The Lead Federal Agency Responding to Protesters in Portland Employs Thousands of Private Contractor

[Lasher]

Last edited Thu Jul 23, 2020, 04:46 PM - Edit history (1)

The Trump administration’s deployment of federal law enforcers in Portland, Oregon, as part of a supposed effort to protect government property has prompted at least two lawsuits alleging that their show of force has resulted in abuses of authority and the unnecessary use of violence against peaceful protesters, journalists and observers.

What has not been reported widely in the media, however, is the fact that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unit that is coordinating the “crowd control” effort — an agency called the Federal Protective Service (FPS) — is composed largely of contract security personnel. Those contractors are being furnished to FPS by major private-sector security companies like Blackwater corporate descendant Triple Canopy as well as dozens of other private security firms.

https://medium.com/wkc6428/the-lead-federal-agency-responding-to-protesters-in-portland-employs-thousands-of-private-db137349f8b0

Looks like those 'federal agents' are actually mercenaries.

ETA: I can't get the link to work right, but if you copy and past it you will get there.

ETA: Link fixed thanks to blogslut

[elleng]

1. No surprise.

'Triple Canopy, Inc. is an American private security company that provides integrated security, mission support and risk management services to corporate, government and nonprofit clients. The firm was founded in May 2003 by the Army Special Forces veterans, including former Delta Force operators. In June 2014, the firm merged with rival security contracting firm, Academi, formerly Blackwater, to form Constellis Group, with Craig Nixon, the former CEO of Academi, becoming the CEO of Constellis Group, and training facilities being consolidated at the existing Academi training facility in North Carolina.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Canopy

[louzke9]

40. NOTICE THE NUMBER....

of employees! 22,000. How many of these private security employees and former special forces veterans would betray their country if Prince and Trump asked them too?

[Miguelito Loveless]

41. This is why I keep saying that people who think

the military will automatically side with the people are sadly mistaken.

[louzke9]

42. And the COST to hire "private security"!

"A staff report compiled by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on behalf of Representative Henry Waxman questioned the cost-effectiveness of using Blackwater forces instead of U.S. troops. Blackwater charges the government $1,222 per day per guard, "equivalent to $445,000 per year, or six times more than the cost of an equivalent U.S. soldier," the report alleged."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi

[rockfordfile]

45. Those un-American pos should be locked up

[Phoenix61]

2. Anyone know where I can place a bet that Erik Prince

is at the bottom of this? I remember hearing about him being seen at the WH awhile back and no one seemed to know why.

[Sienna86]

3. Eric Prince

All very interesting. Follow the money.

[Nevilledog]

4. Makes sense.

[ace3csusm]

5. This can not be legal if true, who know how many laws have been broken

Who authorized this, and who else knew ...

[lpbk2713]

6. Things are more likely to get out of control real easy.

They aren't accustomed to acting as a unit.

[poli-junkie]

7. Glad to see some sniffing around at who/what/where these thugs come from.

[Lasher]

12. I'm surprised the MSM hasn't picked this up

[burrowowl]

33. M$M is for profit not reporting the news!

[blogslut]

8. Remove the @ symbol

I wish Medium would find a workaround for that. It makes it hard to share links to their user's pages.

[Lasher]

10. Thank you.

I did not know this.

[Botany]

9. Lock 'em up

This is so illegal. And as mentioned where is Eric Prince?

[Mme. Defarge]

11. Mercenaries

Naturellement.

[the_sly_pig]

23. +1000.

F##k mercenaries on United States soil.

[stillcool]

13. maybe they'll buy some tanks...

or higher a few good men...

Gina Harkins, Military.com•July 21, 2020Marine Corps Begins Shutdown of All Tank Battalions

The end of the Marine Corps' tank missions has officially begun.

Marines with 1st Tank Battalion recently watched the last of their unit's tanks depart Twentynine Palms, California. Photos taken of the event show Marines surrounding an oversized flatbed as the tanks were loaded up onto the vehicle and driven away.

Read Next: Miramar-Based Marine Aviation Unit Deactivated as Corps Gets Smaller

Less than two weeks later, Alpha Company, 4th Tank Battalion, held a deactivation ceremony at Camp Pendleton, California. The unit is the first of several companies with 4th Tanks facing deactivations this summer, Maj. Roger Hollenbeck, a spokesman for Marine Forces Reserve, said.
*****************
More than 1,300 Marines will have their careers affected by Force Design 2030. Service officials announced in May that four military occupational specialties would be cut because of the changes, and several more would see their billets reduced.
***************************

Lt. Gen. Eric Smith, the head of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, is overseeing many of the Force Design 2030 changes. Tanks leaving the Marine Corps, Smith told Military.com in May, could be sold to foreign militaries or to the Army. The Marine Corps could also sell their parts or store the vehicles, he said.

[NNadir]

14. They are therefore subject to arrest for kidnapping, assault, and impersonating officers.

All are felonies.

It's time to bring some law and order to Portland, real law and order.

It is time to arrest these people.

[aggiesal]

20. Unless they've been deputized, which I'm sure they probably checked off that box. n/t

[Lasher]

22. It gives me gas to think mere contractors could take US citizens under arrest

But I know there is a way. After all, a security guard contractor can detain you for shop lifting at the local mall.

[Volaris]

24. But, of their own volition and authority, they cannot arrest you...

They MUST call local law enforcement to do that job.

[Lasher]

26. I need an education on this technicality

Thanks for giving me one. It does not seem that Trump's mercenaries have been seeking any such authority from local law enforcement in Portland.

