Response from James L. Baker, RE: "Cytel Group, LLC"

"Cytel, LLC / Urban Shield" scandal (2014) [link]

James Baker personally concludes that the numerous contracts by public entities with "Cytel Group, LLC" is to be considered slander if documented by a particular journalist who he is suing for documenting the fraudulent use of the name "Cytel Group, LLC" throughout the preceding few years.

What follows is the unabridged, unedited message, sent 2014-09-23 to news media and public service groups, by James L. Baker of "Cytel Group, LLC" in response to "Threat of lawsuit from James Baker of Cytel Group / Urban Shield" (2014-09-22) [IndyBay.org link] [archive.org] by Lynda Carson. The message CC'd to [Criminal.Division@usdoj.gov] [san.francisco@ic.fbi.gov] [jeanpaul.j.coves@usdoj.gov] [piu@doj.ca.gov] and to community groups and news media who have been contacted by the journalist!
---

All,

I am so sorry for the craziness in which we have all found ourselves immersed in.  For the past week Ms. Carson has run the same information in various news reports on (4) separate days, as well as sending out a number of these group emails, alleging corruption in the fact that Cytel Group has entered into a License Agreement with Alameda County.  I have explained to Ms. Carson that if she read the document in question, of which she has included a small portion in her article, she would find that Cytel Group is listed a total of three times.  Once on Page one, with the incorrect "LLC" following our name.  Cytel Group, "Inc." is correctly used the remaining two times in the agreement, including the page in which the Licensee is listed and the signature page that has all corporate information.  All other information related to Cytel Group, Inc. listed in the agreement is correct including address, etc.  The usage of "LLC" on Page 1 is a minor mistake that will be corrected upon my return from Nairobi Kenya.  Alameda County and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office are aware of the error and are already working to amend the License Agreement to change the "LLC" to "Inc." on Page 1.

As I have provided to Ms. Carson in a number of emails now, Cytel Group, Inc. Has been registered with the State of California since 2010, and has maintained good standing since that time.  There is no benefit to Alameda County, or Cytel Group, Inc. to have the LLC listed.  This is not a devious plot, but was a simple error when the final Agreement was drafted.  Unfortunately it was an error that has gone unnoticed until now, but will be corrected upon my return.

I have also explained to Ms. Carson that I am in Nairobi Kenya conducting training to the first responders (police, ambulance, red cross, emergency managers, etc) in how to properly respond to a critical situation such as the Westgate Mall Massacre, which occurred in Nairobi a year ago yesterday, killing 67 men, women and children and seriously injuring an additional 175 citizens.  I was honored when the U.S. State Department personally reached out to Cytel Group, Inc. to assist them with the serious and important training program.  They stated they wanted Cytel Group involved in the project because of the strong reputation Cytel Group, Inc. has both in the Bay Area and throughout the nation.  Ms. Carson has apparently decided to damage our reputation by running a number of articles and sending out continuous emails slandering Cytel Group, Inc.  She fails to report that Cytel Group, Inc. Is stated in the License Agreement two out of the three times our name is listed.  She has failed to reply to my emails directly so I can answer any questions she may have on a one-to-one basis, and she has failed to provide me with her contact information (phone or mailing address) so my attorney can contact her and provide any information she may desire during my absence.  I have requested Ms. Carson run a retraction publicly stating the facts of the matter, which she refuses to do.  I have told Ms. Carson in my past three emails that if she continues with this constant slander both in news articles and group emails Cytel Group, Inc. will have no option but to move forward with a defamation lawsuit.

Once again, I am so sorry to waste all of your valuable time on these email responses.  However, I cannot remain silent and allow Ms. Carson to push out this slander and miss-information without stating the true facts of the matter.  In all my many years of working with news reporters, I have never experienced anything like this..  

Warm regards,
JIM
--
James L. Baker
Cytel Group, President
M: (925) 354-6893
E: jim@cytelgroup.com

Reply From Sheriff's Office Regarding Cytel Group, LLC / Urban Shield

"Cytel, LLC / Urban Shield" scandal (2014) [link]

2014-09-18 by Lynda Carson, posted to [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/09/18/18761770.php] [archive.today/cOgFx]:
Oakland - On June 7, 2011, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to approve an agreement between the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and Cytel Group, LLC (Principal: Anne M. Baker) for the individual disaster training exercises and/or programs similar to Alameda County's "Urban Shield", and to authorize the Sheriff to receive a license fee of $10,000 from Cytel Group, LLC as payment for the first year of their use of the Urban Shield marks and materials and for each additional year a fee of one percent of the gross revenues collected by licensee or its affiliates for every individual exercise and/or program conducted by the Cytel Group, LLC. Additionally the vote authorized the Sheriff to deposit all fees collected from this agreement into an approved "Urban Shield" cash fund for the purpose of offsetting costs associated with future Urban Shield exercises.
According to the California Franchise Tax Board, a California limited liability company (LLC) is formed by filing "articles of organization" with the California Secretary of State, prior to conducting business in California.
A search of the public records with the Secretary of State in California, reveals that there is no such entity called Cytel Group, LLC filed on record with the Secretary of State presently, or at the time of June 7, 2011, when the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to approve an agreement with the Sheriff's Office and Cytel Group, LLC regarding Urban Shield.
Further search of public records revealed that the status of Cytel Group, LP (Limited Partnership) has been canceled, and that the status of Cytel Group, Inc. is active. Regardless, there are not any records for Cytel Group, LLC on file with the Secretary of State in California.
It appears that the Cytel Group, LLC is a non entity, and does not exist according to the public records with the Secretary of State, despite the fact that the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to approve an agreement with the Sheriff's Office and Cytel Group, LLC, regarding Urban Shield.
In an effort to track down some information to explain why an agreement was approved by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors between the Alameda County's Sheriff's Office and the Cytel Group, LLC, an entity that does not exist, I sent out an email to James Lester Baker of the Cytel Group. It was reported in the Oakland Tribune that James Baker claims to be the founder of the Cytel Group, and in the same article it also mentions that the Cytel Group is a woman owned company.
James Baker of the Cytel Group has not responded to my email request regarding questions about the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voting to approve an agreement with the Sheriff's Office and Cytel Group, LLC, regarding Urban Shield. However, a copy of the email to James Baker was also sent to Alameda County Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, the Oakland City Council members, and a number of other individuals.
In total, a copy of the email to James Baker of the Cytel Group went out to around 50 individuals or more, and out of the whole group only Alameda County Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern responded to my questions about the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voting to approve an agreement with the Sheriff's Office and Cytel Group, LLC, regarding Urban Shield. None of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors responed to my email requesting information.
It was my hope that someone involved in the deal from the Cytel Group could explain how this was possible, considering that Cytel Group, LLC was not on file in the public records, or listed as a corporate entity with the Secretary of State, in California.
On September 15, 2014, Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern responded to my email request, and said: Lynda, I see that you cc'd me on this email, so I will cc James Baker as well. I do not believe that you are accurate in many of the accusations in the email.  I think I should respond to you because Mr. Baker may be out of the country for an extended period.
It is my understanding that that Cytel Group, Inc. was registered in the Stat of California in August 2010, and still in good standing.  This group was established nearly eight months prior to the license agreement with Alameda County.  I communicate with Mr. Baker on a regulars basis and he has commented on the work he does to maintain all required documents up to date, and that the group does in fact pay their required taxes.
We have had many conversations about his group making the effort to expand the Urban Shield program to other major areas in the country.  He and his group have worked in Boston, Texas, and the District of Columbia.  In doing so, those areas also required that his group produce the required documents related to the business.
He also has provided me with a copy of his article of Incorporation stamped by the State of California.
Despite my surprise that Alameda County Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern responded to my request for information from James Baker, I was even further surprised that the Sheriff responded on behalf of James Baker even though this appears to be a conflict of interest. I wanted to know what James Baker had to say about the Cytell Group, LLC, regarding the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voting to approve an agreement with the Sheriff's Office and Cytel Group, LLC, involving Urban Shield.
As is, Alameda County Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern totally avoided my questions about the Cytell Group, LLC, and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors have not responded to my request for information regarding the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voting to approve an agreement with the Sheriff's Office and Cytel Group, LLC, involving Urban Shield.

