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Private Security Firms Ramp Up for Potential Election Unrest in Minneapolis
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=37640"><span class="small">Alleen Brown, The Intercept</span></a>   
Sunday, 01 November 2020 14:02

Brown writes: "Less than two weeks before this year's presidential election, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison attempted to assuage voters' fears of an intimidation campaign at the polls."

A security guard wears a protective mask while sitting outside a polling location in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020. (photo: Ben Brewer/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
A security guard wears a protective mask while sitting outside a polling location in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020. (photo: Ben Brewer/Bloomberg/Getty Images)


Private Security Firms Ramp Up for Potential Election Unrest in Minneapolis

By Alleen Brown, The Intercept

01 November 20


Private security firms are fielding armed special operations veterans to do guard work around Election Day.

ess than two weeks before this year�s presidential election, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison attempted to assuage voters� fears of an intimidation campaign at the polls. Outcry had erupted after the Tennessee-based private security company Atlas Aegis posted an ad seeking to recruit former special operations service members to �protect election polls, local businesses and residences from looting and destruction� for the remarkably high rate of $910 per day. Asked about it by a Washington Post reporter, Atlas Aegis head Anthony Caudle said personnel would be �there to make sure that the antifas don�t try to destroy the election sites.�

Since it�s illegal for private security to be stationed within 100 feet of polling stations unless appointed as �sergeant at arms� by election officials, Ellison acted fast, launching an investigation into the company. By October 23, the attorney general�s office was assuring Minnesotans that no Atlas Aegis security workers would be guarding polling sites against �antifas� on Election Day, based on written assurances the company submitted in response to the investigation.

Voting rights groups still have concerns. As Ellison began his probe, the League of Women Voters Minnesota and the Minnesota Council on American-Islamic Relations filed their own lawsuit against Atlas Aegis. They succeeded in winning a federal court injunction preventing agents of Atlas Aegis or its owner from getting within 2,500 feet of any Minnesota polling place. But the win was partial: The assurances Atlas Aegis submitted to the attorney general stated that its recruitment efforts originated with a Minnesota security firm, and the voting rights groups want to know which firm it was.

The Minnesota company, according to Atlas Aegis, had reached out to firms outside of the state to recruit personnel to protect property � not polling sites � in the event of election-related unrest. Two additional companies, 10-Code Security and 5326 Consultants, had alerted Atlas Aegis to the �opportunity,� according to the agreement between Ellison�s office and Atlas Aegis. Pressed by the court to provide the identities of the main contractor as well as its businesses clients � initially referred to as John Does in court � Atlas Aegis supplied a murky answer: The firm�s officials simply �do not know the identity� of any of them. �The only parties who might be a John Doe are 10 Code LLC, 5326 Consultants and Rozin Security,� according Atlas Aegis�s response to a discovery request in court.

The evasive response is typical of a lightly regulated industry where rosters of military-trained personnel are commodities to be bought and sold � and where routine use of subcontractors complicates efforts at accountability. It�s a matter of renewed importance in a moment when distrust of police is widespread and Minneapolis residents are rethinking what community security should look like. After widespread property damage amid protests in the wake of George Floyd�s killing and a reported uptick in crime, businesses in the Twin Cities are increasingly turning to the private sector for safety. As utopian visions shifting the police�s role in society percolate, the private security industry is booming.

Firms Justify Presence

A review by The Intercept of WhatsApp chat logs and internal private security company documents, as well as interviews with private security company operators, shows that Atlas Aegis is not the only private security firm that saw �opportunity� in the threat of Election Day or post-election unrest. Armed special operations veterans hired by security firms will certainly be on the streets in greater numbers this week, even if they are not at the polls themselves.

Two of the possible John Does, Rozin Security and 10-Code, will be working together to deploy a force of 30 people to protect businesses, according to an interview with Rozin Security CEO Kathryn Rozin. (10-Code declined to comment.) �There�s been an increased demand nationwide for private security services due to the public�s perception of authorities, whether it�s the police department or the National Guard,� said Rozin. �I would argue that these places of business, whether it�s a grocery store or a bigger retailer like Target or even a condo building, have an obligation to make their employees feel safe and for the public to feel safe utilizing these services.� (Rozin declined to share information about her company�s clients and said she chose Target as an example because they are so well-known. A Target spokesperson told The Intercept that the company has hired neither Rozin Security nor 10-Code to provide security around the election period.)

