
ICE Fails to Redact Document, Reveals Location of 'Urban Warfare' Facility - spraak
https://www.newsweek.com/ice-fails-redact-document-reveals-location-urban-warfare-training-facility-1458732
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Synaesthesia
Why would ICE need an “Urban Warfare” facility? Note that this is at the
famous counter-insurgency training centre, the US army “School of Americas”,
notorious for training central and South American death squads.

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_iyig
It’s just a fancy SWAT team training facility. Probably has “Warfare” in the
name because it’s getting built on Ft. Benning, an Army base. Wouldn’t be
surprised if the facility gets shared with Army units who also do indoor and
urban combat training.

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codeddesign
Why is this downvoted? He has a point to a plausible reason for the name. It’s
built at an army base that is also likely used for multiple different types of
units. Would it make everyone sleep better at night naming it “Fluffy Bear
Facility”? Would everyone prefer that we don’t have the tactical ability when
and if needed? I am personally highly against war, but at the same time I feel
much more comfortable knowing that we do have the ability and advantage when
needed. I think the argument should be “how is this facility used and under
what circumstances do these trained units utilize their skills?”

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eesmith
Because 1) there is nothing in the document about it being a shared resource
(copy at [https://www.wabe.org/wp-
content/uploads/2019/09/LSJ_Hyper_Re...](https://www.wabe.org/wp-
content/uploads/2019/09/LSJ_Hyper_Realistic_Training_Devices_redacted__1__pdf_AZUFaO_Z.pdf)
), and 2) the FBI already has such facilities, like 'Hogan's Alley' at
Quantico
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan's_Alley_(FBI)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan's_Alley_\(FBI\))
). There are many other similar facilities, like in Artesia, NM
[https://www.fletc.gov/artesia-new-mexico](https://www.fletc.gov/artesia-new-
mexico)

Now, the document claims that this will be a "hyper-realistic" facility, and
that only one company is able to provide such unique capabilities.

This leads to some obvious questions: 1) if hyperrealism is so important, why
aren't the other facilities, including the FBI, already asking for
improvements to their existing sites? 2) why should there be new sites for
these sorts of training facilities - what tactical training abilities aren't
already available? and 3) if it's so important, why isn't it explicitly being
developed as a shared resource?

I think the bureaucratic is more reasonable than the one proposed by the
grandparent post, that is, each federal organization acts as its own fiefdom
and wants its own things. Plus, there's probably some graft - is it really the
case that only a single company can provide such construction?

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siruncledrew
> “... training facility that is expected to include "hyper-realistic"
> simulations of homes, hotels and commercial buildings in Chicago and
> Arizona.”

Is there something special about Chicago and Arizona?

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cannonedhamster
Most likely areas where they perform a lot of family separations that can also
be close enough to other common locations with many people of color to be a
useful training aid. Arizona is close to the south with wide open cities and
Chicago is indicative of a lot of northern cities with choose packed
buildings. There's already a ton of teaching facilities for individual houses
or foreign locations. This is really not that surprising. If they were
building something like Minneapolis or Boise I'd take more notice.

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neya
Just curious, if this seems to be of uttermost importance pertaining to
national security, then why do the media broadcast it for the rest of the
world to see?

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whytaka
The fifth estate isn't an apparatus of the government. Sometimes, it must act
counter to the interests of the government.

