Posted on 07/22/2002 1:31:29 PM PDT by rdavis84
Mystery men keep handle on security at courthouse
BY LINDA SATTER
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
July 22, 2002
They stand resolutely outside the federal courts building in downtown Little
Rock, watching and listening, saying little.
Inside, more of these mysterious men patrol in navy blue jackets,
starched white shirts and gray pants. They demand identification from all
who enter and screen for weapons. In courtrooms, they keep an eye on
proceedings while their earpieces deliver a running account of happenings
elsewhere in the building.
Occasionally, they speak softly into radios, and then suddenly,
discreetly, more of their kind appear.
They also guard jurors and jurists and stand ready to provide
cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Last year, James Thomas Carman was nationally
recognized as CSO of the Year for performing chest compressions to save the
life of U.S. District Judge Henry Woods, who died this March.
Though the badges pinned to their jackets declare "U.S. Marshal’s
Service," they’re not marshals. They’re also not security guards, cops or
bailiffs. And contrary to what some believe, they’re not federal agents, or
even federal employees.
They officially are called court security officers, or CSOs. They are
part of a nationwide group of former law enforcement and military security
officers who work for a private security firm under contract with the U.S.
Marshal’s Service. While in the courthouse, they have the same powers as
deputy marshals. But unlike the federal agents they work alongside, that
authority evaporates when the CSOs leave the building each day.
"They are the guys on the front line," said Daya Khalsa, senior vice
president of Akal Security, a company in Santa Cruz, N.M., that employees
CSOs in two-thirds of the country’s 12 federal judicial circuits, including
the 8th Circuit that encompasses Arkansas and six other states.
"They’re really providing the face of security to everyone. They’re the
people who see things first. They know the building better than anybody,"
Khalsa said.
The CSO program began on a small scale about 20 years ago in New York
City to supplement overworked federal marshals. It spread nationwide as all
federal courthouses increased security and as marshals’ duties expanded
beyond protecting judges. Today, there are about 4,800 federal CSOs.
"There’s a perception out there that private security is just driven by
price and it’s very low quality, and that’s a misconception," Khalsa said.
He said CSOs, who make $15 to $30 an hour, "couldn’t be more different" than
lower-paid private security employees.
While many private guards lack law enforcement experience and don’t carry
guns, CSOs are armed and have at least three years of law enforcement
experience. Most, Khalsa said, are retired cops with 20 to 30 years of
experience.
"I’ve been wearing a badge and carrying a gun since I was 18 years old,"
said John Dillon, 61, of Sherwood, a former U.S. Air Force security guard
and a CSO for five years.
In Little Rock, about half of the 28 CSOs at the main courthouse or the
nearby bankruptcy courthouse are former military police, while others are
retired sheriff’s deputies, police officers or state troopers. Many have
experience in both areas. The youngest is in his mid-30s, the oldest, in his
mid-70s. Most are in their 50s. All must pass stringent annual physicals.
Behind their uniformly steely gazes, though, they are a diverse bunch of
individuals, with skills reaching far beyond knowing how to shoot guns and
wrestle suspects — not that there is much of a need for either on their
watch.
Ron Cunningham, a CSO for 11 years who spent 20 years with Air Force
security, and who races horses around barrels on weekends, credits the
no-nonsense reputation of federal court for minimizing rowdy behavior that
sometimes afflicts the less-staid state courts.
"I think they have a lot more respect for the federal system," Cunningham
said of would-be troublemakers.
Cleo Randall, a CSO for three years who previously worked as a juvenile
court bailiff and in Air Force security, agreed. A martial arts teacher and
sword maker while off duty, Randall said the CSOs’ law enforcement
backgrounds help them quickly recognize postures or movements that signal
trouble, allowing them to ward it off by quietly summoning reinforcements.
Because the officers’ mere presence can deter trouble, making it hard to
know how much actual danger or crime they may have averted, the workday
often ends without that satisfying sense of accomplishment, notes Mike
Kieffer, a CSO for 10 years who spent 20 years in Air Force security.
Kieffer said that’s why the most rewarding part of the job is the
friendliness the CSOs get from courthouse regulars — judges, staff and
lawyers.
"They go out of their way to speak and remember what your name is. It
makes you feel appreciated," he said.
Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright said the court officers
"serve us well."
"My experience with them is they’re ordinarily pretty good with handling
people and different situations in a courtroom setting," Wright said. "I
think that, because of their backgrounds, they do have a lot of people
skills that others of us lack. The downside is they tend to be older and not
as physically fit" as marshals.
