US Congressman’s Brother Lands No-Bid Contract to Train DHS Snipers

The American department From Homeland Security (DHS) this month discreetly awarded a $ 30,000 bicycle contract for the training of elite and combat shooters to a Virginia company led by Dan Lalota, the brother of the American representative Nick Lalota, a republican of the second term in New York.

Finalized on September 2, the Prize was awarded the Mechanicsville group in Virginia, which will provide a five-day fire-fired and observation course for the Elite Tireurs Program of the Special Response Team (SRT) of Interior Safety Investigations (SRT). The course, intended to help clarify the new DHS procedures, aims “to equip them with the skills and knowledge necessary to effectively carry out the operations of elite laws for the application of the law in high -risk environments”, according to the recordings examined by Wired.

The SRT works as the version of the agency of a Swat team, made up of special agents with advanced tactical training for situations deemed too dangerous for standard staff. The members of the SRT are camouflage and military style helmets, carry a range of weapons and train in violation, tactics of elite shooters and battles near the quarters.

According to federal purchasing files, the SRT contract was published on a single basis, the managers citing the previous work of Target Down Group with the surveys on internal security as well as its pre-authorization to carry out live firing exercises in a law enforcement in Arizona.

The member of the Lalota Congress, who sat on the House’s internal security committee during the previous session, could not be joined to comment. Calls to his offices in New York and Washington, DC, remained unanswered on Thursday.

The DHS did not respond to a request for comments.

Reached by phone, Dan Lalota said that his company’s agreement with ICE had nothing to do with the position of his brother at the Congress. “I am not a new guy on the block,” he told Wired, adding that there are only a few qualified people to provide the training requested by DHS. “To say that my business would be the only eligible would not be not solid.”

Lalota added that he could not speak on behalf of ICE and refused to discuss the details of his business work, calling questions to an invasion of privacy while directing journalists to her company’s website for information on her staff and his expertise.

The Target Down Group website lists Dan Lalota, a retired marine sniper, as president of the company. According to the biography of his brother’s congress, Dan Lalota served two decades in the body of the Navies, including tours with the recognition of force and the command of special marine operations, winning a bronze star with a valor for actions in Faundujah, in Iraq. Lalota told Wired that he was also seven years old as a sniper instructor.

Federal purchasing files listed Target Down Group as a Virginie Society; However, state files show that the company is not legally authorized to operate as Virginia Corporation at present, having been terminated in November 2024 automatically after having failed to meet its annual deposit requirements and costs with the register of state companies. However, the company was registered separately in Florida in July. (Asked about the gap, the CEO of Target Down Group, Christopher Allison, recognized the investigation but did not provide any comments.)

The rules of federal acquisition allow single source contracts under certain conditions, effectively bypassing the competitive tender process often required for federal rewards. In a memo of justification, DHS said that Target Down Group was the only seller to follow the training, citing a tight operational schedule as well as the previous work of the company with his program of elite shooters and the links established with the Arizona police, some of which participate in the fiscal year.

Dan Lalota refused to discuss any previous work for the government. “I am not free to discuss the company I have with a stranger like you. I hope you can understand this, “he said.

In June, NBC News reported that SRT units were preparing to deploy in several cities led by Democrats, including Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, North of Virginia and New York. The deployments planned followed immigration raids in Los Angeles which sparked days of protests and clashes with the police. Philadelphia officials told NBC that they had received no opinion from the incoming ice forces.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly defended the sending of federal troops of the application of laws and the National Guard to cities led by Democrats by affirming that they are in the grip of a “fleeing crime”, a description that criticisms call exaggerated and politically motivated. In cities like Chicago, Baltimore and New Orleans, local and state officials resisted deployments, arguing that they are motivated by politics, not public security.