DHS/Joint Terrorism Task Force @ 'Real Madrid v Inter Milan'

There will be a match between Real Madrid and Inter Milan in Berkeley, California on July 26th at 3PM.

Some of the basic security and pubic safety measures will be standard.  Piedmont, the road near Memorial Stadium will be closed to vehicular traffic before the game.  The university's police and the city of Berkeley's police will be present.  It is forbidden to take alcohol inside the stadium, or to drink alcohol around the stadium.  These measures are normal for stadium events.

There will be heightened security measures that are not standard for events at the stadium.  Every person entering the stadium will go through a pat-down, by a security contractor hired by the university.   No food items or water-bottles are allowed in the stadium; all backpacks are forbidden.  Signs and banners are forbidden; however, flags are allowed.  For security purposes, the hillscape vegetation alongside the stadium will be severely pruned.  There will be police officers patrolling the hillside neighborhood southeast of the stadium.

Furthermore, the Department of Homeland Security and the Joint Terrorism Task Force will be present at and around Memorial Stadium.  Janet Napolitano, The former head of the DHS is now the president of the University of California; the stadium is on university land.  Napolitano most like still has much sway at the DHS to get a homeland security detail at the stadium.  This extra layer of anti-terrorism policing can be critiqued, as there have heads of state and foreign dignitaries in Berkeley with less security than this soccer match.  Even though Berkeley does not normally host international sports games, such as this International Champions Cup Exhibition match, Berkeley has a lot of experience with sporting events in general, which normally transpire without anti-terrorism agencies. Berkeley pays host to many international students, professors, business people, politicians, and tourists.  There is a mix of nationality, religion and political viewpoint in Berkeley.  The mix of people the game won't be much different from the normal populous in Berkeley on any given afternoon.

The soccer match and it's heavy security draw some similarities to the controversy over the heavy security at the World Cup.  The game in Berkeley is an international match organized by a corporate sports organization, with major corporate sponsors, being held in a controversial and expensive stadium that continues to accrue debt.  Berkeley, like the rest of the Bay, is in a state of great economic inequality, having not much recovered from the economic downturn.  Social services in California are financially struggling, yet police agencies continue to be fiscally stable.  The cost of having extra police officers, as well as homeland security and the terrorism task force must be substantial, and unnecessary.  This type of extensive show of security can be critiqued as misuse and mis-prioritization of public funds at a time when the state and federal governments should be focusing more on the improvement of social services.  In the Bay Area, economic inequality is a greater threat to health and happiness than terrorism.

The timing of the match overlaps with Berkeley's entrance into the '100 Resilient Cities' program, a Rockefeller Group initiative.  One of Berkeley goals in its Hazard Mitigation Plan, which is part of the '100 Relient Cities' program is addressing the threat of terrorism, even though there has not a problem of terrorist attacks in Berkeley.  Anti-terrorism programs very often have little to do with safety, and are typically just excuses to spend money on the growing industries of policing and surveillance.  The first sporting event in Berkeley after the July 17th announcement of Timothy Burroughs appointment as Berkeley's Chief Resilience Officer - who oversees terrorism mitigation in Berkeley - involves not only the Department of Homeland Security, but also the Joint Terrorism Task Force.  DHS and the JTTF will be in Berkeley on Timothy Burroughs's first week of work overseeing anti-terrorism operations in Berkeley.