Mayor Jean Quan Claims Urban Shield Is No Longer Welcome In Oakland -
In the wake of the nation being horrified by rampant police shootings/killings and the militarization of the police, including the recent militarized police actions in Ferguson, and the notorious police actions that have been taking place in New Mexico, Oakland, and cities all across the nation, in addition to the recent protests against the Urban Shield war games and convention in Oakland recently, on Friday, September 5, 2014, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan announced that Urban Shield will not be back in Oakland next year.
In an announcement, Urban Shield is no longer welcome in Oakland, according to Mayor Jean Quan. According to Mayor Quan, the City Administrator's Office will be asking their agent not to pursue another contract with Urban Shield to have their conference in Oakland.
The recent Urban Shield events in Oakland and the Bay Area took place from September 5, through September 8. It included the largest SWAT training exercise in the world, with 35 SWAT Teams competing. It was a series of militarized war games conducted in a continuous 48 hour exercise hosted by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, with the support of more than 200 local, state, federal, international and private sector partners. Additional support came from the Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), and Urban Shield was promoted by the Cytel Group.
During the past two years, as a companion to the militarized Urban Shield events, a convention of major arms dealers selling their militarized weapons to local law enforcement agencies for use in urban combat settings have been held twice downtown, at the Oakland Marriott Convention Center. The latest event held in recent days included an exposition of vendors displaying anything from 3-D printable drones, to combat knives, armored vehicles, sniper rifles, unmanned ground vehicles, anti-terrorism tee shirts, and other militarized items.
The massive Urban Shield military arms weapons convention in Oakland that was held to sell military weapons to local law enforcement agencies, is in addition to the Pentagon's 1033 program which also provides militarized weapons to law enforcement agencies. Militarized weapons including grenade launchers, mine resistant ambush protected vehicles (MRAPS), assault rifles, helicopters, bayonets, combat knives, night-vision equipment, night-vision sniper scopes, airplanes and other militarized items to be used by local law enforcement agencies, and SWAT Teams across the nation. These are militarized weapons that may be used and displayed by local law enforcement agencies and SWAT Teams when they are busy suppressing local populations that protest at City Hall, or when protesters are out in the streets protesting against trigger happy cops, or the weapons may be in use when our school children are being terrified while their grade school is placed under lock-down.
The Urban Shield event held in Oakland is a $1 million five-day event being paid for by the federal government and the military industrial sponsors of Urban Shield. Sponsors pay as much as $500 to $15,000 for a spot at the conference to highlight and demonstrate their militarized products.
A partial list of Urban Shield's sponsors include the Department of Homeland Security, 3M, CISCO, AirCover Integrated Solutions, Armored Mobility Inc., Benchmade Knive Company, Drakontas (Dragon Force C2), Elephant Hunt Clothing (guns & skulls), First Spear, Franklin Armory, International Armored Group, iRobot (unmanned ground vehicles), Mile High Shooting Accessories (snipers rifles), Motorola Solutions Inc., Patriot Ordance Factory Rifles, Raven Crest Tactical (knives), Revision Military, The Armored Group LLC, Voodoo Tactical, Winchester Ammunition, Adamson Police Products, and many other corporations including the Cytel Group, Inc., that specializes in bringing the Urban Shield Program to government regions throughout the U.S. and abroad.
In response to Urban Shield, hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets and blocked the streets of Oakland in recent days to show their opposition to the military demonstration exposition, police training exercises and the militarization of our nation's police forces that have been taking place. California Partnership which is a statewide coalition of groups advocating for policies and programs to bring an end to poverty, organized the protests against Urban Shield.

The Privatization Of Urban Shield -
It was back on July 31, 2007, that Urban shield was turned into a money making venture when the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to authorize the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to accept cash sponsorship funds from individuals and corporations to support the militarized training event Urban Shield (Agenda Item 48). The profiteers set up a cash fund that was authorized for the purpose of depositing donations and fees used to offset the costs associated with the militarized training event and war games. The success of the profit making venture resulted in additional militarized Urban Shield events being held and hosted by the Sheriff's Office each year since 2007 in Oakland, and the Bay Area. Additional militarized Urban Shield events are also being held annually in Austin, Texas, Boston, New Orleans and abroad, as a direct result of the actions by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.
After the militarized Urban Shield event was proven to be a money maker by using publicly owned assets in the Bay Area for its militarized war games and events, on February 24, 2009, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to authorize the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to enter into an agreement (Agenda Item 30) with BAE Systems, Inc. for the sole purpose of expanding the militarized Urban Shield events in other states across the nation, and abroad. As things turned out, on July 8, 2010 the expanded Urban Shield agreement with BAE Systems, Inc. was terminated by mutual consent because BAE Systems, Inc. was unable to meet the material obligations of the agreement.
Currently, Jerry DeMuro is the CEO of BAE Systems, Inc., formerly known as BAE Systems North America, which is a major subsidiary of the British defense and aerospace company BAE Systems plc, a global defense, security and aerospace company with sales of $14.4 billion during 2011.
After the expanded militarized Urban Shield agreement with BAE Systems, Inc. was terminated on July 8, 2010, on May 24, 2011, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office requested authorization from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to authorize Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern to enter into an agreement with Anne M. Baker, CEO, of the Cytel Group, LLC for the development of individual disaster training excercises and programs similar to Alameda County's "Urban Shield".
The Sheriff's Office asked the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to authorize the Sheriff to receive a license fee of $10,000 from the Cytel Group, LLC as payment for the first year of their limited use of the Urban Shield marks and materials, including for each additional year a fee of one percent (1%) of the gross revenues being collected by licensee or affiliates for each and every individual excercise and/or program conducted by the Cytel Group.
On June 7, 2011 the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to approve the agreement with the Cytel Group, LLC and authorized the Sheriff to deposit all fees collected from the agreement with the Cytel Group, LLC into an approved "Urban Shield" cash fund (Fund 84624, Org 900000, Account 499990) to help offset the costs associated with future militarized Urban Shield events and exercises.
A search of the public records with the Secretary of State in California, reveals that there is no such entity called Cytel Group, LLC filed on record with the Secretary of State presently, or at the time of June 7, 2011, when the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to approve an agreement with the Sheriff's Office and Cytel Group, LLC regarding Urban Shield.
According to the California Franchise Tax Board, a California limited liability company (LLC) is formed by filing "articles of organization" with the California Secretary of State, prior to conducting business in California.

"Cytel, LLC / Urban Shield" scandal (2014)

James Lester Baker and his wife Anne Marie Baker have been doing business in the State of California using the name "Cytel Group, LLC", a California limited liability company, involving Urban Shield, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, and Bay Area UASI, the latter being , administered at the federal level by DHS. However, according to public records with the Secretary of State in California, the "Cytel Group, LLC" does not exist in the State of California. 
** "The Privatization of Urban Shield by the Cytel Group" [link]
** Alameda County Sheriff's business relationship with Urban Shield and Cytel Group [link]
** "Cytel Group, LLC / Urban Shield", in contract with Alameda County Sheriff's Office, is actually an non-entity, according to state records [link].
** "Threat of lawsuit from James Baker of Cytel Group / Urban Shield" (2014-09-22) [IndyBay.org link] [archive.org]
** Reply From Sheriff's Office Regarding Cytel Group, LLC / Urban Shield (2014-09-18) [link]
** Response from James L. Baker, RE: "Cytel Group, LLC" (2014-09-23) [link]

"Cytel, LLC / Urban Shield" is an ideologically-driven, "anti-liberal", profit-making entity hostile to human rights, democracy, and even the People at-large.
** Alameda Sheriff censors the media, ejecting journalist for taking photos of Urban Shield convention vendors [link]
** To alleviate public concern for militerized training for civilian law enforcement, Oakland Mayor draws Alameda Co. Sheriff scorn by forbidding Urban Shield from setting up shop in Oakland [link]

"Cytel Group, LLC / Urban Shield", in contract with Alameda County Sheriff's Office, is actually an non-entity, according to state records

