Originally Posted by
mules
While the federal agents were being intentionally visible.
So
that explains why TSA hires clerks with (what's the PC term?) exceptional girth. Higher visibility.
OTOH, the odds are better to win the 10 state powerball than the odds that a Real™ Terrorist would place a bomb at random, and have it JUST HAPPEN to be during a half hour window during which the VIPER team is doing their once a year random visibility event in that known hotbed of terrorism Providence, Rhode Island.
Visibility exercises are intended to prevent terrorism.
Talk about a scary excuse for mission creep. If you accept that these events PREVENT terrorism, then extrapolate it out: Give the agents enough budget to put such teams everywhere in America 24/7, thus they can Prevent ALL terrorism.
Extra Credit Quiz: If it takes a dozen or so visible agents plus secret undercover BDOs to "prevent terrorism" for a half hour in one plaza in Providence, how large does the DHS budget need to be to Keep America Safe?