Alex Jones Interviews San Antonio Police Chief About Delta Force Urban Training 1998 [mEtMlATV2ws]

00:00 Chief Philippus, we really appreciate you taking out the time. A lot of public officials and public servants are afraid to even talk to the public or press about things like this When did you first become aware that Delta Force, the most elite training force in America is what the Pentagon says wanted to train with actual live fire blanks here in San Antonio. Is that true? Yes, that's correct They actually started probably I want to say back in February when they first approached us maybe even earlier than that about doing some operations You know in the San Antonio area

00:36 What were your major reservations in asking the mayor to tell them that y'all didn't want them to train here and cease training here? Well, a lot of things happened. First of all the organization came into the city never really approached the city as a whole or has gotten together with the mayor and said we need to speak to all these different departments uh... and request some assistance um... various groups and individuals came into the city approach different people at different levels The police department was contacted, the city manager's office was contacted about using city facilities. Various business owners were contacted through the economic development department. The fire department was contacted by different individuals so there was never any coordinated approach to the City of San Antonio

01:23 When we found out of that, we had some reservations but were willing at least to listen. But then we started finding out that discussions were happening in other different levels and there was no communication or coordination between them. We also found out that leases have been negotiated with private business people throughout the city to utilize their vacant buildings without any coordination with the police department. We were originally told there were probably going to be a couple of locations and later on we find out that there's 12 locations, and yet we were never brought into this at the beginning Last Saturday, Austin American Statesman did an article about how they're practicing taking over police departments in Chicago In fact I've got a copy of that, I can give you a copy after the interview I should have brought it up from my car, just remembered That's one thing some cities I've heard have had reservations about They call it touring the police department but actually

02:13 practice dynamic entry and other things at the police departments. I heard that they were planning to do this in Houston, but they've already done some training along with the Marines and other forces of the military Have you ever heard anything like this before? No, I have not They did offer to allow our SWAT teams To do training with them in these particular exercises But you know our missioners are different There's deals specifically with international type situations or deals with local situations and if an incident were to occur in this country it would be Local law enforcement the FBI and others that would deal with Delta forces purely kill the terrorists whatever it is. I'm not so sure what it is, but

02:57 it's in an international level and so our missions are tactics or somewhat different and i'm very proud of the swat team that we have a big wheel of this to the country we do a lot of train for agencies and i think that we have the skills and uh... expertise to deal with those situations already quoted at the mayor said he didn't appreciate the dishonesty of the Delta Force. I was curious, we call the mayor's office and they... Jackie O'Donnell, I believe is her name? She told us that you were the mayor spokesman on this. Can you tell us exactly why uh.. The Mayor would use such strong language and call them dishonest? Well i think that there were various approaches for example when I originally said no several weeks ago matter fact a couple months ago but No was never no

03:42 And then no was never no. End of runs were done around to various community leaders, I had someone... Excuse me sir you're saying that they ignored the police chief and under our constitution? You're the same as the sheriff and you run the city or county? Your telling me that Delta Force was ignoring your order? Well, I don't want say they ignored it but a roundabout way yes because what they would do once i said no They went to various individuals in the community to bring pressure to bear to get me change my mind For example, there was a community leader who I have a great deal of respect for and we have a very good relationship that they went to. I get a call from him and he says, Chief there's some people in here that are in town and it was part of their role here didn't say who it was they need to meet with the mayor and police chief. Well of course this gentleman, I've worked very closely with him on a number of projects. I said sure have them give me a call. Now I had already said no

04:34 Well, then I find out it's the same group. So they identified somebody apparently that I know that is very high in the community to make an approach to me and get me to change my mind. Well then when we said no some elected officials were contacted to bring pressure to bear and then offers were made to give money, cash money to elected officials' charities if they could get us to change our minds. I mean as one of my deputy chiefs said in some circles that's called bribery." Well it is called bribery but more importantly it's called manipulation

05:10 of the constitutional system and the takeover of local police departments. And that $4,600 million that we just saw in The Statesman is so wonderful it's buying them a lot of control if they can't buy the police chiefs off like it did Elizabeth Watson for that $244,000-a-year job at the Justice Department Let's hear him say that one more time to make an approach to me and get me change my mind. Well then, when we said no then some elected officials were contacted to bring pressure to bear uh...and then offers were made to give money cash money to elected officials charities if they could get us changed our minds I mean you know as one of my deputy chiefs said in some circles that's called bribery Why do you think in Chicago maybe not aware this all it's a copy of

06:00 that they're practicing taking over police stations and fire stations and bridges. That seems like a military takeover of the city? I don't know, I wouldn't even want to speculate on that. I'm not familiar with those types of things occurring. Certainly there was no approach made to us to do those kinds of things. Well that's good You talked about a memo from Delta Force? Yeah, because what happened is various elected officials were being contacted. I have ten city council members and mayor and i just want to alert them as to what was happening that these situations were occurring that they might be contacted by these individuals

06:41 that in the best interest of public safety, and that's what I continue to fall back on. We didn't feel it was in the best interest of the citizens of San Antonio to do that type of thing All I can say is no just never seemed to be a No And even after they told us we don't need you...we're still going to our training exercise at other locations around the San Antonio area but we are not allowed here Next I'm still getting contacted by various officials. I mean they never would say take no for an answer So they weren't respecting your jurisdiction? They were not respecting our jurisdiction, uh...I don't think they respected our decision to go into predominantly minority areas of the city where we had vacant warehouses and buildings And try to do those types of exercises at those locations in the middle of a night Oh, I'm sorry middle of the night In the middle of the night