"ALERT: Problems with Urban Shield contract with Cytel Group / Sheriff's Office?"
adapted from 2014-09-13 message by investigative journalist Lynda Carson:
I have recently looked into the contracts with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office / Urban Shield / Cytel Group, and I am alarmed about something that I have discovered regarding their contracts.
Here's the problem. One contract with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office has been awarded to Cytel Group, LLC for the rights to promote Urban Shield events etc..., and the Sheriff's Office and Cytel Group, LLC share the proceeds from the money that comes in from Urban Shield events in Oakland, Austin Texas, New Orleans, Boston, and possible other locations abroad, through the years.
The problem with this contract that confuses me is that I can not find a corporation in California that is listed with the Secretary of State that is named Cytel Group, LLC.
I found a company that is called Cytel Group, LP and it's status is cancelled. I understand what this means.
I also found a corporation listed as Cytel Group, Inc, that has two other contracts with the Sheriff's Office. Alright, I got it....
But like I stated above, it appears that a corporation named Cytel Group, LLC does not exist that has entered into an agreement with the Sheriff's Office to control the rights to the Urban Shiled brand name, mark, events, programs, etc... I don't get it, and feel like this is not a legally binding contract. Perhaps I am wrong and just fail to understand corporate law. I am not an attorney.
Click on link below for corporations listed with the Secretary of State, in California to verify what I have discovered. Business Search / California [http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/].
My question is this. If the Alameda County Sheriff's Office made an agreement with a corporation named the Cytel Group, LLC which apparently does not exist in California as a corporation, is it a legal contract?
The Cytel Group, LLC may possibly exist in another state, but I am not aware of that if it is the case.
To the best of my knowledge the Cytell Group, LLC does not exist, and if that is so, why or how can there be a legally binding contract between the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and Cytel Group, LLC, for the Urban Shield events being held in Oakland, and elsewhere?
Or, my other question; Are the Urban Shield events being held in Oakland, and across the nation legal, if the corporation hired to conduct the Urban Shield events does not legally exist in California, or elsewhere?
See info further below.
If someone has an answer, please feel free to send me an email. This seems very perplexing to me and I do not understand how this could be legal.
At this point, your answer would be much appreciated. I am just trying to figure out what the Sheriff's Office is up to regarding Urban Shield, which has been all over the news lately. Especially, if it does not have a legally binding contract for Urban Shield events that have been held at the Oakland Marriott, etc...
If Urban Shield is not legally allowed to operate because the Cytel Group, LLC does not actually exist, can the operation be shut down, and the Sheriff's Office / Cytel Group be sued for fraud or some other reason, such as having an unlawful contract to have Urban Shield events?
Just very curious. This is really bothering me.
For those of you in the media, this may be a breaking story of it turns out that Urban Shield is an unlawful operation because the Alameda County Sheriff's Office may have entered into an agreement with a corporation called the Cytel Group, LLC, that does not appear to exist.
I believe that an investigation is warranted in regards to looking into this matter.
Again, though, my real concern is to figure out if the original contract with the Sheriff's Office is legal with Cytel Group, LLC which does not seem to exist.
According to public records with the Secretary of State in California, there is a corporation called the Cytel Group, Inc. in California, but there is not a company called Cytel Group, LLC in California.
Cytel Group, Inc. should not be confused with Cytel Group, LLC which would be a different entity if it actually existed.
See information below from the Secretary of State...

>>>>>>>>
Cytel Group LP
Entity Number - 199730700012
Date Filed - 10/30/1997
Status - CANCELED
CYTEL GROUP L.P.
Agent For Service Of Process - BRIAN MCDONALD
Entity Name: CYTEL GROUP L.P.
Entity Number: 199730700012
Date Filed: 10/30/1997
Status: CANCELED
Jurisdiction: CALIFORNIA
Entity Address: 4001 S. DECATUR #546
Entity City, State, Zip: LAS VEGAS NV 89103
Agent for Service of Process: BRIAN MCDONALD
Agent Address - 2828 COCHRANST., #235
Agent City, State, Zip: SIMI VALLEY CA 93065

>>>>>>>>
Cytel Group, Inc.
Click on the link below for information about two other Cytel Group contracts with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department, that are with Cytel Group, Inc. which does exist. But this corporation is founded by James Lester Baker who claims that his wife is owner of the company, which appears to be pure B.S.
* Original link [http://www.acgov.org/board/bos_calendar/documents/DocsAgendaReg_02_28_12/PUBLIC%20PROTECTION/Regular%20Calendar/Sheriff_Cytel_Group.pdf]
* Backed up at (archive.org)

>>>>>
A) Click on link below for the contract to privatize Urban Shield in which the contract is being granted to the Cytel Group, LLC, a California limited liability company. The problem with this contract is that the Cytel Group, LLC does not exist in the state of California.
According to the public records of Secretary of State in California, the Cytel Group, LLC does not exist.
* Original link [http://www.acgov.org/board/bos_calendar/documents/DocsAgendaReg_06_07_11/PUBLIC%20PROTECTION/Regular%20Calendar/Sheriff_Cytel_Group_LLC.pdf]
* Backed up at (archive.org)

LICENSE AGREEMENT
THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT is entered into this 1st day of May, 2011, between the County of Alameda, State of California, a legal division of the State of California, through the Alameda County Sheriff's Office ("Licensor"), and Cytel Group, LLC., a California limited liabiIity corporation ("Licensee").

>>>>>>>>
B) According to public records, on June 7, 2011 the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to approve an agreement between the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the Cytel Group, LLC. The problem with this contract agreement between the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the Cytel Group, LLC that was approved by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors is that the Cytel Group, LLC does not exit and is not a legal company in the State of California.

Alameda County Board of Supervisors / Urban Shield contract June 7, 2011
(MINUTES - BOARD OF SUPERVISORS’ MEETING, TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2011 - PAGE 12)
[http://alamedacounty.granicus.com/DocumentViewer.php?file=alamedacounty_3c7f6ccace53146bac2150e9f3c3981b.pdf]

SUMMARY ACTION MINUTES
30. Sheriff – Approve the following recommendations:
A. Authorize the Sheriff to enter into an agreement with Cytel Group, LLC (Principal: Anne M. Baker; Location: Castro Valley) for the development of individual disaster training exercises and/or programs similar to Alameda County’s “Urban Shield”;
B. Authorize the Sheriff to receive a license fee of $10,000 from Cytel Group, LLC as payment for the first year of their use of the Urban Shield marks and materials and for each additional year a fee of one percent of the gross revenues collected by licensee or its affiliates for every individual exercise and/or program conducted by the Cytel Group, LLC; and
C. Authorize the Sheriff to deposit all fees collected from this agreement into the approved “Urban Shield” cash fund for the purpose of offsetting costs associated with future Urban Shield exercises

– CAO Recommends: Approve
Attachment 30 - 51234 Approved as recommended FILE 27346

>>>>>
C) Bay Area UASI Guidance Manual - 2014
(031314 Agenda Item 9 Appendix C RTEP Guidance Manual 2014)
* Original link [http://www.bayareauasi.org/sites/default/files/resources/031314%20Agenda%20Item%209%20Appendix%20C%20RTEP%20Guidance%20Manual%202014.pdf]
* Backed up at (archive.org)

Once again James L. Baker is using the Cytel Group, LLC to make a bid for use of it's services with the Bay Area UASI. The problem with this, is that the Cytel Group, LLC does not exist in the State of California, as a California limited liability company.

>>>>>>>>
[begin message]
To: James Baker, Cytel Group, Inc., Cytel Group, LLC, Urban Shield.
From: Lynda Carson
tenantsrule@yahoo.com
Sunday September 14, 2014

Dear Mr. Baker
I am writing to ask for a reply from you regarding Cytel Group, LLC / Urban Shield.
According to the office / records of the Secretary of State in California, Cytel Group, LLC is not an entity and does not exist.
However the public records reveal that the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to approve an agreement between the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and Cytel Group, LLC, in regards to the rights for control of Urban Shield, Urban Shield events, programs, mark, etc....
Considering that Cytel Group, LLC does not exist according to the Secretary of State in California, could you send me an email to explain to me how this is possible for the Cytel Group, LLC to have a contract with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office regarding control and promotion of Urban Shield, its events, programs, mark, etc...?
I also noticed that you and the Cytel Group, LLC/Urban Shield have been making some bids for some contracts/events with UASI in the Bay Area.
Additionally, I also read in an Oakland Tribune article that you stated that you founded the Cytel Group as a way to promote Urban Shield after spending 22 years with the Sheriff's Office. However, in the same article it mentions that the Cytel Group is a woman owned corporation.
Here is what I know. According to the records with the Secretary of State, Cytel Group, Inc. is listed as an active corporation in California, and that the status of Cytel Group, LP is cancelled.
However, Cytel Group, LLC is a non entity in California, even though the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to approve an agreement that was made with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the Cytel Group, LLC.
I am curious about this considering that the Cytel Group, LLC does not exist.
Thanks in advance, and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Sincerely,
Lynda Carson
Please feel free to send your reply to Lynda Carson at tenantsrule@) yahoo.com
[end message]

>>>>>>
Differences Between a Corporation and a Limited Liability Company (LLC) -
[http://www.legalzoom.com/incorporation-guide/corporation-llc-comparison.html]:
A limited liability company is a type of business entity that combines the personal liability protection of a corporation with the tax benefits and simplicity of a partnership. The following section details the main advantages and disadvantages of corporations versus LLCs.