Wright said that since the bombing of the federal courthouse in Oklahoma
City in 1995 and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she’s heard informal
chitchat at meetings of senior judges across the country about whether
more-enhanced security is needed in federal courts beyond that provided by
the combination of CSOs and marshals. Jim Hall, a supervisory deputy marshal
in Little Rock, said the CSOs provide necessary extra manpower and are "a
good group of guys."
Though much of what the CSOs do is secretive, one of their unofficial
duties is hard to miss. At least once a week, the courthouse is permeated
with the smell of bacon, stew or perhaps chicken and dumplings, all
emanating from the officers’ firstfloor office. Usually the cook is their
supervisor, 18-year veteran Joe Maxwell, or seven-year veteran Fred Clark.
"We have a simple meal once a week for fellowship. It’s just kind of
become a tradition," said Clark, a retired state trooper, deputy sheriff and
smalltown police chief known for making a mean batch of cornbread.
The CSOs admittedly cultivate the sense of mystery that leaves people
wondering who, exactly, they are, and what, exactly, they might do if
provoked.
"A great deal of the respect we get comes from the mystique," three-year
CSO Robert Bellamy said.
Max Ballew, a 13-year CSO, agreed. With a sly smile, he notes that’s one
reason why, when CSOs are on the job, "the courthouse is very well
protected."
This story was published Monday, July 22, 2002
Did you dispute that they were the "Security" company at the Murrah Bldg.? Or is the connection just threatening your employment in your mind?
Do you know anything about Sikhs or the Sikh religion? Don't look it up on google or give me a link--tell me about Sikhs and the Sikh religion off the top of your head...and while you're at it, you may want to notethat a Sikh man was confused for someone who practiced Islam because he wore a turban and was murdered shortly after 9/11.
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
The Denver Post
November 18, 2001 Sunday
Pg. A-01
Ignorance fuels anger against Sikhs in U.S.
By Jim Hughes, Denver Post Staff Writer
ESPANOLA, N.M. - By 3:45 one recent morning, a dozen or so Sikhs who live here had arrived in the dark to worship at their golden-domed gurdwara, or temple, each clutching cushy carpets for the hour-long yoga session that follows the 4 o'clock prayer service.
They convened outside of town on the headquarters campus of Sikh Dharma, a small, distinct, Western branch of Sikhism, a religion rooted in India.
The bright-eyed morning people among them already wore clean white turbans. But neatly winding nearly 20 feet of cloth around one's head requires both time and concentration, so many wore hasty kerchief triangles. Some stopped by a small spotlit niche in the courtyard wall to touch the skinny, gilded statue of Baba Siri Chand, a 17th-century yoga master. 'A lot of people turn to him for miracles,' explained Hari Charn Kaur Khalsa, a Sikh woman of the kerchief-in-the-morning variety. 'A lot of times when people have challenges in their hearts, they'll turn to Baba Siri Chand to help them through.'
And since the Sept. 11 attacks by Middle Eastern terrorists in New York City and the Pentagon, Sikhs here and elsewhere have faced a significant challenge: Because of their beards, their turbans and, for many, their brown skin, Sikhs have become targets in the backlash that's followed.
'Because Osama bin Laden wears a white turban, the stupid man, many people, Indian Sikhs, have been really harassed - beaten up and stabbed and killed,' said Bibiju Inderjit Kaur Khalsa, wife of Yogi Bhajan Singh Khalsa, the Indian Sikh who founded Sikh Dharma here in 1970. 'It's a very sad situation, what happened in New York. We still cannot comprehend what happened. But no one should be beaten up.'
Sikh Dharma members run a website, Sikhnet.com, which has logged 250 reports of anti-Sikh harassment since Sept. 11. Postings have come from across the U.S., Canada and England.
Beatings, insults
Sikhs have reported being kicked out of restaurants, followed, shot at, pummeled and insulted. Windshields have been broken. Eggs have been thrown. In Calgary, Alberta, a Sikh man reported that two white men attacked him and shaved off his beard.
'Everywhere was blood. I think he thought I had died,' wrote another Sikh, a Seattle man who reported on Sikhnet that he was beaten with a cane by a man shouting, 'You still here? Go to Allah!'
Allah is the Arabic name for God. Sikhs aren't Muslims. Islam was founded in present-day Saudi Arabia about 1,400 years ago. Sikhism was founded in the present-day Indian state of Punjab about 500 years ago. Sikhs call God 'Naam.'
They also are distinct from Hindus, who make up the biggest religious group in India.