Rozin Security has said it played a role defending Minneapolis businesses and working with the government during unrest this summer. According to a local ABC affiliate, the company�s �team of former special operations forces members helped track the violence and also were involved in protecting key sites on the streets.� The television station spoke to Michael Rozin, Kathryn�s husband and the president and co-founder of the company. �The anarchists, the extremist groups, were operating in an organized fashion,� said Michael Rozin, who is a veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces. �They were operating in what almost appears to be an asymmetric warfare manner.�

On Election Day, Rozin�s personnel will not be at polling sites, the CEO added, and her company has never worked with Atlas Aegis. Rozin sees no problem with deploying military-trained guards. �Who do you think is better suited for the job? Somebody with no training? A mall cop?� she asked. �I fully understand that it�s Election Day but it really has nothing to do with the election. It really has to do with safety and security for our communities.�

Some voting rights advocates, however, take a different view. �The idea that people may be out there recruiting personnel trained for the field of war to be in vigilante fashion patrolling our own civilians in our own streets in the U.S. is very alarming,� said Ben Clements, lead counsel for the voting rights groups and chair and senior legal adviser to the organization Free Speech for the People. Short of full disclosure of the companies on behalf of which Atlas Aegis was recruiting, his team has argued, Minnesotans may lack access to free and fair elections on Tuesday.

The Recruiters

In mid-September, Nick Rabenau, who says he is a former Army Green Beret, left a position as vice president with the security firm the North Group. A day later, Rabenau sent a WhatsApp text to contacts in his network. The thread was titled �Pipe Hitters Club,� a term used to refer to combat veterans. �I want to extend an opportunity to you. We will be staffing a very large security detail within the Minneapolis area over the course of the election,� he said. �This is all based on client requests and the violence that sparks from the election results.�

A document was distributed describing the �mission objective�: �To provide protective services, and deterrence of any looters, rioters, or other threat actors, to private residences, commercial real estate buildings, grocery stores, car dealerships, and other locations.� Operators would be paid $800 per day plus $210 daily for expenses. They were asked to bring a �full kit,� including a tactical vest, side arm, and long rifle. The assignment was expected to run from November 2 to November 9.

Rabenau was recruiting on behalf of Rozin, he explained on the chats. Rozin lacked a security license in Minnesota and markets itself as a consultant, so, as Kathryn Rozin confirmed, on-the-ground work would be subcontracted to the licensed private security firm 10-Code LLC. (She said the company later made Rabenau change the name of the Whatsapp group, �Pipe Hitters Club,� for fear that it was unseemly.) Though neither Rabeneau nor 10-Code commented, The Intercept obtained a packet of information branded with Rozin�s and 10-Code�s logos, titled �Armed Security Detail � November Election Support� and containing information for out-of-state operators that would be working in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The private security triumvirate that was taking shape in Minneapolis � Rozin, Rabenau, and 10-Code � all have controversial histories in the security business.

As manager of a specialized security force at Minnesota�s Mall of America, Michael Rozin used a technique of interview-based behavior profiling similar to what�s used at Israel�s Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv, where he used to work, according to news reports and an interview with Kathryn Rozin. The Center for Investigative Reporting and NPR investigated the impacts of the approach at the mall in 2011, finding that shoppers were being intensively questioned by mall security guards and that mall officials had filed a number of suspicious activity reports to a local law enforcement fusion center, based on noncriminal behaviors. Two-thirds of the reports journalists reviewed described people of color or �other minorities.� Rozin Security uses a similar approach in its proprietary trainings on its Suspicion Indicators Recognition and Assessment system. (Kathryn Rozin said the NPR article was �severely flawed, biased and refutable,� without describing what was inaccurate.)

