The NFL's security department is an "intricate and largely secretive three-layered security force -- mainly comprised of former federal agents -- in charge of staying in front of the league’s problems," according to a front-page piece by Babb & Goldman of the WASHINGTON POST. Its "emphases are swiftness and thoroughness, its tentacles reaching into states even without an NFL team, its code mostly one of silence." The uppermost level of the department is based at the NFL's N.Y. HQ and is "comprised of about a dozen employees -- the NFL won’t give a precise number -- most of them decorated former law-enforcement officials." Before former Pennsylvania state police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller was named NFL Senior VP & Chief Security Officer in '11, the league’s three previous security directors -- Jack Danahy, Warren Welsh and Milt Ahlerich -- were "all former FBI" employees. Each NFL team is "assigned a contractor, along with an associate investigator, to act as the league’s eyes and ears." A former team official said, "It’s set up just like the FBI." But Babb & Goldman noted the Ray Rice elevator tape somehow "slipped through the fine mesh barrier of 'The Shield’s' shield, apparently catching even the NFL by surprise -- something that, by design of its security apparatus, should never happen" (WASHINGTON POST, 9/14).
INDEPENDENCE DAY? The NFL last week appointed Robert Mueller III to run an independent investigation into what the league knew about the Rice tape, and ESPN’s Roger Cossack said if the NFL is “hiring someone to investigate the NFL, that person has to be like Caesar's wife and above reproach.” Cossack: “You can't hire someone who has connections to the NFL and then surround him with owners who have already said they support [NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell]. I think they’ve made a huge mistake here.” Cossack noted he does not believe Mueller is a “bad guy,” but asked, “How much better would it have been and how much more belief would they have had from the population if they would have hired a strong, independent woman to lead this lead this?” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 9/14). ESPN's Bob Ley yesterday talked about the "announcement of that independent ‘investigation’ -- and I put that in air quotes" ("Sunday NFL Countdown,” ESPN 9/14).
