Former DHS Official Blames Privacy Advocates For TSA's Aggressive Procedures 325
colinneagle writes with an interesting excerpt from Senate testimony offered yesterday, on the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, from Stewart Baker. Baker formerly served as DHS Assistant Secretary and NSA General Counsel, and gave his opinion on the source of the real problems within the TSA, opining: "Unlike border officials, though, TSA ended up taking more time to inspect everyone, treating all travelers as potential terrorists, and subjecting many to whole-body imaging and enhanced pat-downs. We can't blame TSA for this wrong turn, though. Privacy lobbies persuaded Congress that TSA couldn't be trusted with data about the travelers it was screening. With no information about travelers, TSA had no choice but to treat them all alike, sending us down a long blind alley that has inconvenienced billions."
Liar!! (Score:5, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Flight [wikipedia.org]
Every person's name that has flown, what airline, what flight, gender, etc.
ALL OF IT FOR ALMOST FIVE YEARS.
And have they caught anyone using it? Not that I've seen.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:bizaro universe (Score:5, Informative)
You say this as a funny comment, but I've been told this seriously. Back in the second grade, my son was in lining up for an assembly (about bullying, ironically) when one kid (a known trouble-maker) started jumping forward in line. My son is sensitive about his personal space so when the kid jumped in front of him, my son put his arms up to protect his face. The kid hit my son hard in the stomach. Hard enough to send him to the nurse with bruises.
I had a meeting with the principal and teachers about it. After first denying anyone saw what happened, they then told me that my son started it by raising his hands. When they moved from that to "your son's not the TYPE to be bullied" (their exact wording), I ended the meeting and my wife came to bring my son home. We pulled him out of school and went to the superintendent to change schools since we didn't feel he was safe there.
Blaming the victim, sadly, is something that many people engage in instead of taking responsibility for their actions.
Re:The Horror! (Score:2, Informative)
I recall a certain active duty Army officer at Fort Hood that unfortunately would have been a problem if he knew he could get on planes without scrutiny. Fortunately, he just got convicted for his crimes...