Advantages of a corporation versus a limited liability company (LLC): 
* Corporation profits are not subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes -

Like a sole proprietorship or a partnership, the salaries and profits of an LLC are subject to self-employment taxes, currently equal to a combined 13.3%, unless the LLC opts to be taxed as a corporation. With a corporation, only salaries (not profits) are subject to such taxes. 

Corporations garner greater acceptance 

Since limited liability companies are still relatively new, not everyone is familiar with them. Although they continue to grow in popularity, still, in some cases, banks or vendors may be reluctant to extend credit to limited liability companies. Some states restrict the type of business an LLC may conduct. 


* Corporations can offer a greater variety of fringe benefits with fewer taxes 

-
Corporations offer a greater variety of fringe benefit plans than any other business entity. Various retirement, stock option and employee stock purchase plans are available only for corporations. Plus, sole proprietors, partners and employees owning more than 2% of an S corporation must pay taxes on fringe benefits (such as group-term life insurance, medical reimbursement plans, medical insurance premiums and parking). Shareholder-employees of a C corporation do not have to pay taxes on these benefits. 


* Corporations lower taxes through income shifting -


Although C corporations are subject to double taxation, a C corporation can use income shifting to take advantage of lower income tax brackets. 


To illustrate, let's take an example of a company that earns $100,000. With a sole proprietorship, a business owner who is married and filing jointly would be in the 25% income tax bracket. With a corporation, assume that the business owner takes $50,000 in salary and leaves $50,000 in the corporation as corporate profit. The federal corporate tax rate is 15% on the first $50,000. Furthermore, the business owner is now in the 15% tax bracket for his or her personal income tax. This can reduce your overall tax liability by over $8,000. 


Advantages of a limited liability company (LLC) versus a corporation:
* LLCs have fewer corporate formalities 

-
Corporations must hold regular meetings of the board of directors and shareholders and keep written corporate minutes. Members and managers of an LLC need not hold regular meetings, which reduces complications and paperwork. 

LLCs have no ownership restrictions 


S corporations cannot have more than 100 shareholders. Each shareholder must be an individual who is a U.S. resident or citizen. Also, it is difficult to place shares of an S corporation into a living trust. These restrictions do not apply to LLCs (or C corporations). 


* LLCs have the ability to deduct operating losses 

-
Members who are active participants in an LLC's business can deduct operating losses against their regular income to the extent permitted by law. While S corporation shareholders can also deduct operating losses, C corporation shareholders cannot. 


* LLCs have tax flexibility 

-
By default, LLCs are treated as a "pass-through" entity for tax purposes, much like a sole proprietorship or partnership. However, an LLC can also elect to be treated like a corporation for tax purposes, whether as a C corporation or an S corporation. 



The Federal Intelligence Community (IC)

This selection of the 17 public-sector security agencies publicly acknowledged as members of the Intelligence Community omits the individual, municipal, county, regional, state, private and transnational security agencies employed, harnessed and/or deputized by each of the 17 individual member agencies.


Member Agencies [archive.org link]:
Our Strength Lies in Who We Are -
Seventeen separate organizations unite to form the Intelligence Community (IC). Each member agency operates under its own directive, yet they are all dedicated to the defense of our country and national security. You can explore intelligence career opportunities with any of our members by visiting their websites, which are listed at the end of each description.

Central Intelligence Agency -
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior U.S. policymakers. The CIA director is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The director manages the operations, personnel and budget of the CIA and acts as the National Human (HUMINT) Source Intelligence manager. The CIA is separated into four basic components: the National Clandestine Service, the Directorate of Intelligence, the Directorate of Science & Technology, and the Directorate of Support. They carry out "the intelligence cycle", the process of collecting, analyzing, and disseminating intelligence information to top U.S. government officials.
Visit: www.cia.gov.

Department of Energy -
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence is responsible for the intelligence and counterintelligence activities throughout the DOE complex, including nearly 30 intelligence and counterintelligence offices nationwide. The mission is to protect, enable, and represent the vast scientific brain trust resident in DOE's laboratories and plants. The office protects vital national security information and technologies, representing intellectual property of incalculable value, and provides unmatched scientific and technical expertise to the U.S. government to respond to foreign intelligence, terrorist and cyber threats, to solve the hardest problems associated with U.S. energy security, and to address a wide range of other national security issues.
Visit: www.energy.gov.

Department of Homeland Security -
The Office of Intelligence and Analysis is responsible for using information and intelligence from multiple sources to identify and assess current and future threats to the U.S. DHS Intelligence focuses on four strategic areas: Promote understanding of threats through intelligence analysis; Collect information and intelligence pertinent to homeland security; Share information necessary for action; and Manage intelligence for the homeland security enterprise. The Under Secretary for I&A also serves as DHS' chief intelligence officer and is responsible to both the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence.
Visit: www.dhs.gov.

Department of State -
The Bureau of Intelligence and Research provides the Secretary of State with timely, objective analysis of global developments as well as real-time insights from all-source intelligence. It serves as the focal point within the Department of State for all policy issues and activities involving the Intelligence Community. The INR Assistant Secretary reports directly to the Secretary of State and serves as the Secretary's principal adviser on all intelligence matters. INR's expert, independent foreign affairs analysts draw on all-source intelligence, diplomatic reporting, INR's public opinion polling, and interaction with U.S. and foreign scholars. Their strong regional and functional backgrounds allow them to respond rapidly to changing policy priorities and to provide early warning and in-depth analysis of events and trends that affect U.S. foreign policy and national security interests.
Visit: www.state.gov.

Department of Treasury -
The Office of Intelligence and Analysis was established by the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal 2004. OIA is responsible for the receipt, analysis, collation, and dissemination of foreign intelligence and foreign counterintelligence information related to the operation and responsibilities of the Department of the Treasury. OIA is a component of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI). TFI marshals the Department's intelligence and enforcement functions with the twin aims of safeguarding the financial system against illicit use and combating rogue nations, terrorist facilitators, weapons of mass destruction proliferators, money launderers, drug kingpins, and other national security threats.
Visit: www.treasury.gov.

Defense Intelligence Agency -
The Defense Intelligence Agency is a Department of Defense combat support agency. With more than 16,500 military and civilian employees worldwide, DIA is a major producer and manager of foreign military intelligence and provides military intelligence to warfighters, defense policymakers and force planners, in the DOD and the Intelligence Community, in support of U.S. military planning and operations and weapon systems acquisition. The DIA director serves as principal adviser to the secretary of defense and to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on matters of military intelligence. The director also chairs the Military Intelligence Board, which coordinates activities of the defense intelligence community.
Visit: www.dia.mil.

Drug Enforcement Administration -
The Drug Enforcement Administration is responsible for enforcing the controlled substance laws and regulations of the United States. DEA's Office of National Security Intelligence (ONSI) became a member of the IC in 2006. ONSI facilitates full and appropriate intelligence coordination and information sharing with other members of the U.S. Intelligence Community and homeland security elements. Its goal is to enhance the U.S.'s efforts to reduce the supply of drugs, protect national security, and combat global terrorism. DEA has 21 field divisions in the U.S. and more than 80 offices in more than 60 countries worldwide.
Visit: www.dea.gov.

