VIPR: More Warrantless Searches Without Probably Cause

Dear Mr. President,

Just as the NSA suffers from scope creep, TSA’s “mission” is also spreading and shrouded in secrecy. Today’s NYT reports on a previously unknown program called VIPR, an acronym for Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (“T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security” p. A11). Here I thought TSA just made you take off your shoes and belts at airports and rummaged through your luggage, confiscated near-empty tubes of toothpaste and checked out people’s genitalia, but no sir, they’ve now got armed squads with bullet-proof vests roaming around outside airports, train and bus stations, sporting events (like the Indianapolis 500), rodeos, music festivals, highway weigh stations and the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, scanning crowds and randomly patting down and questioning people, searching luggage, checking IDs, you know, the kinds of things the Gestapo, the Stasi, the secret police of any oppressive government does. VIPR started in 2005, has a budget of $100 million a year and is growing rapidly; in 2012 VIPR had 37 teams, up from 10 in 2008, each team consisting of federal air marshals, explosives experts, baggage inspectors, bomb-sniffing dogs and an undercover person in plainclothes monitoring crowds for suspicious behavior. Last year they ran more than 8,800 unannounced checkpoints and search operations (shades of Iraq and Afghanistan!) with local law enforcement. “‘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.” So when did TSA’s mission change from airport security to warrantless searches without probable cause at train stations, bus depots, rodeos and music festivals, Mr. President? Every time we turn around we’ve got yet another layer of security cops sucking money out of the national budget that should be going to education and child health programs or repairing our roads and bridges or bailing out distressed homeowners and municipalities. And how effective is VIPR, anyway? How many terrorist plots have they ever thwarted? How many major threats to public safety have they discovered? Sorry, that information is classified. But you can bet that if the number is greater than zero, they’d have been trumpeting it for all they’re worth. I object to having my money wasted like this, Mr. President. And I really object to the ever-expanding security state you’re fostering.