Meanwhile, 10-Code specializes in oil-industry security and previously helped guard the protest-plagued Dakota Access Pipeline construction site near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Company personnel were present on the infamous day in September 2016 when another security company sicced dogs on pipeline opponents, according to public records obtained by reporter Will Parrish. Since then, 10-Code�s president, Steve Lundin, lobbied successfully for a �critical infrastructure protection� bill in Oklahoma and unsuccessfully for one in Wyoming. The bills were aimed at increasing penalties for pipeline opponents protesting near fossil fuel infrastructure. (Similar bills have been repeatedly introduced, but never passed, in the Minnesota legislature, though no evidence has emerged that Lundin was involved in lobbying for them.)

For his part, Rabenau, the recruiter, got in trouble in Illinois for running a concealed carry training program without being certified as an instructor. The state of Illinois alleged that he had illegally doled out at least three forged training certificates required for gun owners to conceal and carry their weapons, according to news reports. In a settlement signed in 2017, Rabenau pleaded guilty to misdemeanor attempted theft.

Kathryn Rozin said Rabenau had passed extensive background checks by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI. She added that her company was aware of his record and did not believe any of his actions disqualified him from the work. Rabenau did not respond to requests for comment.

�This is all aboveboard,� Rozin said, adding that the company works �hand in hand� with the Hennepin County Sheriff�s Office and other local law enforcement agencies and had even communicated Atlas Aegis�s actions to the FBI. In a statement, Rozin said, �RSC contacted the FBI on October 1, 9, and 15 2020 regarding the Atlas Aegis solicitation to report what appeared to be an effort to suppress the vote.�

Crisis Opportunists

It�s unknown whether Rabenau�s recruitment effort was linked to Atlas Aegis. A special operations veteran who requested to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions to his employability told The Intercept that Atlas Aegis had sent him a similar pitch before the court order. Other companies had also reached out to the veteran offering work around the election period.

Another special operations veteran in the area, who also asked for anonymity for fear of repercussions to his employability, told The Intercept that he�d received a text from a friend who also works in the industry. �if you are here during the elections you want to make $1000 a day to do security with me?� the text read. �We are going under the radar, no kit or weapons out just stay inside.� The veteran declined to name the company that was recruiting and said he did not take the job.

5326 Consultants, the third company that Atlas Aegis said �might be� a John Doe security firm in response to court-ordered discovery, said the company will not be conducting any security before or after the election in Minnesota. Chief operating officer Stacey Blau, a former CIA official, however, said that 5326 had considered doing security work � not for polling places but for businesses. �We did inform Atlas Aegis about this opportunity in September. We had an exploratory conversation with them, kind of like an interview,� she said in an email. �But we never actually worked with them. And, given their extremely irresponsible public comments a few weeks [sic] about providing so-called security for polling places and official election activities, we never would want to work with them.�

In Minnesota, though, security firms� interest in opportunities extends beyond just election-related work. �Since the George Floyd riots there has been a increase want for spec ops vets,� the first former military member said over text. �the work that is offered has always been vague, there is always a price they offer ranging from $750-$1500 a day to work in a armed security role.�

The chair of the Minnesota Board of Private Detective and Protective Agent Services, Rick Hodsdon, said the board has fielded a number of reports of unlicensed private security activity since George Floyd�s killing. The complaints are difficult to follow up on, he said, since the licensing board is under-resourced, with only three staff members overseeing an industry employing 14,000 people in the state.

The first special operations veteran told The Intercept that he�s concerned that the sprawling network of recruiters he encountered in advance of the election could result in armed security companies working on the ground that have not been properly vetted. He said the biggest risk is for �our general population to be subjected to half ass security provided by low life�s who are just trying to make money on people�s individual fear of our current situation.�

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Last Updated on Sunday, 01 November 2020 14:19
 

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+36 # librarian1984 2018-03-31 13:10
"This was more like a US police shooting of an innocent, unarmed victim."

Gee, we used to be famous for movies and fried chicken.

It's not a surprising correlation, given that many US police departments have now received Israeli training. What they do to the Palestinians will soon be done to US -- as black Americans can attest.

The other culprit? The US press, spewing disinformation to keep us dumb and compliant.
 
