QUOTE (Morgan @ Jun 14 2008, 12:25 AM)

You didn't understand what I said. The Patriot Act gives meetings such as this protection from the masses...remember 'free speech zones'? Set up far far away from any effect? Considering the unbelievable economic destruction of the country, why so few have not gone to the streets en masse, should be very disturbing to us all. The media makes sure we all know about the latest supposed non-lethal crowd control technology. We see police brutality go uncontested by their superiors or city governments. We see police beat citizens, then aresst the victims claiming the victim resisted arrest or assaulted an officer. We see people tasered by police without any regard to their age or health.
The Bilderberg Meeting is completely covered with 'men in black'...most of them secret service or foreign secret service. No matter, the secret service does not work for US, anyway. Actually, I would go so far as to say nobody works for US, anymore.
I am not familiar with free speech zones in reference to Patriot Act. I would have to look it as per specific title. I know the Patriot Act does contain legislation incorporating the term "Radical Patriot" which is very open to interpretation if you were to ask me.
Again, I will state that United States Secret Service has specific tasks related to protecting the President, Presidential candidates and certain functions of the treasury such as conterfietting money. By legislative and constitutional authorities their duties are limited in scope and task to their specific functions. I would suggest that United States Secret Service protection at such a meeting would be legally limited to guarding participants in which are afforded protection by Secret Service under the Law. I have no clue how foreign Secret Service Agent work or are permitted to work on United States soil under current law suffice to say a foreign leader would probably have to be attending such a meeting.
There are other such agency responsiblities such as guarding foreign Embassy on United States soil but the scope of that protection is reserved to Official Embassy dwellings and/or an Ambassodor's residence.
There are all sorts of security people for hire having prior clearances at numerous levels of security having once been United States Military of Civil Servants. That does not mean they are currently employed by Uncle Sam but it is in the realm of possiblilities some of these people are employed by contractors having both domestic and foreign government contracts as well as private contracting services. There is evidence or these crossover functions today through revelations that Contractors for the State Department breached files of Senator Obama.
There are lots of stories about the families of people with secrets being threatened in order to prevent public disclosures. However, once certain parties are deceased, certain stories or I suspect cover stories re-emerge from time to time. There are legal agreements that are upheld such as non-disclosure agreements which have specific time limits anywhere from 10-50 years I would guess. There are also departments within certain agencies tasked with retrieving and retaining information withheld in matters of Homeland and National Security.
Now, it is not too far of a stretch of the imagination to premise that people abusing power will also abuse tools designed in the interest of national security to use those same tools as cover-up or try to prevent political or heritage embarrassment. In fact, Leahy and Specter introduced a State Secrets Act designed to prevent the abuse of such tools such as an FOIA exception for National Security sensitive information. A history afforded by the ACLU shows unneccessary gags on gags which tried to prevent the public from knowing a gag was placed on a gag of specific requested FOIAs. These issues are coming to a head and will continue to gain momentum in the next four years as secrecy within government erodes public support for government through distrust.
Look, in the late 70s truckers protested all over the United States just as protests are occuring in Europe right now over fuel costs. There is a point whereby the public will lose patience and tolerance for a perpetual lameduck federal government. A government by the people and for the people will protect both protesters and their targets. If members of the Westboro Baptist Church were afforded protection by the FBI, guess who else they have to protect ? There are many aspects good and bad to the law concerning free and democratic societies.
Otherwise some people just like to make up stories to sell survival gear on late night radio, imnsho.