In fact, the Sikhs of Central Asia often have found themselves at odds with both Hindus and Muslims - Sikhism developed a strong warrior tradition after its early proponents challenged the rigid Hindu caste system; in later years, Sikhs resisted Muslim incursions into Punjab, said Anne Monius, a professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia.
Sikhs today, still a very small minority in India, constitute a majority in the Indian army, she said.
'All the great gurus have some kind of story surrounding them about fighting the Muslims,' Monius said.
Sikhs believe in one supreme god, like Christians, Muslims and Jews. They wear turbans to show respect to God and don't cut their hair or shave their beards, believing that they shouldn't alter God's creation. They abstain from tobacco, alcohol and meat. And they wear simple steel bracelets called karas signifying slavery to God.
Sikh men also usually carry a small knife called a kirpan to honor the Sikh warrior tradition. Many Sikhs have stopped carrying them in recent days, though, to accommodate heightened security concerns in public buildings.
While most of the Sikhs here are U.S.-born converts, they say they share Indian-born Sikhs' commitment to pious living.
Turbans draw attention
As people who once wore whatever most other Americans were wearing, they understand why Sikhs sometimes draw attention, said Guruka Singh Khalsa, who works as a computer consultant in Santa Fe. He came to Sikh Dharma by way of the hippie communes that sprang up around Taos in the '60s and '70s, he said.
'When you walk around dressed like this,' he said, billowing his robe with his hand, 'you have to be unoffendable.'
Converts receive new names in Gurmukhi, an old form of Punjabi. Some in Espanola carry names that translate into 'Brave In Spirit,' 'Intuitive Ease,' 'To Look After With Love' and 'Out Of The Oneness Comes The Vibration That Creates Reality.'
Sikh women all take the surname Kaur, which means princess in Gurmukhi. Sikh men all take the name Singh, which means lion. Those who have proved their dedication to Sikh ways are baptized and given a second surname of Khalsa.
Sikh Dharma officials estimate there are 23 million Sikhs around the world. There are about 300 Sikhs in Espanola and 1 million in North America, they said.
And if anyone remains suspicious of Sikhs, they might want to know how the federal government feels about them: Akal Security, a firm that is one of several Sikh-owned businesses run from the Sikh Dharma campus here, provides security for government installations around the country, including NASA and FAA facilities, military bases and more than 300 federal courthouses, including Denver's. Fighting bias with education
The Sikhs have taken their concerns about harassment to the federal government, which has been responsive, said Avtar Hari Singh Khalsa, a former Hollywood television executive who gave up that life to be a Sikh.
He now runs a Sikh Dharma nonprofit foundation.
'They want to understand, and we don't want them to waste their resources,' he said. 'Every minute they spend dealing with people who have nothing to do with anything is a minute they lose in dealing with the criminals.'
And though the mostly Caucasian converts to Sikhism who worship at the Sikh Dharma temple here are somewhat protected by their standing in the local community and by the fact that most of them are native-born U.S. citizens, they're engaged in a public relations campaign they hope will help distinguish Sikhs from Muslims.
Sikhnet has become a big part of that effort, said Guruka, who helped found the website.
He hopes not only that Sikhs will be left alone, but that Sikhism's new visibility might help more people understand their religion.
'It's about recognizing the divinity in every person,' he said. 'One of the problems we have as a culture is we take each other too casually. It's events like 9-11 that make people stop and think about what's important. What I try to do as a Sikh is do that every day.'
Still, Sikhs worry about how they'll be treated in the future, as evidenced by one Indian-born Sikh who owns a restaurant in Santa Fe.
The man, who sometimes comes up to worship in Espanola, has a nervous mother back in India. Shortly after Sept. 11, she sent him a special turban to protect him here in America.
It's red, white and blue.
'He looks so beautiful in that turban,' Bibiju Inderjit said. 'It's so cute.'
|
Ariz. Mourns Sikh Killed by Gunman By SCOTT THOMSEN |
|
PHOENIX -- Nearly 3,000 people gathered Saturday to remember Balbir Singh Sodhi, an Indian immigrant killed in what police say was a hate crime that followed the terrorist attacks. "My father had a lot of friends, but no enemies. The word hatred was not in his vocabulary at all, but he ended up falling from the bullet of hate," said Sodhi's son, Sukhwinder Singh. "My family doesn't want any innocent people hurt." Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press |
For anyone who doesn't know what we're talking about, here is Harrison Bergeron's summary taken from this thread: Firm Ran Security At OK Bomb Site - Part 5 (http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3b4a2619093e.htm)
(If you want an HTML list of all the threads, scroll down to #251 on the above link)
Summary:
- A private security services company named "Teg" was responsible for security at the Murrah Building prior to the bombing of said building.