 
+15 # elizabethblock 2018-03-31 20:40
I'm reading Ronen Bergman's book about the Israeli government's policy of assassination. They've been doing it for decades. They've been doing it before Israel was a nation. It's no wonder that they shoot unarmed civilians without blinking. And the Americans copy them.
Yeah, some of the Gazans threw stones. I don't count them as weapons. If the Israelis would hand over some of their tanks, artillery, sniper rifles, and gunboats, I'm sure the Gazans would be happy to put down their stones.
And the Israelis, as we have seen, hate nonviolence. They respond to it with violence, often lethal violence.
Years ago I heard Mubarak Awad speak in Toronto. He is a Palestinian-Ame rican, and he was working in Palestine trying to teach nonviolence. The Israelis threw him out.
 
 
+22 # librarian1984 2018-03-31 13:34
The Guardian is reporting that 1400 Palestinians were injured, some with gas and rubber bullets, but 773 shot with live ammunition.

C'mon, Sahlburger, tell us how this was okay. Caliban, got any platitudes for us?
 
 
-6 # Salburger 2018-04-01 05:29
.
No, the Guardian reports that Hamas claims this.
 
 
-3 # Caliban 2018-04-02 02:06
"Platitudes"? My occasional comments may be indeed be somewhat boring in their rationality and common sense.

However, since I do not support the murder of unarmed civilians, dragging me into this comment as if I do could be seen as a lying by made-up association.
 
 
+5 # librarian1984 2018-04-02 10:12
You're right. My criticism of your 'boring' (though neither rational nor sensible) platitudes was more general; the post makes it seem as if you've supported Israeli violence but you have not, as far as I remember. I apologize. It COULD be seen as lying but it was an erroneous inference, which I regret.

If the editing weren't messed up I would remove the last sentence.
 
 
+1 # librarian1984 2018-04-03 10:03
I just ran across your reply n another thread on Israel in which you said we had to take into account that the Israelis were oppressed, as if that excused their current behavior. So I retract the apology.
 
 
-51 # Citizen Mike 2018-03-31 17:26
Well, that is certainly an antisemitic interpretation of history. I am sorry to see that Cole has adopted this position, but I will bear his prejudice in mind when reading any future comment under his byline. Horrified to see that antisemitism is seeping into US political life both on the right and on the left.If I see any more of the from RSN I shall withhold my annual contribution to this previously respectable news outlet.
 
 
+18 # wrknight 2018-03-31 20:17
You need to study the real history and stop watching Fox News. The Brits promised the Jews the holy land and then made damned sure that they got it. Look up the Balfour declaration.
 
 
+21 # REDPILLED 2018-03-31 20:21
Don't confuse anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.

See: Antisemitism: The Questions that Require Urgent Answers | Global Research - Centre for Research on Globalization

How I Became an Anti-Israel Jew
 
 
+17 # tedrey 2018-03-31 20:21
Point out serious errors, with credible sources, and I'd give you a thumbs up. I crave accurate data and this seems pretty authentic. (It's true, the Palestinians did not sit quietly under all this; would you?)
 
 
+19 # REDPILLED 2018-03-31 20:24
 
 
+17 # Kootenay Coyote 2018-03-31 20:29
Palestinians & Arabs are Semites too, you know.
 
 
+20 # maindrains 2018-03-31 21:23
Criticism of Israel is not "antisemitism" even though the current right wing Israeli government of Netanyahu is trying to get all such criticism covered by this one definition. In fact there is very lttle genuine anti semitism which can be defined as an irrational hatred of Jews, just because they are Jews; growing dislike and yes, maybe hatred of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians is justified and needs moderation by the international community; which will not happen because too many US lawmakers rely on political donations/press ure from wealthy Jewish donors.In the "old days" Jews were known for their progressive and humanitarian views but that has now gone fueled by the irrational desire for "security" against who knows what foes? Israel has a persecution complex on which it thrives whereas in fact Israel is the persecutor and war criminal and seeks to cover up its behavior by imagining all the threats against it. In fact, if Israel would behave according to the norms of international law (which are actually pretty low) most of the antagonism would disappear. Reminds me of the saying: for those who would attain the whole world but lose their soul'; Israel has lost its soul and deserves its paraiah status.
 
 
+22 # Benign Observer 2018-03-31 21:26
Absolute bullshit. To criticize policy and actions is not anti-semitic -- or are you saying Israelis have absolute moral carte blanche because of the suffering of their grandfathers?

