T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security
WASHINGTON — As hundreds of commuters emerged from Amtrak and commuter trains at Union Station on a recent morning, an armed squad of men and women dressed in bulletproof vests made their way through the crowds.
The squad was not with the Washington police department or Amtrak’s police force, but was one of the Transportation Security Administration’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response squads — VIPR teams for short — assigned to perform random security sweeps to prevent terrorist attacks at transportation hubs across the United States.
“The T.S.A., huh,” said Donald Neubauer of Greenville, Ohio, as he walked past the squad. “I thought they were just at the airports.”
With little fanfare, the agency best known for airport screenings has vastly expanded its reach to sporting events, music festivals, rodeos, highway weigh stations and train terminals. Not everyone is happy.
T.S.A. and local law enforcement officials say the teams are a critical component of the nation’s counterterrorism efforts, but some members of Congress, auditors at the Department of Homeland Security and civil liberties groups are sounding alarms. The teams are also raising hackles among passengers who call them unnecessary and intrusive.
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http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/us/tsa-expands-duties-beyond-airport-security.html?_r=0&
Happy Happy, Joy Joy. 
= new reply since forum marked as read
T.S.A. officials respond that the random searches are “special needs” or “administrative searches” that are exempt from probable cause because they further the government’s need to prevent terrorist attacks.
"National Security! National Security!"
Funny, I don't recall feeling confident as one of their little squads was rifling through my stuff at the frigging Orlando Greyhound bus terminal. I DO recall feeling righteously pissed off, though.
Yeah, we need to cut safety net programs to afford this...