- Security at the Murrah Building was, for all practical purposes, non-existent.
- "Teg" promptly disappeared as an entity, if it indeed ever existed, after the OKC bombing.
- A private security services company named "Akal" appears to have been in control of "Teg," even sharing a home office address in New Mexico at the time of the OKC bombing.
- Akal, a company politically connected to the democrats via one attorney and Clinton fundraiser named Earl Potter, and having never been required to answer for its failings in OKC, is still in the private security services business and raking in some of the biggest security services contracts that the US dept. of Justice has to offer - to the point that duties previously performed by the US Marshall Service are privatized and in Akal's hands.
(summary points 1-5 are from a reply written by Harrison Bergeron here
We also learned that both Akal and Teg were run by the same Sikh community of Espanola, New Mexico, near Santa Fe.
Follow me here for a minute. I'd like to make a point. Here's what John Solomon wrote on June 20, 2002 (after getting the information from Jayna Davis and then waiting for several months to write about it):
Warnings Before 1995 Oklahoma Bombing
The U.S. Marshal's Service issued an alert on March 15, 1995, to federal courthouses it protects, including the one in Oklahoma City across the street from where McVeigh's truck bomb killed 168 people, the documents show.
"Iranian extremists want it made clear that steps are being taken to strike at the Great Satan," a term used frequently in the Mideast to describe the United States, the marshal's memo said. It said a fatwa — a religious order — had been issued to attack marshals or their buildings.
"There is sufficient threat potential to request that a heightened level of security awareness and caution be implemented," the memo added.
Separately, the General Services Administration received a warning from the FBI and asked hundreds of federal buildings it operates to increase security details, including the Murrah building, officials said.
"We were told there was a fatwa threatening to target federal buildings," GSA spokeswoman Viki Reath said this week. "We increased our patrols to 12-hour shifts."
On those 6 threads from last year (or 2000?), we established that Guy Rubsamen was the Teg Security guard on duty the night before the bombing.
The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror
by David Hoffman
http://www.constitution.org/ocbpt/ocbpt_01.htm(snip)
If the bombing of the Murrah Building was the result of an inside job, who is responsible? Was it wired for demolition, and if so, who could have wired it?
Dr. Heath, who has worked in the Murrah Building for 22 years, was present on the day of the bombing. Although Heath personally discounts the second bomb theory, he explained that poor security in the building would have permitted access to almost anyone, anytime.
"The security was so lax in this building, that one individual or group of individuals could have had access to any of those columns," said Heath, "almost in every part of the building, before or after hours, or even during the hours of the workday, and could have planted bombs."
Guy Rubsamen, the Federal Protective Services guard [Teg Security had the federal contract, so he actually worked for Teg/Akal] on duty the night of the 18th, said that nobody had entered the building. Yet Rubsamen took off at 2:00 a.m., and said that nobody was guarding the building from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.[86][It sure would have been nice if Clinton's people had bothered to tell him about that 2nd "prior warning" notice they received on March 15, 1995, wouldn't it?. Did anyone even tell Teg/Akal?!]
"It was a building you could have planted a bomb in anytime you wanted to," said Heath. "It was a building that was not secure at all. I've gone in and out of this building with a pen knife, just by slipping a knife in the south doors, slide the bolt back, and go in without a key. I've done that ever since the building was new. If you wanted into it, you could have gotten into it any time you wanted to."[87]
Heath also explained that visitors could drive right into the garage, anytime. "There was no guard. You could drive inside the garage — four stories — anytime you wanted to, and carry anything you wanted to inside the car."[88]
---------------
Footnotes: (http://www.constitution.org/ocbpt/ocbpt_en.htm)
86. (67) Guy Rubsamen, interview with author.
87. (1:24:*) Such a situation is reminiscent of JFK's visit to Dallas, where the plotters made sure the President's protective bubble was removed from his limousine, and made sure the Secret Service never bothered to check the many open windows around Dealy Plaza — a standard security procedure in such a situation.
88. (68) Dr. Paul Heath, interview with author.
And by the way, Guy Rubsamen said he saw a dress rehearsal for the Ryder truck on April 18th. Has anyone asked him what the men in the Ryder truck looked like?
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
Denver Rocky Mountain News
May 24, 1997, Saturday
Pg. 18A
Guard saw 2nd truck at building
Story mirrors bombing trial witness' account of blast day
Kevin Flynn; Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
Daina Bradley's story Friday of watching a Ryder truck pull up in front of the Oklahoma City federal building just before it was blown up sounded eerily like an incident in the same spot 17 hours earlier.
