Tennessee First State to Allow TSA Highway Random Search Program

Tuesday, November 08, 2011
VIPR team in Tennessee
Tennessee has become the first state in the nation to welcome the federal government’s latest anti-terrorist program: Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR).
 
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created VIPR in December 2005, to inspect bus, rail and truck stations for potential threats. Modeled after the work performed at airport checkpoints and led by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), VIPR involves multiple federal agencies partnering with state law enforcement to identify possible suspects.
 
The VIPR budget for FY 2012 is $109 million and it is expected to support 37 VIPR teams. According to the DHS, these “teams are comprised of personnel with expertise in inspection, behavior detection, security screening, and law enforcement for random, unpredictable deployments throughout the transportation sector to prevent potential terrorist and criminal acts.”
 
In Tennessee VIPR has been set up at five weigh stations and two bus terminals. State officials noted that they were not responding to any particular threat, but rather were providing “a visible deterrence and detection security presence across Tennessee.”
 
Other states are expected to follow and accept VIPR at their transportation hubs.
-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff
 
Tennessee Becomes First State To Fight Terrorism Statewide (by Adam Ghassemi, News Channel 5-Nashville)
It's Official: VIPR Formally Debuts in First U.S. State (by Cynthia Hodges, Chicago Homeland Security Examiner)

Department of Safety and Homeland Security partners with Federal and State Agencies in Statewide Security Operation (Clarksville Online) 

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Comments

Sweet pea 5 years ago
We can’t build a wall or enhance security at the borders to protect ourselves. Instead we hand over our freedom and piss on the constitution at every turn. I believe Ben Franklin, “anyone who would give up personal liberty for safety deserves neither!”
Dave 12 years ago
report on zee neighbors..... vhere are your papers? it wont be long now.. i hope the founding fathers rise up from their graves.
philli[ 12 years ago
exactly wesley, they want to make you too paranoid to do anything they don't like. better go to the bathroom and blow the pot smoke into the vent because you never know when the tsa patrol will drive by. only government approved drugs allowed! "but it's healthier than alcohol" shut up with that logic! you'll be their sheep... eventually mandated pharmaceuticals (a future addon to obama's new health care plan) and jail-time for failure to comply... the fingerprint drug testing will work wonders for that as well! the thru-wall radar developed by mit will fit nicely for their scheme to break up tea party... err... i mean terrorist meetings in your home! can't wait for that future vipr team 2020! can you?
pyramidtrader 12 years ago
more money up a rat hole. wonder how big the buidget for it will be in 2020, i bet we cpould get it to 10 or 20 billion a year.
x-patriot 12 years ago
this is just great. steroid-injected power-tripping robots authorized to run amok on our highways pulling us over, groping us, and throwing us in jail if we dare talk back. i don't see what could go wrong with this! if you don't have anything hidden up your ass, then you shouldn't object to being anal probed!
Wesley Pipes 12 years ago
nazi-germany coming soon to a highway near you! after this will be malls, schools, and eventually random door-to-door checks. can't wait to have my balls squeezed by gestapo in my own living room!
Jiff Bngumb Ngigboogr 12 years ago
every last one of em.
Jiff Bngumb Ngigboogr 12 years ago
this will make the scumbags better targets. no i'm not a shill i've just had it. this tyranny isn't all that fun anymore.
Richard 12 years ago
sieg heil!! soon we won't have to drive all the way to the airport to get our daily dose of radiation and genital groping! now that's progress!!
danno 12 years ago
nazi scum god save the constitutional republic

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