What is a National Special Security Event?

How LA2028’s National Special Security Event will usher in a decade of terror for immigrants and People of Color

In the next decade, Los Angeles is slated to host three mega events which come with a heavily hidden cost in the form of the National Special Security Event (NSSE) designation. Most people we’ve encountered don’t know what the NSSE is, but once we explain the massive threat to millions of the region’s immigrants, people of color, the unhoused, and participants in informal economies, Angelenos immediately get it. Local politicians have happily handed the keys to not just the city of LA, but the entire region, over to the Department of Homeland Security. To call this a problem is a profound understatement.

In the NOlympics LA coalition, we talk a lot about the effects of a National Special Security Event, but unfortunately not many people know what an NSSE is. There isn’t much scholarship on the subject and even less reporting of it. The fact the general public is largely ignorant of the NSSE is no doubt by design. Electeds and law enforcement don’t want us to talk about it… so let’s talk about it!

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What is the NSSE?

The National Special Security Event is a federal designation for major events — like the Super Bowl, the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, Presidential Inaugurations, the Olympics, and so on — that law enforcement and politicians believe are so big that they become an extraordinarily high risk for an act of terror and, thus, requires a juiced up security operation. The NSSE mandates that the Department of Homeland Security has express permission to coordinate with local law enforcement, in the lead up to and during an NSSE mega event. 

This means all the agencies under DHS — itself created by the Bush administration in 2002 — like ICE, CBP, and Secret Service and others will be deeply involved. And while other agencies like the CIA and FBI are not technically housed under DHS, they are assumed to be involved in any NSSE as well.

In the simplest of terms, the NSSE means ICE, CBP, the CIA and so on will be working together with local law enforcement, in many cases months and years in advance of an event. 

The NSSE was signed into law in 2000 by Bill Clinton. Less than a year later, 9/11 opened the door for the PATRIOT Act and an era of trampled civil liberties amidst a plague of paranoia and power consolidation by authoritarian interests. The first time the NSSE was deployed for sports purposes were in the 2002 Super Bowl and, later in the same week, the Salt Lake City Winter games. The 2002 Olympics, if you recall, was originally known for a corrupt bid won by bribery that ran seriously over budget. The mismanaged debacle was then “saved” from financial ruin by Mitt Romney, who (much like Eric Garcetti) used the Olympics as a political level up to the national political stage.

What was less reported was the wide swaths of civilian data that the NSA stole from civilians in the Salt Lake area. Over a dozen years after the 2002 games, former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson sued the federal government, “alleging that in the wake of Sept. 11 terror attacks, U.S. intelligence agencies, with cooperation from phone companies and internet service providers, conducted widespread illegal surveillance on Utahns and visitors during the 2002 Games.” The NSA used the 2002 games as a pretext for warrantless surveillance over the area. 

In 2017, NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake came forward to disclose “blanket, indiscriminate surveillance” of Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Olympics. There are many other galling examples of what the surveillance state is doing under the cover of national security and sports entertainment.

A year ago, ICE tweeted this from Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta:

They also posted this strange video:

The NSSE allows them to say the quiet part as loud as they want. And they will attempt to introduce frightening new features of security theater in a way that seems harmless and necessary to protect us for The Big Game.

Los Angeles is set to employ the NSSE designation at least 3 times in the next decade: Super Bowl LVI in 2022, World Cup matches in 2026, and the LA 2028 Olympics.

Who pays for the National Special Security Event?

If you pay federal taxes, you do. An NSSE currently costs anywhere from $3-5B. To put that in perspective, it is estimated that $20B are needed to eradicate homelessness in America. So instead of spending on 4-5 NSSEs, we could have ended homelessness in the last decade.

Who approves this? This is entirely unclear, another facet of opaque anti-democracy at play. We know it’s generally a conversation that happens between sporting bodies, politicians, and law enforcement.

Every NSSE also comes with an upgrade and intensification in local law enforcement presence as well. When the event is over, much of this hyper-militarized equipment stays and has to be maintained and paid for by our local government. New gear, additional training and  personnel are all line items when an NSSE comes to town. Of course, this isn’t covered in the initial price tag of a few billion. Instead, this comes out of local coffers in one form or another.

Putting dollars and cents aside, though, there is no justification for the social cost of inviting an NSSE to your city. We’re all going to pay for this, in one way or another.

Why is the NSSE a problem for LA?

An NSSE is a problem for any urban community made up of marginalized groups. But they’re particularly a problem for Los Angeles. One, because we have at least three NSSEs on the horizon. Second, we are home to huge populations that will be the victims of this increased presence, including the largest undocumented immigrant population in America, large communities of color, significant street vendor and sex worker communities, all of whom who are already at a much higher risk for being the target of one of the world’s most militarized police forces.

Another thing to consider is that Los Angeles is not a sanctuary city in any meaningful sense. We’ve already gone into great detail on this issue, but the long and short of it is that we know that LAPD and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department are already coordinating with agencies like ICE and CBP. That’s a problem. The NSSE effectively legitimizes what is already happening and gives pretext for deeper, more harmful coordination. 

Hypothetically, if Los Angeles somehow moves in the direction towards real protections for immigrants in the next ten years, the three consecutive NSSEs in LA will necessarily undo any progress in this direction. 

The NSSEs will hurt immigrant families, whose 400,000 documented and undocumented people across LA county form a population larger than most American cities. They will also further harm the 60,000 unhoused residents of LA county, who will be put at a heightened risk of incarceration, deportation, and death. They will create more fear and paranoia in an already extremely precarious place.

The NSSE will give more power to both federal and local law enforcement agencies to surveill, intimidate, sweep, and incarcerate. And the NSSE will let them do this all confidently, in the open, and with no accountability. 

In October of 2019, we witnessed as DHS traveled to Los Angeles to meet with LAPD and the LA 2028 organizing committee. We know because they tweeted about it:

We don’t know what happened at this meeting. There was no media coverage of it. No public information other than what we can glean from social media. Our local electeds? They’re in the dark too. We recently spoke with a rep from an LA City Council office, who was unaware this meeting took place. But we know the groundwork is already being laid to further control and help disappear people throughout the county.

So what can we do?

We can organize.

First off, share this information. Most people don’t know we are hosting these three mega events, nor do most folks know the negative policing and housing implications. The LA media has declared a blackout on reporting on the negative consequences of this arrangement. We need you to help us connect with communities who don’t have this information. For more detailed reports, presentations or research around LA2028, please reach out and we’ll set provide you with more resources.

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