UPDATED: 4/20; 8:19 p.m.

BIG SPRING, Tx — An official briefing of the City Council of Big Spring surfaced on YouTube that sheds new light on the upcoming operation called Jade Helm 15. The briefing was conducted by Tom Mead, a contractor working for the United States Special Operations Command and planner and exercise designer for the Jade Helm Project. Mead explained that the purpose of the meeting was to obtain permission from the city officials. The video is edited greatly, but the portions remaining raise many questions.

Big Spring is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Texas, United States, at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 87 and Interstate 20. With a population of 27,282 at the 2010 census, it is the largest city between Midland to the west, Abilene to the east, Lubbock to the north, and San Angelo to the south. Big Spring was established as the county seat of Howard County in 1882; it is the largest community in the county. (Wikipedia)

We are seeking written invitation and approval from local officials to conduct a realistic military training exercise within the jurisdiction of the City of Big Spring.

We’re not training for Afghanistan and Iraq—the things that we’ve done in the last fifteen years. We’re looking forward and we want to make sure these guys are trained properly.

He explained that the operation would be ongoing for five- to five-and-a-half weeks. The eight week time period would include time to prepare for the exercise in Florida and Mississippi. He also said that Texas would see the bulk of the exercise.

Mead explained that they would be asking for civilian participation.

We look for people who are willing to transport our guys, because they have to move around in a clandestine manner. For example, in the back of a horse trailer in the middle of the night so nobody can see them. These are ways they have to operate in foreign countries when they’re not supposed to be in those countries.

The video shows questions from council members.

Council man: Mr. Mead, how often do you do a operation like this? Is this done annually, or…
Mead: Yes, Sir, so, um, the Jade Helm project is a new project that has come along from General Cleveland, uh, from his staff at United States Army Special Operations Command. … Um, this operation is planned to be conducted yearly.
We conduct an exercise that’s similar to this. I say similar because the scope and the breadth of the exercise is nowhere comparable to what we do here. But they conduct that exercise six times a year in North Carolina.

COUNCILMAN: I just have to ask, how does FBI and DEA work with the military on an operation like this?
MEAD: Well, generally speaking, Sir, the FBI and DEA provide us liaison officers up at our command level, depending on how the scenarios written. One of the ways the FBI and DEA are working with us, here, is in Arizona they will actually do some questioning for us at one of the airports in Arizona.

COUNCILMAN: Do y’all use any personnel from NATO, UN, or…
MEAD: No, no, Sir. Currenly for Jade Helm it is US only. We… That has been one of the discussions that, I’m not sure if it has occurred yet, but… [Edited]

The operation that he refers to in North Carolina is probably Robin Sage. [Wikipedia] Robin Sage, however, is a confined exercise giving special forces groups specific scenarios, such as rescuing downed pilots. It does not include rounding up people and carting them off.

From the video, we derive that the operation is a new design to train troops to go into countries where they are not supposed to be. They are training to get rides from the local populace in the back of wagons. They will drive around in civilian vehicles without being noticed even though they are supposed to be wearing arm bands during the operation.
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