Federal Bureau of Investigation -
The FBI, as an intelligence and law enforcement agency, is responsible for understanding threats to our national security and penetrating national and transnational networks that have a desire and capability to harm the U.S. The National Security Branch was established in response to a presidential directive and Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission recommendation to establish a National Security Service that combines the missions, capabilities, and resources of the FBI's counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and intelligence elements under the leadership of a senior FBI official. In July 2006, the NSB created the WMD Directorate to integrate components previously distributed throughout the FBI. The NSB also includes the Terrorist Screening Center, which provides crucial, actionable intelligence to state and local law enforcement, and the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, an interagency body that collects intelligence from key terror suspects to prevent attacks against the U.S. and its allies.
Visit: www.fbijobs.gov.

National Geospatial Intelligence Agency -
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency provides timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security objectives. Information collected and processed by NGA is tailored for customer-specific solutions. By giving customers ready access to geospatial intelligence, NGA provides support to civilian and military leaders and contributes to the state of readiness of U.S. military forces. NGA also contributes to humanitarian efforts such as tracking floods and fires, and in peacekeeping. NGA is a Department of Defense Combat Support Agency. Headquartered in Springfield, Va., NGA operates major facilities in the St. Louis, Mo. and Washington, D.C. areas. The agency also fields support teams worldwide.
Visit: www.nga.mil.

National Reconnaissance Office -
The National Reconnaissance Office designs, builds and operates the nation's reconnaissance satellites. NRO products, provided to an expanding list of customers like the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense, can warn of potential trouble spots around the world, help plan military operations, and monitor the environment. As part of the Intelligence Community, the NRO plays a primary role in achieving information superiority for the U.S. Government and Armed Forces. A DOD agency, the NRO is staffed by DOD and CIA personnel. It is funded through the National Reconnaissance Program, part of the National Foreign Intelligence Program.
Visit: www.nro.gov.

National Security Agency/Central Security Service -
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is the nation's cryptologic organization that coordinates, directs, and performs highly specialized activities to protect U.S. information systems and to produce foreign signals intelligence information. A high-technology organization, NSA is at the forefront of communications and information technology. NSA is also one of the most important centers of foreign language analysis and research within the U.S. government and is said to be the largest employer of mathematicians in the United States and perhaps the world. Founded in 1952, NSA is part of the Department of Defense and a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The Agency supports military customers, national policymakers, and the counterterrorism and counterintelligence communities, as well as key international allies. Its workforce represents an unusual combination of specialties: analysts, engineers, physicists, mathematicians, linguists, computer scientists, researchers, as well as customer relations specialists, security officers, data flow experts, managers, administrative officers and clerical assistants.
Visit: www.nsa.gov.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence -
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was established in 2004 to manage the extensive efforts of the IC. The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) heads up the ODNI and serves as the principal advisor to the President, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council. The DNI also coordinates intelligence matters related to the Department of Defense with the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. The ODNI's focus is to promote a more integrated and collaborative IC.
Visit: www.odni.gov.

Air Force Intelligence -
The Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (AF ISR) is the Air Force's IC component that provides policy, oversight, and guidance to all Air Force intelligence organizations. The Air Force ISR Agency organizes, trains, equips, and presents forces to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance for combatant commanders and the nation. Air Force ISR is also responsible for implementing and overseeing policy and guidance, and expanding AF ISR capabilities to meet current and future challenges. The AF ISR Agency commander serves as the Service Cryptologic Element under NSA, and oversees Air Force Signals Intelligence activities. The AF ISR Agency has more than 19,000 military and civilian members serving at 72 locations worldwide and commands several subcomponents.
Visit: www.af.mil.

Army Intelligence -
U.S. Army Intelligence (G-2) is responsible for policy formulation, planning, programming, budgeting, management, staff supervision, evaluation, and oversight for intelligence activities for the Department of the Army. The G-2 is responsible for the overall coordination of the five major military intelligence (MI) disciplines within the Army: Imagery Intelligence, Signals Intelligence, Human Intelligence, Measurement and Signature Intelligence, and Counterintelligence and Security Countermeasures.
Visit: www.army.mil.

Coast Guard Intelligence -
The Coast Guard became a member of the IC in 2001. The Coast Guard's broad responsibilities include protecting citizens from the sea (maritime safety), protecting America from threats delivered by the sea (maritime security), and protecting the sea itself (maritime stewardship). The Coast Guard's persistent presence in the maritime domain, due to its diverse mission sets and broad legal authorities, allows it to fill a unique niche within the Intelligence Community. Because of its unique access, emphasis, and expertise in the maritime domain Coast Guard Intelligence can collect and report intelligence that not only supports Coast Guard missions, but also supports national objectives. Coast Guard Intelligence strives to create decision advantage to advance U.S. interests by providing timely, actionable, and relevant intelligence to shape Coast Guard operations, planning, and decision-making, and to support national and homeland security intelligence requirements.
Visit: www.uscg.mil.

U.S. Marine Corps, Marine Corps Intelligence Activity -
The U.S. Marine Corps produces tactical and operational intelligence for battlefield support. Its IC component is comprised of all intelligence professionals in the Marine Corps responsible for policy, plans, programming, budgets, and staff supervision of intelligence and supporting activities within the USMC. The department supports the commandant of the Marine Corps in his role as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, represents the service in Joint and Intelligence Community matters, and exercises supervision over the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity. The department has service staff responsibility for geospatial intelligence, advanced geospatial intelligence, signals intelligence, human intelligence, counterintelligence, and ensures there is a single synchronized strategy for the development of the Marine Corps Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Enterprise. The Marine Corps' director of intelligence is the commandant's principal intelligence staff officer and the functional manager for intelligence, counterintelligence, and cryptologic matters.
Visit: www.hqmc.marines.mil/intelligence.

U.S. Navy, Naval Intelligence -
The Office of Naval Intelligence is the leading provider of maritime intelligence to the U.S. Navy and joint warfighting forces, as well national decision makers and other consumers in the Intelligence Community. Established in 1882, ONI specializes in the analysis, production and dissemination of vital, timely and accurate scientific, technical, geopolitical and military intelligence information to key consumers worldwide. ONI employs more than 3,000 military, civilian, mobilized reservists and contractor personnel worldwide, including analysts, scientists, engineers, specialists and technicians. While ONI is the largest Naval Intelligence organization with the largest concentration of Naval Intelligence civilians, most of Naval Intelligence is comprises active duty military personnel, serving throughout the world.
Visit: www.oni.navy.mil.

"The Privatization of Urban Shield by the Cytel Group"

"Cytel, LLC / Urban Shield" scandal (2014) [link]

