50-agency security crackdown greets Super Bowl 2016
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Fans and football players aren't the only ones gearing up for Super Bowl Sunday. Law enforcement agencies are doing the same.
They haven't forgotten that one of the targets of an ISIS attack in Paris last November was a big soccer match that included the French president as one of its spectators.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said that while there is no credible threat against the Super Bowl, he has called for a a 50-agency crackdown.
Super Bowl security is at a near-lockdown level. License plates on cars crossing bridges are recorded and the cargo in every truck entering the stadium is scanned, he said.
In the ramp up to Super Bowl Sunday, there is an FAA ban of consumer drones. And on game day, the skies over Levi Stadium will be a No Fly Zone. The FBI is also staging six secret locations in and around the stadium to protect 75,000 fans expected on game day.
All week, Customs and Border Protection Blackhawk choppers have had the San Francisco, Bay Area area under surveillance. John Pirdy is in command.
"We can put eyes on anyone within a 30-nautical mile radius within a short of time," he said.
Even so, Johnson says the very fans he's trying to protect may themselves be the best defense against a terror threat. He said the "if you see something, say something," approach has worked in the past and can work again.