A guard in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building maintains that shortly after 4 p.m. the day before the bombing, he watched a Ryder truck pull into the spot where the bomb later went off.
Investigators who believe the bombing was the work of a broad conspiracy believe the guard from the building's Social Security office may have seen a dress rehearsal by the terrorists for the next morning's events. ''There was either two or three men, but one jumped out the driver's side, and one or two out the passenger side,'' guard Guy Rubsamen told the Rocky Mountain News.
''The first thing that struck me was how quickly they jumped out. Those guys were in a hurry.''
When no one came in with a delivery, Rubsamen said, he went out to the truck.
Rubsamen was called away, and on his return, the truck was gone.
His description of the truck matches accounts by several witnesses suggesting a second Ryder truck's involvement.
Shortly after the April 19, 1995, bombing, several witnesses told of seeing a second Ryder truck associated with the suspects or locations where the government believes the crime was planned and carried out.
A Ryder truck was seen at the Kansas lake where prosecutors think the bomb was built. But some witnesses saw it there when Timothy McVeigh was still in Arizona, so prosecutors didn't call them to testify.
Two defense witnesses testified Thursday that they saw McVeigh in a Ryder truck at the Junction City, Kan., motel where he was staying before the bombing, but it was more than a day before the bomb truck was rented.
Prosecutors have never suggested the possibility of a second truck.
What catspaw can't seem to grasp is that there was no "screaming" about Sikhs. Also, there's still no acknowledgement about AKAL being in charge of security at the Murrah Bldg. by him. And then, the claim that "AKAL are Sikhs" when the article clearly brings out that most of the "guards" are retired or ex- law enforcement types not necessarily Sikhs.
"First you go off the deep end, screaming about AKAL! Then when we show you that Akal are Sikhs, you start screaming, in some bizarro nonsequitor, about the Murrah Building."
There's still a large group that will contend that additional charges were placed inside the Murrah. I'm one of them. That casts some serious doubt on the "security" company, or at least some of their employees.
If catspaw were forthcoming about his/her status or possible affilliation with the Sikhs, the outrage would be understandable. But right now, the Irate retorts are puzzling.
But you believe that additional charges were placed in the Murrah Building. Are you claiming that Akal Security was somehow involved in placing the charges? Or are you saying that Akal looked the other way when the charges were placed? Or are you saying that Akal itself placed the charges?
And how does this gibe with Jayna Davis' claim that Iraqis were involved?
(If you want an HTML list of all the threads, scroll down to #251 on the above link)"
Best I can advise is that you take the time to review that info. I've made comments and added info on some of those threads, along with a lot of other folks.
I'll just go practice my Les Nessman imitation of a black helicopter. If I get good at it, I'll come back to this conspirary thread.
In the meantime here's that Summary again --
From Nita's reply #25 ----
Summary:
- A private security services company named "Teg" was responsible for security at the Murrah Building prior to the bombing of said building.
- Security at the Murrah Building was, for all practical purposes, non-existent.
- "Teg" promptly disappeared as an entity, if it indeed ever existed, after the OKC bombing.
- A private security services company named "Akal" appears to have been in control of "Teg," even sharing a home office address in New Mexico at the time of the OKC bombing.
- Akal, a company politically connected to the democrats via one attorney and Clinton fundraiser named Earl Potter, and having never been required to answer for its failings in OKC, is still in the private security services business and raking in some of the biggest security services contracts that the US dept. of Justice has to offer - to the point that duties previously performed by the US Marshall Service are privatized and in Akal's hands.
(summary points 1-5 are from a reply written by Harrison Bergeron here
We also learned that both Akal and Teg were run by the same Sikh community of Espanola, New Mexico, near Santa Fe.
Careful, don't stretch your attention span too far.
In other words, you don't care about the info that HAS been offered, right? O.K. Les.
If not, apologies for my wrong assumption that you did.
Actually, it WASN'T AKAL that first surfaced. I harped at Wallaby to come up with the security company's name via his search expertise and he turned up TEG.
About that time Nita went deeper into it and I think it was she that turned up AKAL. TEG appeared to be of Oriental/Asian ties to me as I recall.
Nita can probably flesh that a bit for us if she has time (and inclination ;-)
That's one reason why we kept digging, and still have not resolved that detail. When a company is "disappeared" that quickly and completely, ya' just gotta say ...... hmmmmmm.
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