"The Privatization of Urban Shield by the Cytel Group", 2014-09-12 by Lynda Carson, posted to "Indybay.org" newswire [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/09/12/18761515.php]:
Oakland - The Alameda County Board of Supervisors are responsible for the privatization of the militarized Urban Shield events that have been fully privatized into a money making for profit venture despised by protesters from the local community, and booted out of Oakland by Mayor Jean Quan.
The recent Urban Shield events in Oakland which included the largest SWAT training exercise in the world, are a series of militarized war games conducted in a continuous 48 hour exercise hosted by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, with the support of more than 200 local, state, federal, international and private sector partners. Additional support came from the Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), and Urban Shield was promoted by the Cytel Group.
During the past two years, as a companion to the militarized Urban Shield events, a five-day convention of major arms dealers selling their militarized weapons to local law enforcement agencies for use in urban combat settings have been held twice downtown, at the Oakland Marriott Convention Center. The latest event held in recent days included an exposition of vendors displaying anything from 3-D printable drones, to combat knives, armored vehicles, sniper rifles, unmanned ground vehicles, anti-terrorism tee shirts, and other militarized items.
The massive Urban Shield military arms weapons convention in Oakland being held to sell military weapons to local law enforcement agencies, is in addition to the Pentagon's 1033 program which also provides militarized weapons to law enforcement agencies. Militarized weapons including grenade launchers, mine resistant ambush protected vehicles (MRAPS), assault rifles, helicopters, bayonets, combat knives, night-vision equipment, night-vision sniper scopes, airplanes and other militarized items to be used by local law enforcement agencies, and SWAT Teams across the nation. These are militarized weapons that may be used and displayed by local law enforcement agencies and SWAT Teams when they are busy suppressing local populations that protest at City Hall, or when protesters are out in the streets protesting against trigger happy cops, or the weapons may be in use when our school children are being terrified while their grade school is placed under lock-down.
The Urban Shield Conference held in Oakland is a $1 million five-day event being paid for by the federal government and the military industrial sponsors of Urban Shield. Sponsors pay as much as $500 to $15,000 for a spot at the conference to highlight and demonstrate their militarized products.
A partial list of Urban Shield's sponsors include the Department of Homeland Security, 3M, CISCO, AirCover Integrated Solutions, Armored Mobility Inc., Benchmade Knive Company, Drakontas (Dragon Force C2), Elephant Hunt Clothing (guns & skulls), First Spear, Franklin Armory, International Armored Group, iRobot (unmanned ground vehicles), Mile High Shooting Accessories (snipers rifles), Motorola Solutions Inc., Patriot Ordance Factory Rifles, Raven Crest Tactical (knives), Revision Military, The Armored Group LLC, Voodoo Tactical, Winchester Ammunition, Adamson Police Products, and many other corporations including the Cytel Group, Inc., that specializes in bringing the Urban Shield Program to government regions throughout the U.S. and abroad.
In response to Urban Shield, hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets and blocked the streets of Oakland in recent days to show their opposition to the military demonstration exposition, police training exercises and the militarization of our nation's police forces that have been taking place. California Partnership which is a statewide coalition of groups advocating for policies and programs to bring an end to poverty, organized the protests against Urban Shield.
It was back on July 31, 2007, that Urban shield was turned into a money making venture when the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to authorize the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to accept cash sponsorship funds from individuals and corporations to support the militarized training event Urban Shield (Agenda Item 48). The profiteers set up a cash fund that was authorized for the purpose of depositing donations and fees used to offset the costs associated with the militarized training event and war games. The success of the profit making venture resulted in additional militarized Urban Shield events being held and hosted by the Sheriff's Office each year since 2007 in Oakland, and the Bay Area. Additional militarized Urban Shield events are also being held annually in Austin, Texas, Boston, New Orleans and abroad, as a direct result of the actions by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.
After the militarized Urban Shield event was proven to be a money maker by using publicly owned assets in the Bay Area for its militarized war games and events, on February 24, 2009, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to authorize the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to enter into an agreement (Agenda Item 30) with BAE Systems, Inc. for the sole purpose of expanding the militarized Urban Shield events in other states across the nation, and abroad. As things turned out, on July 8, 2010 the expanded Urban Shield agreement with BAE Systems, Inc. was terminated by mutual consent because BAE Systems, Inc. was unable to meet the material obligations of the agreement.
Currently, Jerry DeMuro is the CEO of BAE Systems, Inc., formerly known as BAE Systems North America, which is a major subsidiary of the British defense and aerospace company BAE Systems plc, a global defense, security and aerospace company with sales of $14.4 billion during 2011.
After the expanded militarized Urban Shield agreement with BAE Systems, Inc. was terminated on July 8, 2010, on May 24, 2011, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office requested authorization from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to authorize Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern to enter into an agreement with Anne M. Baker, CEO, of the Cytel Group, LLC for the development of individual disaster training excercises and programs similar to Alameda County's "Urban Shield".
The Sheriff's Office asked the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to authorize the Sheriff to receive a license fee of $10,000 from the Cytel Group as payment for the first year of their limited use of the Urban Shield marks and materials, including for each additional year a fee of one percent (1%) of the gross revenues being collected by licensee or affiliates for each and every individual excercise and/or program conducted by the Cytel Group.
On June 7, 2011 the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to approve the agreement with the Cytel Group, and authorized the Sheriff to deposit all fees collected from the agreement with the Cytel Group into an approved "Urban Shield" cash fund (Fund 84624, Org 900000, Account 499990) to help offset the costs associated with future militarized Urban Shield events and exercises.
Indeed, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors agreed to the privatization of Urban Shield by voting on an agreement in which the Cytel Group was allowed to pay $10,000 to the Sheriff's Office during the first year of the agreement, including a fee of 1% of the gross revenues collected by the Cytel Group for every individual program conducted in a militarized Urban Shield event.
The Cytel Group is not allowed to develop, market or sell Urban Shield electronic games or Urban Shield entertainment products, even though the 25 SWAT Teams competing in the war games lately may have found the war games to be very entertaining.
The Sheriff's Office also has the right to terminate the Urban Shield contract and the licenses granted in the event that the Cytel Group or its affiliates are in violation of the agreement, and if the contract/agreement is terminated, all rights shall revert back to the Sheriff's Office.

The Cytel Group, Inc. and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office Connections  -
According to public records with the Secretary of State in California, the incorporation papers for Cytel Group Inc., were filed on August 6, 2010. James Lester Baker who resides at 912 Redhaven Street, in Brentwood, California, is listed as the Agent For Service Of Process for the corporation, with the Secretary of State in California. The entity number for Cytel Group Inc. is C3311002. Anne Marie Baker, the wife of James Lester Baker, is part owner of the corporation and is listed as the "Secretary" of the corporation by Linked In.
A contract document from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office involving the Cytel Group in a business transaction worth more than a half-million dollars to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise, lists Anne Marie Baker as the President of the Cytel Group, even though "Linked In" has her listed as the "Secretary" of the corporation.
What is also intriguing about the contract situation with the Cytel Group and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office that involved two contracts worth $275,000 each to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise to the Sheriff's Office, is that James Lester Baker and his wife Anne Marie Baker both used to work for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.
Ayman Masri of the country of Jordan also used to be a Deputy Sheriff in Alameda County, and he also worked for the Cytel Group before going back to Jordan and becoming the Program Manager at the Guardian Shield Program at the King Abdullah ll Special Operations Training Center.
As an employee of the Sheriff's Office, James Baker used to be the assistant sheriff at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. His wife used to be a sheriff's technician at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, according to Linked In. This was before they were awarded two contracts worth $275,000 each, to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. Originally, each contract was worth $250,000, but at a later date the contracts were changed to add an additional $25,000 to each contract beginning November 1, 2011 through March 1, 2013.
What is even more intriguing is that the Oakland Tribune reported on this situation in a 4/27/2012 article about the Cytel Group, in which James Baker claimed that he is the president of the Cytel Group, and that his wife Anne Marie Baker is the chief operating officer. Additionally the article mentions that James Baker sent an email to the Tribune in which he claims that he retired after 22 years with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to found the Cytel Group as a way to promote the anti-terrorism Urban Shield program in the U.S. and abroad.
Oddly enough, during 2012 the Tribune also reported that the Cytel Group payed the full cost of $13,000 for air-fare for 11 members of the S.W.A.T. Team from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to make a trip to Amman, Jordan, to participate in a U.S. funded Warrior Competition that included elite counterterrorism and special operation units from other countries. It appears that there may have been a conflict of interest in this transaction between the Cytel Group and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office for this venture, when the Cytel Group paid the air-fare for the S.W.A.T. Team from the Sheriff's Office.
What gets even more interesting about the relationship between the Cytel Group and the Sheriff's Office is that despite the fact that James Baker claims that he founded the Cytel Group as a way to promote the anti-terrorism Urban Shield program in the U.S. and abroad, and claims to be the president of the corporation, in the Tribune article they report that the Sheriff's Office stated in a report to county supervisors that the Cytel Group (a consultant group) is owned by a woman, namely Anne Marie Baker, the wife of James Baker. A woman owned business with two $275,000 contracts with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise.
Regardless that James Baker claims to be the founder and the president of the Cytel Group, in a February 28, 2012 contract document from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office regarding contracts #7095 and #7096, in the very first paragraph on page one of the document it clearly mentions that Anne Marie Baker is the president of the Cytel Group, not her husband James Baker. In part it appears that the contract may have been awarded because it was a woman owned company, despite the fact that James Baker claims that he founded the Cytel Group in the Tribune article of 4/27/2012.
Its nothing new for people to make a bundle of money from getting involved in the so-called war on terror, and in addition to Urban Shield there are more than 1,200 government organizations and more than 1,900 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence, with around 854,000 people that have top-secret security clearance in America, according to The Washington Post.
Additionally, according to whistle-blower Edward Snowden, he leaked the information revealing that the federal government spent as much as $52.6 billion in it's "black budget" during fiscal year 2013.
In the wake of the nation being horrified by rampant police shootings/killings and the militarization of the police, including the recent militarized police actions in Ferguson, and the notorious police actions that have been taking place in New Mexico, Oakland, and cities all across the nation, in addition to the recent protests against the Urban Shield war games and convention in Oakland recently, on Friday, September 5, 2014, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan announced that Urban Shield will not be back in Oakland next year.
In an announcement, Urban Shield is no longer welcome in Oakland, according to Mayor Jean Quan. According to Mayor Quan, the City Administrator's Office will be asking their agent not to pursue another contract with Urban Shield to have their conference in Oakland.

