Congress Wants Your TSA Stories 328
McGruber writes "Transportation Security Administration (TSA) program challenges and failures will be the focus of a joint hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, on Monday, March 26, 2012. The Hearing is titled 'TSA Oversight Part III: Effective Security or Security Theater?' Bruce Schneier is scheduled to be a witness at this hearing. Additional information on the hearing is posted on the oversight committee's website. The Congressmen who serve on these committees are soliciting questions from the public to ask TSA officials at the hearing ... provided the public is willing to submit their questions via Facebook."
Bruce has been scrubbed from the hearing... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:via Facebook only? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Questions (Score:5, Informative)
How does the USA like it's foreign tourist trade now that it's dropped off a cliff?
I'd like to fact check that statement. It's a shame that the government doesn't keep track of those numbers. Oh wait... they totally do! [doc.gov]
Let's see:
year - millions of visitors - change from previous year
2000 - 44.6 - n/a
2001 - 39.2 - -12%
2002 - 35.9 - -8%
2003 - 34.5 - -4%
Steep drop in the years following 9/11, but wait, what's this?
2004 - 38.2 - +11%
2005 - 41.1 - +8%
2006 - 43.5 - +6%
2007 - 48.4 - +11%
2008 - 50.5 - +4%
2009 - 54.9 - +9%
2010 - 59.7 - +9%
2011 - 62.3 - +4%
Wow, US tourism is absolutely booming! That's an increase of at least 4% (average of 8%) every year for nearly a decade! That greatly exceeds the world's average birth rate, especially when you consider that the birth rate is lower in places where most tourists come from. In light of these numbers, perhaps you'd like to reconsider your position?
Re:via Facebook only? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Questions (Score:5, Informative)
That's an interesting question. I did some digging, and came up with two things. The first is a new-found respect for the US government's data organization, which for all its flaws is way more accessible than Britain's or France's. The second is a document [www.germany.travel] out of Germany that mercifully covers tourism across the EU, so I didn't have to dig up any more sources.
You can read it for yourself (there's some interesting stats on who goes where and how much they spend), but the upshot is the global average growth is around 4%, and the EU is a bit below average at 3.4%, whereas the US is quite a bit above average (around 8%), as shown by the numbers from my prior post. Interestingly, the Middle East is seeing the most growth of anywhere in the world, at a whopping 14% pace. You'd think people would be avoiding the region given the instability, but apparently that's not the case.
Re:via Facebook only? (Score:5, Informative)
RTFA. Facebook is the only option. There is no suggestion that letters submitted to your congressman via email or US Post will be considered. In fact, there is no suggestion that questions will even be solicited from the audience.
Re:via Facebook only? (Score:4, Informative)
From TFA: The Congressmen who serve on these committees are soliciting questions from the public to ask TSA officials at the hearing ... provided the public is willing to submit their questions via Facebook.
From TFA: The Congressmen who serve on these committees are soliciting questions from the public to ask TSA officials at the hearing ... provided the public is willing to submit their questions via Facebook.
From TFA: The Congressmen who serve on these committees are soliciting questions from the public to ask TSA officials at the hearing ... provided the public is willing to submit their questions via Facebook.
You'd probably get arrested for tairsum if you tried.
And from TFA: The Congressmen who serve on these committees are soliciting questions from the public to ask TSA officials at the hearing ... provided the public is willing to submit their questions via Facebook.
From TFA: The Congressmen who serve on these committees are soliciting questions from the public to ask TSA officials at the hearing ... provided the public is willing to submit their questions via Facebook.
From TFA: The Congressmen who serve on these committees are soliciting questions from the public to ask TSA officials at the hearing ... provided the public is willing to submit their questions via Facebook.
Re:via Facebook only? (Score:4, Informative)
Facebook isn't the only option.
The Committee on Oversight and Reform's webpage, linked to in the article, says otherwise:
Members will solicit questions from the public via their Facebook pages to ask TSA officials at the hearing.