[Volaris]

27. I may also need some more educating...its not like trumps goon squad are rented mall cops..

They MAY have some additional authority relative to their orders to protect federal property.. but curfews and loitering by protesters are misdemeanor offenses that would only require additional federal resources if the locals are so utterly incompetent at they're jobs that they'll likley shoot themselves in the dick as try to use the bathroom...

AND the other side of the street from the federal building isnt federal property so...no reason for the goons to be over there at all, is there?

[NNadir]

28. I don't think it will hold up. They are not going to be protected forever. Many of them...

...I have faith, will answer for their crimes.

Some actively, some less so actively, and some by other means.

I am not implying this extreme is likely, but there is the case of the Nazi War Criminal Joachim Peiper who "was only following orders" and ruthlessly murdered American Prisoners of War at Malmedy during the Battle of the Bulge. He was arrested and sentenced to death after the war, but in the Cold War dynamic his death sentence was commuted and eventually he was released to become a car executive for Porsche and ultimately Volkswagen.

He had committed war crimes in Poland, Russia, Italy and, of course, France. Ironically he moved to France where, in 1976 someone cut off the water supply and set his house on fire, whereupon he was cooked to death on Bastille Day.

My Grandfather was murdered, as it happened, in a bar fight, and I often remark that my father told me that the police had zero interest in finding out who killed him, which was probably appropriate.

I can't believe the French authorities had any interest whatsoever in who killed Peiper, who, trust me, was way worse than my Grandfather.

One hopes for better justice in this case. A police officer who kidnaps and assaults a person should be subject to justice, and thankfully we are beginning to see that happen. But these people are not immune from the law, and to restore America and the rule of law, we must and ignore any idiotic "deputation" documents.

The last word on these times have not been written. As Mary Trump, Donald's Niece says, in order for America to heal, there has to be consequences.

I believe Trump and Barr should, and well may, die in prison. There may be no Peiper like justice, but there will be justice. I believe that.

[Lasher]

30. I don't think they will ever be held to account

Remember when Obama took over? GWB and his administration literally lied us into the invasion of Iraq but Obama just wanted to put the past behind us. He spent the most of his 8 years in office trying to compromise with congressional Republicans who had no intention of compromising with him.

Biden is cut from the same cloth. Even if he wins, neither Trump nor any member of his administration will ever have to answer for their horrid crimes.

[NNadir]

31. That was then, this is now.

I believe you're wrong.

Trump is a whole other level.

This isn't George W. Bush. We are in a whole other territory. More Americans are dead than were killed in Vietnam and World War I combined.

Call me an insane optimist, but this is what I believe.

[Lasher]

32. I hope you are right.

No doubt about it, Trump's corruption is on a different level.

[bucolic_frolic]

15. In the Revolution

how did Hessians work out?

[patphil]

16. This is exactly why the DHS needs to have its gonads snipped.

These f**kers are using what amounts to Blackwater mercenaries to do their dirty work, just like what they did in Iraq.
Absolutely no accountability, and absolutely no "give a shit" in their attitude.

I don't care what they call themselves now, the stench of their lawlessness hangs in the air, like the fog of tear gas, around them.

This needs to stop now!
Hurry November!

[TheRickles]

17. Federal marshals

On another DU thread, there's a photo of some of those guys that is high enough resolution that you can clearly read the patch: United States Marshal.

Scroll down to comment #16 here: [link:https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213795692|

[Marcuse]

18. Pinkertons

[burrowowl]

35. Yup! Modern Pinkertons!

[aggiesal]

19. Mercenaries are not beholden to any flag ...

other then the GREEN flag, also known as the DOLLAR BILL.

We are going to be treated like we are in Baghdad.
Where the mercenaries were above the law and could never be prosecuted.

[rickford66]

21. These goons are sadists. Killed for sport in Iraq.

[leanforward]

25. Thought so.

Thank you for seconding my thought that Blackwater and Eric Prince might have a hand in this “crap”. What I’ve noted too, is the gender of the leaders of the various entities of focus.

[warmfeet]

29. Mercenaries can also disappear.

Anyone can disappear.

[superpatriotman]

34. So a gang

We can have an equally potent gang, too if we organize

[PufPuf23]

36. This display makes me so angry I have thoughts do not like to have.

I have a concern.

A majority of the mercenaries employed by these contractors are highly trained vets.

Likewise probably the largest source of police are vets.

Specifically I am not calling out vets in general.

However, our military is the source of right wing anti-patriotic violent self-identifying and supporting motherfucking racist bullies fascist authoritarians that at this point have passed being a plague on the peace of our nation to where the USA is experiencing existential crisis.

I am for the Navy guy in Portland. He could be POTUS and CIC and USSC and AG and whatever the hell Mitch McConnell is except a fuckwit.

I am so angry at the moment.

[Lasher]

37. Your rant is justified.

I am an Army vet. The Oath Keepers tried to recruit me. I know just what you are talking about.

[PufPuf23]

39. Oath Keepers. Yes. Thank you very much in all respects. nt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

43. K&R

[Pachamama]

44. $1000 a day Academi mercenaries - today's valuation of 30 pieces of Silver

Courtesy of Betsy DeVos’s brother Erk Prince....

[Buckeyeblue]

46. It's inconceivable that a president would hire private security to control American citizens

I just don't understand how this is legal. Not that that matters to Trump. I read in one article that they refuse to read rights or identify themselves. Which I think means all of these cases will be thrown out on a constitutional violation. Or they should anyway.