Click on link below for the contract to privatize Urban Shield...
* Original link [http://www.acgov.org/board/bos_calendar/documents/DocsAgendaReg_06_07_11/PUBLIC%20PROTECTION/Regular%20Calendar/Sheriff_Cytel_Group_LLC.pdf]
* Backed up at (archive.org)

Click on the link below for information about two other Cytel Group contracts with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department...
* Original link [http://www.acgov.org/board/bos_calendar/documents/DocsAgendaReg_02_28_12/PUBLIC%20PROTECTION/Regular%20Calendar/Sheriff_Cytel_Group.pdf]
* Backed up at (archive.org)

Click on the link below for Anne Marie Baker from Linked In...
* Original link [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/anne-baker/69/737/48a]
* Backed up at (archive.today)

Click on link below for James Lester Baker's profile on LinkedIn...
* Original link [http://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslesterbaker]‎
* Click on or download the images showing James Lester Baker's profile on LinkedIn as of Sept. 14th, 2014:



Cytel Group in Jordan
* Original link [http://www.cytelgroup.com/jordan-cytel]
* Backed up at (archive.org) (archive.today)

DOD / excess property program - 1033 program
* Original link [http://www.dps.mo.gov/dir/programs/cjle/dod.asp]
* Backed up at (archive.org) (archive.today) 

Alameda County Sheriff's business relationship with Urban Shield and Cytel Group

"Urban Shield and Cytel Group Connections to Sheriff's Office"
2014-09-08 by Lynda Carson [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/09/08/18761306.php]:
Click on the link for the Cytel Group contracts with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department
* Original link [http://www.acgov.org/board/bos_calendar/documents/DocsAgendaReg_02_28_12/PUBLIC%20PROTECTION/Regular%20Calendar/Sheriff_Cytel_Group.pdf]
* Backed up at (archive.org)
---
Oakland - As Urban Shield is wrapping up its war games in Oakland and the Bay Area with their militarized intimidation tactics, training exercises and military hardware sale convention for agencies seeking military weapons to suppress their local populations with S.W.A.T. Teams, neighborhood lock-downs and Martial Law, there seems to be very little coverage lately by the media in regards to who is behind the Urban Shield program.
In Oakland, Urban Shield was hosted by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, but is being promoted by the for profit corporation known as Cytel Group Inc. The Cytel Group also promotes Urban Shield conferences/events in Austin, Texas, Boston, New Orleans and countries abroad.
According to public records with the Secretary of State in California, the incorporation papers for Cytel Group Inc., were filed on August 6, 2010. James Lester Baker [http://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslesterbaker‎] who resides at 912 Redhaven Street, in Brentwood, California, is listed as the Agent For Service Of Process for the corporation, with the Secretary of State in California.
(Click on or download the images showing James Lester Baker's profile on LinkedIn as of Sept. 14th, 2014)

The entity number for Cytel Group Inc., is C3311002. Anne Marie Baker, the wife of James Lester Baker, is part owner of the corporation and is listed as the "Secretary" of the corporation by Linked In [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/anne-baker/69/737/48a], backed up at (archive.today).
A contract document from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office involving the Cytel Group in a business transaction worth more than a half-million dollars to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise, lists Anne Marie Baker as the President of the Cytel Group, even though "Linked In" has her listed as the "Secretary" of the corporation.
What is also intriguing about the contract situation with the Cytel Group and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office that involved two contracts worth $275,000 each to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise to the Sheriff's Office, is that James Lester Baker and his wife Anne Marie Baker both used to work for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.
As an employee of the Sheriff's Office, James Baker used to be the assistant sheriff at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. His wife used to be a sheriff's technician at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, according to Linked In. This was before they were awarded two contracts worth $275,000 each, to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. Originally, each contract was worth $250,000, but at a later date the contracts were changed to add an additional $25,000 to each contract beginning November 1, 2011 through March 1, 2013.
What is even more intriguing is that the Oakland Tribune reported on this situation in a 4/27/2012 article about the Cytel Group, in which James Baker claimed that he is the president of the Cytel Group, and that his wife Anne Marie Baker is the chief operating officer. Additionally the article mentions that James Baker sent an email to the Tribune in which he claims that he retired after 22 years with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to found the Cytel Group as a way to promote the anti-terrorism Urban Shield program in the U.S. and abroad.
Oddly enough, during 2012 the Tribune also reported that the Cytel Group payed the full cost of $13,000 for air-fare for 11 members of the S.W.A.T. Team from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to make a trip to Amman, Jordan, to participate in a U.S. funded Warrior Competition that included elite counterterrorism and special operation units from other countries. It appears that there may have been a conflict of interest in this transaction between the Cytel Group and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office for this venture, when the Cytel Group paid the air-fare for the S.W.A.T. Team from the Sheriff's Office.
What gets even more interesting about the relationship between the Cytel Group and the Sheriff's Office is that despite the fact that James Baker claims that he founded the Cytel Group as a way to promote the anti-terrorism Urban Shield program in the U.S. and abroad, and claims to be the president of the corporation, in the Tribune article they report that the Sheriff's Office stated in a report to county supervisors that the Cytel Group (a consultant group) is owned by a woman, namely Anne Marie Baker, the wife of James Baker. A woman owned business with two $275,000 contracts with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise.
Regardless that James Baker claims to be the founder and the president of the Cytel Group, in a February 28, 2012 contract document from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office regarding contracts #7095 and #7096, in the very first paragraph on page one of the document it clearly mentions that Anne Marie Baker is the president of the Cytel Group, not her husband James Baker. In part it appears that the contract may have been awarded because it was a woman owned company, despite the fact that James Baker claims that he founded the Cytel Group in the Tribune article of 4/27/2012.
Its nothing new for people to make a bundle of money from getting involved in the so-called war on terror, and in addition to Urban Shield there are more than 1,200 government organizations and more than 1,900 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence, with around 854,000 people that have top-secret security clearance in America, according to The Washington Post.
Additionally, according to whistle-blower Edward Snowden, he leaked the information revealing that the federal government spent as much as $52.6 billion in it's "black budget" during fiscal year 2013.
In response to the latest venture of Urban Shield in Oakland during the past week, hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets and blocked the streets in recent days to show their opposition to the military demonstration exposition, police training exercises and the militarization of our nation's police forces that have been taking place. California Partnership which is a statewide coalition of groups advocating for policies and programs to bring an end to poverty, organized the protests against Urban Shield.
In the wake of the nation being horrified by rampant police shootings/killings and the militarization of the police, including the recent militarized police actions in Ferguson, and the notorious police actions that have been taking place in New Mexico, Oakland, and cities all across the nation, on Friday, September 5, 2014, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan announced that Urban Shield will not be back in Oakland next year.
In an announcement, Urban Shield is no longer welcome in Oakland, according to Mayor Jean Quan. According to Mayor Quan, the City Administrator's Office will be asking their agent not to pursue another contract with Urban Shield to have their conference in Oakland.

Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit filed for Yanira Serrano Garcia

Justice for Yanira Serrano! (d.2014-06-03, Half Moon Bay) [link]

From the family of Yanira, 2014-09-08:
When San Mateo DA Wagstaffe fully exonerated Deputy Trieu in the blatant and wanton shooting of 18-year old Yanira Serrano, he betrayed the trust of the Latino Community in Half Moon Bay. DA Wagstaffe had come into the community to publically promise a transparent and unbiased investigation of the June 3d shooting of 5”1’ Yanira. Yanira, suffering from both a severe mental and physical handicap, was gunned down just yards from her family home in the Moonridge barrio by San Mateo County Deputy Trieu, who was supposed to be responding to a “911” medical emergency.
At 11am on Tuesday, the parents of Yanira will announce the filing of a federal lawsuit targeting Deputy Menh Trieu and San Mateo County. The federal lawsuit, alleging civil rights violations, will be filed in the Federal District Court in San Francisco, CA.
The lawsuit alleges that the shooting of Yanira Serrano Garcia was unconstitutional in that it violated the Fourth Amendment’s limits on police authority. The lawsuit will detail the circumstances of the shooting and allege that deputy Menh Trieu shot and killed Yanira Serrano Garcia without reasonable cause, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The complaint will also allege that the shooting resulted from the negligence of dispatchers who handled the 911 call reporting a non-emergency medical incident as well as from the negligence of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department in it’s training of deputy Trieu.
Yanira’s parents, Carmen Garcia Serrano and Ignacio Serrano Ruiz, brother Tony Serrano and their lawyers – Arnoldo Casillas and Jonathan Melrod, will hold a press conference this Tuesday to present the findings of their investigation, the results of the private autopsy, the 911 telephone call, and the details of Yanira’s short life. The family will provide the media present with an electronic media package. Yanira’s parents and brother will be present at the press conference and plan to release a statement to the press.

Alameda Co. Sheriff censors the media, ejects "liberal" journalist for taking photos of Urban Shield convention vendors for militerizing civilian law enforcement

The complete record of the banned reporter's visit to the Urban Shield conference
[https://storify.com/smbauer1/urban-shield-swat-convention-in-oakland-2014]

"The Urban Shield Full Scale Exercise is an unclassified exercise"


Militerization? the Police aren't being militerized!
Shane Bauer @shane_bauer, Sept.11th: Sorry, I just tweeted an inaccurate fact. I said the military gave 1,200 bayonets to the police. It's actually 12,000. Bayonets. [http://www.npr.org/2014/09/02/342494225/mraps-and-bayonets-what-we-know-about-the-pentagons-1033-program]


"Mother Jones Reporter Booted From SWAT Convention For Act Of Reporting
Shane Bauer was booted from the Urban Shield convention after one of the vendors complained about him 'filming.' "
2014-09-07 from [http://crooksandliars.com/2014/09/mother-jones-reporter-booted-swat]:
View video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFK0ExHR5Fo]
Also see [http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2014/08/armed-guards-ushered-me-out-prison-convention].
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Oakland is having a SWAT convention today, and Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer has been sending out some amazing images from it. Scary images. Image that confirm everything you thought about police militarization.
Like this one [http://twitter.com/shane_bauer/status/508670571920769024/photo/1]:
Shane Bauer ‏@shane_bauer: A drone company is set up at an #UrbanShield site, but the county is waiting for FAA permission to use them.


And this one [http://twitter.com/shane_bauer/status/508671570479689729/photo/1]:
Shane Bauer ‏@shane_bauer: The @HaloDropDrones vendor got nervous about us taking too detailed of pictures, in case we wanted to duplicate them. 


And one more [http://twitter.com/shane_bauer/status/508429922504015872/photo/1]:
Shane Bauer ‏@shane_bauer: Here is the University of California, Berkeley SWAT team, which is used to respond to muggings of students.

 

It appears that those photos and some other videos (see his twitter feed for more) may have gotten Bauer a quick escort to the exit.
Shane Bauer @shane_bauer: A cop just took our media badges for the #UrbanShield SWAT training. Says his captain called and told him to do it. Not clear why. 11:09 AM - 7 Sep 2014

Someone didn't care for either the video or stills they were taking, even though they remained in the areas where they were told filming was permitted.
I'll bet it was one of these guys [http://twitter.com/shane_bauer/status/507978633894313985/photo/1]:
Shane Bauer ‏@shane_bauer: Here are the corporate sponsors of Urban Shield

This is really scary stuff. The mayor of Oakland said last night that the city would not host this convention next year. To that, she received a big "screw you" from the police [SFGate.com link], [begin excerpt]
But officials from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, which coordinates the conference, hit back at Quan's statement.
"Mayor Quan has had little to no involvement with Urban Shield. She does not have the authority to tell Urban Shield or anyone that they can't come into the City of Oakland," said Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the office.
"We recognize that she can influence the Oakland convention center, but we find it amazing that the mayor of Oakland does not want better training for the cities' first responders nor the hotel tax revenue, sales tax revenue, and low crime rate in the downtown area that Urban Shield and its 5,000-plus attendees has provided in the last few years to the City of Oakland," he said.
[end excerpt]
Yeah, because Oakland hasn't seen any abuse by the police. Sure.

"FirstNet-related Tactical LTE Communications System at Urban Shield Exercise"
2014-09-10 from [https://web.archive.org/web/20140912052024/http://www.mutualink.net/FirstNet-related-Tactical-LTE-Communications-System-at-Urban-Shield-Exercise.asp]:
Oakland CA -
Urban Shield is a full-scale regional preparedness exercise assessing the Bay Area's Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) response capabilities related to multi-discipline planning, policies, procedures, organization, equipment and training. Urban Shield tests regional integrated systems for prevention, protection, response and recovery in high-threat, high-density urban areas.
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At Urban Shield 2014, Mutualink, Sonim and Oceus will participate in a FirstNet-related deployment of an Enhanced System on Wheels (ESOW). The exercise will give public safety officials in northern California the opportunity to prepare for a coordinated, multi-agency, emergency response using advanced collaboration across LTE Band 14.
During the Urban Shield exercise, officials from the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), and other agencies will communicate and collaborate with onsite SWAT teams, during a simulated emergency incident involving a terrorist boarding a public transit vehicle.
The ESOW will enable all parties to share real-time video, images and voice communications using mobile phones and tablets on the scene. An ESOW provides secure local, multimedia multiparty collaboration capability between user equipment and legacy devices, such as video cameras and land mobile radios (LMRs).
Mike Sena, Director of the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), commented, "When we first explored options for interoperability between agencies, we found Mutualink was the only platform that allowed agencies to share audio, video and digital files over a secure network. We currently use the technology at various agencies within the San Francisco Bay area, and our goal is to continue the growth of the network within the region. A key feature of the system is that we can include first responders as well as other public and private entities for community-wide coordination."
"This exercise at Urban Shield is another proof-point of FirstNet's mission for delivering nationwide broadband capability for public safety, and further evidence that the future is now when it comes to next-generation technologies for first responders and emergency personnel," said Dr. Mike Wengrovitz, Mutualink's Vice President of Innovation.
"First responders and mission-critical personnel need the ability to access relevant information quickly to help assess a situation and become more efficient in making time-critical decisions. This exercise will showcase technology that addresses these needs today," said Bob Escalle, Senior Director of Public Safety and Defense for Sonim.
Mutualink's technology will serve as the interoperable communications platform for the ESOW enabling real-time sharing of radio, voice, text, video, data and location information in a secure environment. Mutualink serves as the gateway for bridging disparate systems so that all parties responding to an emergency can communicate and collaborate in real time.
Sonim Technologies will provide handheld devices for the ESOW based on their ultra-rugged features such as 20+ hours of LTE based talk time, extreme durability in heat, dust, wet environments, visibility in direct sunlight and support for a wide range of android applications and accessories with full support of LTE Band 14.
World-class rugged performance standards combined with an unprecedented industry leading 3-year warranty to protect even the most active users from accidental damage deliver the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry.
Xiphos, Oceus Networks' 4G LTE lightweight deployable communications system - a complete mobile "network in the box" - will provide the Band 14 broadband network for Urban Shield participants. The solution demonstrates interoperability and integration between first responders utilizing Mutualink applications, Sonim devices, and COTS WiFi-enabled devices.
"Deployable technology creates an environment that allows First Responders to literally bring the network with them, delivering coverage when and where it is needed to operate as part of a larger network or as a standalone node.
"We are excited to bring our proven technology to the Public Safety community and demonstrate how broadband solutions can transform the first responder mission in the field," said Jim Patterson, Oceus Networks' Vice President of Public and Federal Solutions.
Urban Shield is a full-scale regional preparedness exercise assessing the Bay Area's Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) response capabilities related to multi-discipline planning, policies, procedures, organization, equipment and training. Urban Shield tests regional integrated systems for prevention, protection, response and recovery in high-threat, high-density urban areas.