I am pretty sure I'm part Jewish. My ancestors have always been friendly people. I love the Jews but I hate what Israel does. No one can excuse their actions. THAT is what is being discussed, no matter who does it.

The ignorant GOP wraps itself in the flag, grabs a Bible and screws us over. The Likud cloaks itself in Holocaust and thinks it justifies any abominable sin. It is shameful. And to further it by screaming 'Antisemitism' is even shameful than Hillary calling everyone a misogynist.

You sully the blood of true victims to use their suffering to cover behavior they would never condone.

Shame on you.

BDS
 
 
+8 # ljslotnick 2018-04-02 07:05
CM: As others state here, you're conflating two very different things here. Listen to yourself and try to separate out the fact that Zionism (the quest...at all costs...for a jewish homeland) has little to do with the concept of Jews living peaceably in a pluralistic society. Juan Cole hasn't "adopted" this position. What he has laid out if the sad truth.
If you indeed see antisemitism seeping into US political life...you should call it out. The mainstream news outlets in this country repeatedly gloss over the fact that Israel has become an apartheid country. In front of the eyes (and with the support of) the United States...its primary benefactor. CM, these words are coming from a 59 y.o. jew.
 
 
+39 # Rodion Raskolnikov 2018-03-31 18:40
Israeli snipers kill 17 people in Gaza. A crazed high school drop out kills 17 people in Parkland, Florida. Are these related. They should be. I hope the people demonstrating now against gun violence will include as "survivors" their brothers and sisters in Palestine. Palestinians have been shot at and killed by crazed Israelis now for 70 years. Time to protest the gun violence.

Parkland 17 = Gaza 17
 
 
+3 # tedrey 2018-03-31 20:27
Lord, Rodion, let's not turn this into a sporting event. There are all too many psychos in both populations who would welcome the challenge.
 
 
+16 # Benign Observer 2018-03-31 21:31
Remember that protestors in Ferguson were contacted by Palestinians who recognized the tear gas canisters from YouTube videos. They gave the Missourans tips on how to deal with them.

They even use the same weapons against Palestinians and Americans. Israelis train the police. That is why they shoot first and ask questions later. That didn't use to be the policy of US PDs.

This relationship between the US and Israel is toxic for many people around the world.

This does seem like an eerie parallel.

Parkland 17 = Gaza 17
 
 
-14 # p4136bl 2018-03-31 21:03
 
 
+10 # Benign Observer 2018-04-01 11:09
There's a lot of blame to go around. People are choking on it, dying for it.

But NOTHING justifies shooting unarmed civilians.

Is that the world you want to live in, want your kids to live in?
 
 
+16 # jack@mcbridephotographics.com 2018-03-31 22:27
On June 8,1967 the Israeli Military attacked the USS Liberty, a lightly armed surveillance ship in International Waters and killed 31 US sailors and wounded 171 more. The Israelis have no mercy, no ethics, and no values. They want 100 eyes for an eye when it comes to the Palestinians. Throwing a rock is grounds for execution! As long as the US supports these murderers the turmoil in the Middle East will be everlasting. Wake up Israel is a friend to no one.
 
 
+14 # brycenuc 2018-03-31 22:31
The Israelis failed to learn from Hitler not to be like him.
 
 
+21 # PABLO DIABLO 2018-03-31 22:42
Give Netanyahu his day before the World Court.
BDS NOW!
 
 
+9 # ellen.rosser 2018-03-31 23:01
Why does Juan Cole follow Netanyahu in his negative comment about Hamas? Doesn't he know what the Israeli military knows--that Hamas, when it was in power in Gaza, saved Israeli lives by preventing the other parties from shooting rockets into Israel? Haniya should be called a hero not a "terrorist."
 
 
+12 # maggetybrick@gmail.com 2018-04-01 10:38
Nobody comments on Trump's "kneecapping" the UN funds to keep these people from starving!! If any of them die, their deaths can be laid at DJT's door!!!!
 
 
+5 # maindrains 2018-04-01 17:18
Apparently Facebook, under an agreement with the Israeli government has been deleting posts by Palestinians, deeming them to be incitements". Meanwhile many hateful posts by Israelis are allowed through.