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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.

“Our mandate is to provide security and counterterrorism operations for all high-risk transportation targets, not just airports and aviation,” said John S. Pistole, the administrator of the agency. “The VIPR teams are a big part of that.”

Some in Congress, however, say the T.S.A. has not demonstrated that the teams are effective. Auditors at the Department of Homeland Security are asking questions about whether the teams are properly trained and deployed based on actual security threats.

AZGrizFan wrote:expandos would be proud, '07.

expandspanos wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:expandos would be proud, '07.

Yeah, let's all make fun of the people pointing out our country is turning into a police state.

AZGrizFan wrote:

expandspanos wrote:
Yeah, let's all make fun of the people pointing out our country is turning into a police state.

Hey, I just couldn't believe he beat you to this story.


You're slippin', old man.

∞∞∞ wrote:I often travel into/from DC on train and I've never seen the VIPR squad (but I guess that's why it's random). Sometimes the Amtrak police will set-up bag checks at entrances, but TSA agents are rarely visible.

houndawg wrote:Watch those small-government conk fvcks vote to triple their budget.