Private security company recruiting former Special Forces to guard polling sites

[octoberlib]

Link to tweet

?s=21



A private security company is recruiting former U.S. military Special Operations personnel to guard polling sites in Minnesota on Election Day, an effort the chairman of the company said is intended to prevent left-wing activists from disrupting the election but that the state attorney general warned would amount to voter intimidation and violate the law.

The recruiting effort is being done by Atlas Aegis, a private security company based in Tennessee that was formed last year and is run by U.S. military veterans, including people with Special Operations experience, according to its website.
The company chairman, Anthony Caudle, posted a message through a defense industry jobs site this week calling for former Special Operations forces to staff “security positions in Minnesota during the November Election and beyond to protect election polls, local businesses and residences from looting and destruction.” He said in an interview earlier this week he is planning to send a “large contingent” to Minnesota but did not specify the numbers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/private-security-minnesota-election/2020/10/09/89766964-0987-11eb-991c-be6ead8c4018_story.html

[snowybirdie]

1. Who are they working for?

Who gives them authorization to be in polling sites? What are they mandated to do? Sounds like the gop is building g an alternative security force/army. Polling places are governed by local governments. What could go wrong?

[octoberlib]

2. The Governor is a freaking Democrat.

Wouldn’t he have some say over this? We’re a banana republic!

[octoberlib]

3. From the article

A Trump campaign spokesperson said the campaign had never heard of Atlas Aegis and that it was not involved in the effort.





Keith Ellison said nobody in Minnesota asked them to come there. So, it’s gotta be the Trump admin

[JHB]

7. An anonymous "consortium of business owners and concerned citizens" in Minnesota

From the article:

In an interview earlier this week, Caudle, the chairman and co-founder of Atlas Aegis, said the client is a “consortium of business owners and concerned citizens” in Minnesota, but he declined to name the group. That consortium hired another unnamed firm licensed in Minnesota as the prime contractor, and Caudle’s company is responsible for staffing the security guards, he said. He declined to say where in Minnesota the guards would operate or how many intend to be out on Election Day.

***

“They’re there for protection, that’s it,” he added. “They’re there to make sure that the antifas don’t try to destroy the election sites.”

"the antifas"

So, we know this "consortium" is a bunch of rich right-wingers.

[octoberlib]

9. So it's basically the Minnesota GOP.

[Maeve]

4. The real police need to stop this shit

They have no right to intimidate voters

[obamanut2012]

5. This deserves more eyes on it -- k & r

Thanks for posting. Sharing on FB and twitter.

[LizBeth]

6. Would it be possible if approaching to vote, and seeing armed people we called police and demanded

they come out because we have a right to vote and we do not feel safe?

[Takket]

8. shouldn't it kind of go without saying.....

that private companies have no right to recruit para-military militias to deploy to public polling places?

I mean.............. come on.........

[not_the_one]

10. I wonder when Erik Prince's name will get connected to Atlas Aegis?

Birds of a feather, and all...