Leaked RNC security doc reveals outsized military role; City review expected Wednesday as cases get underway

[This story was first posted in the Dec. 12, 2008 issue of the PIM Weekly Report; With the report spearheaded by former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy Luger due at tomorrow's St. Paul City Council meeting, our readers might be interested in this unusual side of the larger RNC story; see also our look at the recent FBI informant flap.]

A very interesting presentation about the structure of 2008 Republican National Convention security operations got leaked onto WikiLeaks.org, a fun repository for spilled government documents around the globe. The doc, entitled “Special Event Planning: 2008 Republican National Convention,” [PDF here] was evidently presented somewhere by Terri Smith, Branch Director for Response, Recovery and Mitigation at the Minnesota Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. It was labeled “Limited distribution - for official use only.”

This doc hasn’t gotten too much notice locally, but one scrutinizer of government plans, Tom Burghardt, posted a thorough analysis of its significance. Aesthetically, it’s a choice primary source document: it combines the ugliness of PowerPoint with diagramming the ominous expansion of discreet government control. [PIM staff loves stuff like this!]

The most illuminating slide shows the layout of the ‘Multi-Agency Communications Center’ (MACC). In particular, it reveals that the Pentagon’s new Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, had more seats than anyone else; fans of government intrigue will love the idea that this new, increasingly domestic-oriented military command had the most chairs. (According to the Army Times, no tinfoil rag, they are training troops for quelling “civil unrest and crowd control,” Posse Comitatus notwithstanding.) Additionally, the RNC Committee on Arrangements also earned a seat in this center. We wonder if the activities of the Minnesota agencies here would be subject to the Minnesota Data Practices Act.

Meanwhile, the RNC Public Safety Review Commission report, chaired by former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger and former assistant U.S. Attorney Andy Luger, is expected to be released around December 15th January 14th. Activists have been critical of the carefully shaped scope of the commission, as well as how it was never publicized, or even findable via searches, on the City of St. Paul’s website.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, who has an expert’s knack for timing press conferences, managed to muddy the press coverage of heavily negative RNC citizen hearings (hosted by this Commission and earlier by City Councilman Dave Thune) by cleverly intercepting the daily news cycle. Meanwhile, one could only deduce where to send public comments by carefully catching Pioneer Press or Strib stories about the Commission.

Is it a thorough review, or damage control? Will Fletcher go into media consulting? We hope so; he’s got a real showman’s knack for selling hot narratives on the government’s diminishing dime. Supported by the Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure (CRASS) coalition, many RNC arrestees are going to trial soon, as many have refused pleas; liberal bloggers are challenging the ‘witch hunt’ as a waste of money the state no longer can spend.