The Hi-Tech Security at the Super Bowl 265
Hugh Pickens writes "As millions of fans sit glued to their sets next Sunday, one part of the game they will not see is the massive deployment of federal and local law enforcement resources to achieve what is being called the most technologically secure Super Bowl in history, an event that has been officially designated as a National Security Special Event (PDF). At the top of the list are gamma-ray cargo and vehicles scanners that can reportedly see through six inches of steel to reveal the contents of large vehicles. 'We can detect people, handguns and rifles,' says Customs and Border Protection Officer Brian Bell. 'You'd be a fool to bring something into that stadium that you shouldn't. We're going to catch it. Our goal is to look at every vehicle that makes a delivery inside the stadium and inside the secure perimeter.' Next is the 51-foot Featherlite mobile command center for disaster response that will support the newly constructed $18 million Regional Operations Center (ROC) for the Marion County Department of Homeland Security that will serve as a fusion center for coordinating the various federal agencies involved in providing security for the Super Bowl. One interesting security measure are the 'Swiveloc' explosion-proof manhole covers (video) that Indianapolis has spent $150,000 installing that are locked down during the Super Bowl. In case of an underground explosion, the covers lift a couple of inches off the ground — enough to vent gas out without feeding in oxygen to make an explosion bigger — before falling back into place. Finally the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI has installed a network of cameras that will be just a click away for government officials. 'If you had the right (Internet) address, you could set up a laptop anywhere and you could watch the camera from there,' says Brigadier General Stewart Goodwin."
Fear (Score:4, Insightful)
You know the terrorists have won when...
Meanwhile... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Meanwhile... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Meanwhile... (Score:5, Insightful)
its about protecting people if anything
It's about fearmongering and harassing red-blooded law-abiding citizens, conditioning them to accept government intrusion into their lives, and making work for low-rent thugs while scores of teachers are being laid off.
You are the one who's trolling. Since when in history has an American football game ever been subject to a terrorist attack? Note: a drunken fan who throws a plastic cup of beer at a rival team's fan is not a "lone wolf" terrorist [foxsports.com] no matter what the government tells you.
Re:Meanwhile... (Score:5, Insightful)
If the NFL feels its a target, then the fucking NFL can pay the bill.
Irony (Score:4, Insightful)
And while all this fear mongering, submission to armed authority, 'convenience arrests', and security theater is happening, thousands of Americans will be singing
"mumble mumble mumble something something Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave!"
*shakes head sadly*
Yeah. Enjoy the game. Really. There's not a lot else left now, is there?
Re:Meanwhile... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Neckbeards, that's your cue (Score:2, Insightful)
Though I must commend you for being able to sum up Slashdot in entirety with just one post.
Re:Fear (Score:4, Insightful)
The terrorists won when America stopped being "the land of the free and the home of the brave" and became a bunch of fearful, fat, money grubbing, bible humping, limp-wristed namby pambies.
Re:Fear (Score:5, Insightful)
You know the terrorists have won when...
Also:
You know the establishment is winning when they've succeeded in using the fear of terrorism as an excuse to create the foundations of a police state...
Re:Meanwhile... (Score:2, Insightful)
So, if Al Qaeda attacks on superbowl Sunday, you can bet your eyeteeth they'll go for Six Flags Texas, or the Mall of America, or the Golden Gate bridge. Something totally unexpected, rather than walking into a highly visible trap.
Only because IT IS a highly visible trap. Security by intimidation of potential attackers only works if you actually do intimidate the potential attackers.
And, FYI, you do not look out for yourself. You can't. No one can. No one is always alert, all the time, for any emergency. We rely on each other to look out for us when we let our guard down (which is all the time). That's the great thing about society. I wish the anarchists could understand that, but they're all convinced that they are supermen. Gods incarnate who can look after their every need.
Re:Meanwhile... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Fear (Score:1, Insightful)
You know the terrorists have won when...
Also:
You know the establishment is winning when they've succeeded in using the fear of terrorism as an excuse to create the foundations of a police state...
And such a stupid occasion. It's just more money worship. Otherwise, jocks and the jock-sniffers who think they're important are the very most expendable members of society.
Re:Meanwhile... (Score:5, Insightful)
It isn't a war on Osama. It's war (well, not actual war as we haven't had one since WWII) on terror. As soon as terror signs a peace treaty with us and surrenders, we'll get back to all that stupid freedom garbage. Any day now, surely. Pick an enemy that you can fight indefinitely and have all the time in the world to shape the country as you see fit under the threat of "terror".
Re:Fear (Score:2, Insightful)
reagan era was a definite shift to go backwards. I'd pin the start of america's first decline (in recent times) at the start of ronny's days in office.
the guy did so much wrong for the country, its such a crying shame.
Re:Meanwhile... (Score:4, Insightful)
The actuarial value of a human life is around $100k per remaining healthy year. Let's take the average age of Super Bowl attendees to be 40 years. The life expectancy of a 40 year old American male is 78 years, which puts their worth at $3.8M. If a hypothetical Super Bowl bombing kills 10k people, it's negative value is $38B.
Isn't actuarial value the amount that life insurance companies pay out? So why are you multiplying that by life expectancy? Shouldn't it just be $100K * 10K people, i.e. $1B? And if I'm misunderstanding, if you mean something along the lines of annual profit produced, your number still has an RIAA-level of inflation. 10,000 people gone, sure, but there are 20 million people in this country that are unemployed, with a current production value of 0, just waiting to fill those jobs. In six months, there would be almost 100% job placement in those empty positions.
Yes, I am a heartless Darwinist.
Re:Problem with dollar values. (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with numbers is that you're assigning them to a single arbitrary time period. The correct way of saying that would to spend $38b on ensuring those very people are safe at all times in all parts of their lives.
If a hypothetical super bowl bombing doesn't occur then statistically several of your 10k people won't live to the end of the year anyway due to other problems. We spend ludicrous amounts of money against an unknown and unpredictable threat that is likely to affect only a minuscule percentage of our population, and given the current state of security is likely to remain a threat despite everyone's best efforts. All the while we can clearly see statistically people die every year and they don't get a dime spent on them.
Take the $38bn and put it into some basic healthcare if you want return on investment, not fighting the maybe terrorists.