TPMMuckraker

DHS: In Case of Terrorist Attack, Call Shirlington Limo

Okay, we’ve had a lot of fun with the Department of Homeland Security’s justifications for hiring Shirlington Limousine Company, the outfit at the center of Hookergate which DHS awarded a $22 million contract to ferry its people around. But there’s just one more tidbit I gotta throw out there.

According to DHS, hiring Shirlington was a good idea because in the event of a terrorist attack or other emergency, the fleet of executive limos they drive can help get top DHS officials to safety.

In bureaucrat-speak: “[the sedans] provide an additional transportation capacity in the event of a Continuity of Operations (COOP) or other emergent situation[.]”

A “COOP situation” is any event which triggers the department’s “Continuity of Operations Plan.” Those plans used to be for responding to a Soviet nuclear attack, but have since been adapted to handle all manner of dirty bombings, 9/11-style plane hijackings, chem-bio attacks, and other major emergencies.

So if you were worried about how DHS was keeping its operations running, don’t! They’re betting Shirlington Limo will provide the limos to get them to their secret bunkers before the lethal gas/crumbling buildings/terrorist bullets get them.

Update: An earlier version of this post implied the limousines belonged to Shirlington. Studying the contract, it appears DHS leases the limos directly; Shirlington merely provides the drivers.

Hookergate

Facebook Conversations

Editor & Publisher

Josh Marshall

Managing Editor

David Kurtz

Senior Associate Editor

Paul Werdel

Associate Editor

Sara Libby

Assistant Editor

Igor Bobic

Reporters

Brian Beutler

Carl Franzen

Sahil Kapur

Eric Kleefeld

Eric Lach

Nick Martin

Evan McMorris-Santoro

Ryan J. Reilly

Benjy Sarlin

Front Page Editor

David Taintor

Poll Editor

Kyle Leighton

News Writer

Pema Levy

Video Editor

Michael Lester

Polling Fellow

Tom Kludt

Video Fellow

Clayton Ashley

Research Interns

Michael Brooks

Publishing Intern

Christopher O’Driscoll

Miles Read

General Manager & General Counsel

Millet Israeli

VP, Ad Sales

Bruce Ellerstein

Waldo Tibbetts

Bob Edmunds

Manager, Ad Operations and Sales Support

Versha Sharma

Deputy Publisher

Callie Schweitzer

Director of Technology

Eric Buth

Designer/Developer

Ni Mu

Matthew Wozniak

Tech Fellow

Dennis Cahillane