Winehole23
08-14-2020, 11:11 AM
DHS paramilitaries for internal repression, you see a lot lately.
Washington is the latest example of cities where CBP deployed surveillance aircraft in the skies in recent months to monitor demonstrations. In Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed, a Predator drone was dispatched May 29. The agency's role has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and others who say such tactics infringe on privacy and free-speech rights.
In a June 5 letter, a top Secret Service official asked CBP for use of a Blackhawk helicopter equipped with special "fast ropes." The agency proposed the aircraft could be used to rapidly drop six tactical agents for emergency missions, to help officers under threat and to descend on crowds from overhead, according to government records.
The Secret Service also asked CBP to help the agency gather information on protesters by flying a surveillance plane equipped with infrared imaging over the city starting that weekend.
The agency asked CBP to share live video feeds from the plane so the Secret Service could track protesters' movements near the White House and around the city.
"Due to the significant and unprecedented events occurring in the National Capital Region, the U.S. Secret Service is requesting the support from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations," Kimberly Cheatle, the assistant director for the Secret Service's Office of Protective Operations, wrote to CBP acting commissioner Mark Morgan in the June 5 letter. "CBP's participation in the operational security plan is vital."
"This is further evidence that the Trump administration sees First Amendment activities as a siege and our fellow citizens as combatants," said Austin Evers, American Oversight's executive director.https://www.chron.com/news/article/Secret-Service-sought-tactical-aircraft-to-15482671.php
Washington is the latest example of cities where CBP deployed surveillance aircraft in the skies in recent months to monitor demonstrations. In Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed, a Predator drone was dispatched May 29. The agency's role has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and others who say such tactics infringe on privacy and free-speech rights.
In a June 5 letter, a top Secret Service official asked CBP for use of a Blackhawk helicopter equipped with special "fast ropes." The agency proposed the aircraft could be used to rapidly drop six tactical agents for emergency missions, to help officers under threat and to descend on crowds from overhead, according to government records.
The Secret Service also asked CBP to help the agency gather information on protesters by flying a surveillance plane equipped with infrared imaging over the city starting that weekend.
The agency asked CBP to share live video feeds from the plane so the Secret Service could track protesters' movements near the White House and around the city.
"Due to the significant and unprecedented events occurring in the National Capital Region, the U.S. Secret Service is requesting the support from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations," Kimberly Cheatle, the assistant director for the Secret Service's Office of Protective Operations, wrote to CBP acting commissioner Mark Morgan in the June 5 letter. "CBP's participation in the operational security plan is vital."
"This is further evidence that the Trump administration sees First Amendment activities as a siege and our fellow citizens as combatants," said Austin Evers, American Oversight's executive director.https://www.chron.com/news/article/Secret-Service-sought-tactical-aircraft-to-15482671.php