NEW Law enforcement has deep concerns about the inauguration. SecService is establishing a parameter w 15K NG troops. Officials are preparing for a worst case scenario of act. shooters. Extremists are already plotting more riots online. w/ @helenecooper
Complicating the security effort further, Chad F. Wolf, the head of the DHS, announced that he would be resigning as acting secretary at midnight Monday. DHS includes the Secret Service, which is leading inauguration security. Wolf will remain w/ the agency as under secretary...
"Defense Department officials have not made a final decision on whether National Guard troops will be armed; but even if they are initially unarmed, the troops will not be far away from their weaponry, the officials said."
The USSS said the inauguration was designated a “National Special Security Event,” putting the agency as the clear coordinator with the support of other federal agencies. Security experts have said such a designation would have helped prevent the breach of the Capitol last week.
Ralph Basham, a former SecService director, said law enforcement cannot hesitate against a Pro-Trump group that gets out of line. He echoed concerns of a double standard in policing shown at the Capitol last week....
“I heard somebody say law and order for the blacks and protect and serve for the whites. You can’t have that. You can’t have that,” Mr. Basham said. “You have to administer justice equally across the board.”
Final draft of DHS's Homeland Threat Assessment is issued. Like earlier drafts, white supremacy is described as "the most persistent and lethal threat to the Homeland.
Russia is the "likely primary covert influence actor and purveyor of disinformation." cbsnews.com/news/china-rus…
Good piece here on the $10m in grants recently issued by DHS. Some add context: DHS's anti-terrorism office went from a budget of more than $20m under Obama admin to less than 3 mill in the early years of Trump. McAleenan made it a point to secure the add. funds last year
The 10 mil issued was announced in DHS's DT public action report issued last month (about six months late). We're still waiting on the Homeland Threat Assessment that the former DHS intel chief has accused Chad Wolf and and Ken Cuccinelli of withholding (a claim they reject).
So a DHS bulletin dated July 9th on Russian election interference was held back. DHS spx says it didn't meet the agency's standards. But just a week later DHS sent out a bulletin on anarchists in Portland in which officers admitted they had "low confidence" in their assessment?
Here's that bulletin dated July 16th on "suspected anarchists extremists" in Portland. Notice the similar format to the above document obtained by @jonkarl. The "low confidence" assessment was sent out while one on Russia was held back? int.nyt.com/data/documentt…
Here's our story from last month with more information on that DHS bulletin on Portland. nytimes.com/2020/07/28/us/…
NEW What started as a department following the lead of a president aiming to rally his base by declaring himself a protector of statues and monuments has resulted in the militarized crackdown of an American city. Here’s our story—>
“The last people you really want are any of these federal officials” at the protests, said Gil Kerlikowske, the former commissioner of Customs and Border Protection and the former chief of the Seattle Police Department.
How did we get to the point of DHS dispatching teams of border agents and ICE officials to protests? Read this—> google.com/amp/s/www.nyti…
As protesters made their way into Chinatown, military helicopters were positioned just above rooftops, sending gusts of dust into the air. A part of a tree fell, nearly hitting passerbys. The crowds dispersed down side streets. Some storefronts were shattered. #DCProtest.
A little story of resilience and kindness: From 2015 to 2018, I covered the anniversary of 9/11 at the memorial in Lower Manhattan. Last year, I wrote about someone who returned from college to pay respect to the mother he never met. wsj.com/articles/seven…
When the North Tower got hit, Jake Campbell's mother, Jill Maurer-Campbell, called her family from the South Tower to tell them she would be fine. Then a plane hit the South Tower.
Jakes father, an NYPD officer, and grandfather, a firefighter, spent days digging through rubble. Jake's grandfather died from cancer he got from the toxic air at the site. His dad died of a heart attack months before Jake was accepted to Michigan.