07:33 You know, sometime between 9pm and midnight. People become frightened... We do a lot of our decision making on experiences that have happened in other cities. We were very concerned with some things that have happened over there and we didn't get any real good clear answers. So they're being secretive about it? Very secretive. And you kind of the city and the mayor yourself as a police chief you kind of felt that it was a little odd that they wouldn't trust y'all, I mean ya'll are the authorities here. A little odd and once i made contact with my peers in some other major cities then they shared with me some other experiences over there uh... the decision really was very easy My interest is police chief is the citizens of this city period

08:17 and I was not about to jeopardize the safety under an exercise of this magnitude under any circumstance. Well, you can't say it any better than that! This isn't some wild conspiracy theorist...this is Al Philippus head police chief in San Antonio Texas Oh, and the mayor too Howard Peek He says that its dangerous and they're dishonest And of course there's former Delta Force commanders like Stephen Berry there to tell you that it's around up the general population. It's a practice run. Oh, by the way according to the May 10th 1998 Sunday edition of The Austin American Statesman Metro and State they're conferring with people here in Austin and sometime after June

09:07 this summer they plan to have this training here in Austin, Texas. I guess our safety isn't important despite the track record North Carolina $100,000 damage and in Miami a stray bullet from the Delta Force going into a crowded restaurant What is wrong with Kirk Watson? I hope he shows the same will that Mayor Howard Peek did but I think Watson's just concerned with making all the big, fat juicy kickbacks. Fix it Watson! That's your job! Protect us! Quit sucking off us!" And some of you are probably saying Oh Alex why are you being so angry about this? Because the statesmen they know this has happened down in San Antonio They know this is going on they're not that ignorant Four days after all this comes down They're writing stories about how wonderful it is and how their coming to town these secret teams

10:00 I mean, this is dangerous. Helicopters could crash anything could happen with these low-flying night missions and Kirk Watson and these people, they know this is going on. They should throw the Delta Force and all the rest of them out of our city." And once I made contact with my peers in some other major cities... ...and they shared with me some other experiences over there... The decision really was very easy My interest as police chief is the citizens of this city period. Period. And I was not about to jeopardize safety under exercise of this magnitude under any circumstance

10:38 What types of training were they wanting to engage in? I mean, again, I heard some reports that they wanted to do live fire with blanks and perhaps actually some incendiary flashbangs and things. Yeah, I don't know the particulars of that. I know that they wanted to use some explosives for entry into some of these buildings, some of those so-called ceramic bullets which would be fired into little traps which were supposed to catch those, which would disintegrate supposedly on contact. But I know that in one city, American City that you know one of those bullets got a stray and going through a window and down almost into a restaurant so things can go wrong. What city was that? I believe it was in Miami they may do something at the various military bases here in San Antonio That certainly is their jurisdiction but we will not support any operations inside the city limits

11:27 Again, the decision really was not that difficult. We have the interest of the citizens of San Antonio. This is a military city and we have tremendous respect for what they do but I don't have any respect for tactics used by the advance team coming in here. You're saying they were disrespectful? they were courteous and friendly to us uh... to our faces but uh... again when you make a decision you try to get information to to go around try to put influence on you from pressure groups in individuals um... either elected or in the community that's sad, that's sad. You're not heading to borderline gestapo-esque tactics in politics? No I think it was always done very courteously very professionally

12:15 you know, it still left a bad taste in my mouth. And I've seen the September 23rd 997 Laird News Hour, 60 minutes a few months later came out with story about secret military training with local police departments. It seems that Miami has embraced it and it seems that LA has embraced it and what some of the volatile problems they have in some instances understand it are you aware or exactly is the scope if you can tell us about the levels of military training between law enforcement here and the military? We do not train with the military. Our mission and our roles are different We trained on some of the military bases in order to have access to some of the firing ranges and things like that But we've got a very good Police Academy facility out there that we can do a lot of that, we train internally inside of our own city I just go this news

13:05 of this just came down here in the last day or so I'm gonna for you sir, im going to get you a packet and im saying this now so ill have to do it. Im gonna get you a layer news hour, 60 minutes okay its wonderful we'll give some other information where local now here's the question and is my last one I really appreciate your time were local police commanders the commander at the LA SWAT team sits right there on camera he also consultant in other cities and Peter Crasser and he says when they ask him about the training with Delta Force and other military forces, he looks at the camera and smiles. And says I'm sorry that's classified i can't talk about that now to me that's one six eight months ago when the red flags went up When I saw a local law enforcement official saying that something was classified with the military and he couldn't talk about it That's why we're here again We just want to thank you all for showing independence

14:05 of texas of america of san antonio that's the jar open and what do you think about uh... i'm sure you haven't seen this but if that is true on where news hour do you think that uh... that's a red flag or something strange i don't think it's necessary i mean um... it's it's not going to happen on my watch in here in san antonio uh... which is totally inappropriate you know i was never approached or asked to maintain classified confidentiality on this whole issue uh... i was in the military you know i had a clearance of understand that but nobody ever asked me to sign anything or say thing about major what would you do if they did it and they said we need local police to do something classified in conjunction with the feds i mean

14:56 total student of the constitution, but I've read it 10 or 15 times and i've read the federalist papers that right there looks like police state to me. We don't do that if we need to work with the FBI DEA secret service or other federal law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction in this country then we will certainly do that but uh... were not about to engage those kind of activities with various military groups Man, that's great. I appreciate it.