would also be useful to law enforcement. Continue reading »
Tags: Capitol Hill, DHS, drug-enforcement, Homeland Security, Immigration, Michael Chertoff, NAO, Police, satellite, Secret Service, Surveillance, Treasury
Mar 09
70 reasons to doubt…
DISTURBING FACTS ABOUT THE 9/11 ATTACKS
John Doraemi Continue reading »
Tags: Air Force, Al-Qaeda, AWACS, Cheney, CIA, Donald Rumsfeld, FBI, George Bush, George Tenet, hijackers, Homeland Security, Jeb Bush, Mohamed Atta, NORAD, Operation Northwoods, Orwell, Pentagon, Secret Service, Terrorist Attack, Treason, World Trade Center
