TSA Still Not Taking Comments On Naked Scanners; So Public Interest Group Does It For Them
from the politicians-lagging-public-opinion dept
If you needed proof of politicians’ sensitivity to, and encouragement of, persistent terrorism fears, look no further than today’s hearing in the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security. It’s called “Eleven Years After 9/11 Can TSA Evolve To Meet the Next Terrorist Threat?” and it’s being used to feature—get this—a report arguing for a “smarter, leaner” Transportation Security Administration.
Could the signaling be more incoherent? The hearing suggests both that unknown horrors loom and that we should shrink the most visible federal security agency.
Lace up your shoes, America—we’re goin’ swimmin’!
Our federal politicians still can’t bring themselves to acknowledge that terrorism is a far smaller threat than we believed in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, and that the threat has waned since then. (The risk of attack will never be zero, but terrorism is far down on the list of dangers Americans face.)
The good news is that the public’s loathing for the TSA is just as persistent as stated terrorism fears. This at least constrains congressional leaders to make gestures toward controlling the TSA. Perhaps we’ll get a “smarter, leaner” overreaction to fear.
Public opprobrium is a constraint on the growth and intrusiveness of the TSA, so I was delighted to see a new project from the folks at We Won’t Fly. Their new project highlights the fact that the TSA has still failed to begin the process for taking public comments on the policy of using Advanced Imaging Technology (strip-search machines) at U.S. airports, even though the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered it more than a year ago.
The project is called TSAComment.com, and they’re collecting comments because the TSA won’t.
The purpose of TSAComment.com is to give a voice to everyone the TSA would like to silence. There are many legitimate health, privacy and security-related concerns with the TSA’s adoption of body scanning technology in US airports. The TSA deployed these expensive machines without holding a mandatory public review period. Even now they resist court orders to take public comments.
TSAComment.com has gotten nearly 100 comments since the site went up late yesterday, and they’re going to deliver those comments to TSA administrator John Pistole, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and the media.
The D.C. Circuit Court did require TSA to explain why it has not carried out a notice-and-comment rulemaking on the strip-search machine policy, and assumedly it will rule before too long.
Getting the TSA to act within the law is important not only because it is essential to have the rule of law, but because the legal procedures TSA is required to follow will require it to balance the costs and benefits of its security measures articulately and carefully. Which is to say that security policy will be removed somewhat from the political realm and our incoherent politicians and moved more toward the more rational, deliberative worlds of law and risk management.
Hope springs eternal, anyway…
There could be no better tribute to the victims of 9/11 than by continuing to live free in our great country. I won’t shrink from that goal. The people at TSAComment do not shrink from that goal. And hopefully you won’t either.
Cross-posted from Cato-at-Liberty.
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Filed Under: naked scanners, tsa
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TSA comments:
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That is what a police state looks like.
Yes, that is what the US needs. Checkpoints with armed guards and automatic weapons. /s
I suggest you go to Israel to live it in person. Sickening.
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Re: Re: Re: PopoSta
Imagine:
There you are, wandering the back-country woods of the Grand Canyon. Within sight of you are 3 men wearing badges and armed with AK47s.
Later, on a cross-country bicycling trip on the dirt back-roads of the east coast; traveling from DC to Florida you find you're passing an AK47'd Gov Agent every few hundred feet.
Still later, while scuba diving off the Florida Keys, you're ready to explore an underwater cave--but the AK47'd Agent just won't move from the underwater cave mouth.
While traveling thru Texas to get home, you read a headline "Oil Pipeline found Clogged with TSA Agent and AK47!"...
I do not believe there are enough people (or AK47s for that matter) to post an agent every few hundred feet over every acre of ground the Empirical Regime of the United States has laid claim to.
And yet, it's still quite a debatable position that the US is a police state--or will be soon enough.
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armed guards as deterrent
we already have the armed guards walking around.
and we're living it.
soo.... yeah, let's try something else. ;-)
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Where there's a will there's a way and this works for not only the good guys but the bad guy. Maybe if the rest of the world liked us they would not want to attack us so much.. I'd hate the USA too if I was in a country where they're trying to dictate how everything is done.
Much as we like to believe we're not the world police.
I mean really it's about fucking time we stop worrying about the rest of the world and deal with our own failing economy. We're worried about world hunger when there are plenty of AMERICANS starving to death right here in our own back yard.
We're in a war we cannot afford.
Our justice system is breaking down for dealing with so much petty bullshit. Our states are going bankrupt from dealing with the laws that should not be laws. EX Legalize drugs and tax the fuck out of them. The war on drugs has done zero to stop the problem.
If people want to do them fine have fun and if you fuck up you're going to prison.
Want to get away with murder? Get drunk and run them over and serve 5 years or even less or none depending on your past record.
Get caught with some crystal meth? 20 Years Did you kill anyone? Nope.
We have people trying to get legit highs off of shit that turns people into fucking zombies figuratively speaking.
We have people starving to death and what do we give them? A fucking Obama phone.. How about a fucking hamburger? They're still starving but at least they can send a fucking text.
What am I saying? FUCK THE TSA IT'S A GROSS WASTE OF TAXPAYERS MONEY.
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Also how do you spot the person who is agitated or nervous because thaey are trying to do something they shouldnt, when they are making people nnervous or agitated because of the intrussive nature of the security theatre.
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Gov't following the law
LOL, like that's ever gonna happen. I, for one, am not holding my breath. Our Gov't has shown repeatedly that they believe they're above the law and become indignant when anyone suggests that this might be the case.
Also, good on those at TSAComment.com, hopefully they're able to have an impact.
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You�ve seen this all before�oh wait maybe you haven�t.
Just go and review Germany in the 30�s it will all became apparent�
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TSA
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Re: TSA
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Why are you putting something driven by a partisan group just before the election? Are you a Republican party member? Would you like to make a disclosure here?
Cato Institute is a well known conservative support group, and this is perfectly timed to try to draw an issue out during the election.
So... disclosure?
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Anyone who thinks Cato is a Republican partisan group doesn't know shit about Cato. They just as frequently go after Republicans.
Either way, I like how you don't address the actual issue here, because you can't. Instead, you lie about the group and then slam the strawman. Hilarious.
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I consider the timing of this move as too much in the election cycle. They clearly could have done the same months ago, why wait until less than 60 days from the election to push hot button item, except to try to score political points?
"Instead, you lie about the group and then slam the strawman."
Umm, let's see:
http://www.thenation.com/article/167500/independent-and-principled-behind-cato-myth#
Not exactly a shining example
I would say that if they aren't a Republican dominated group directly, they are pretty close. It only goes to show this sudden interest in a hot button issue for what it is.
Perhaps you live in Naive-ville, but the rest of us don't.
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Unless you are saying that any challenge to government action during an election cycle is inherently partisan, which would leave us perilously few times during the year when we /can/ challenge government programs.
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What? What do I have to disclose?
I don't work for anyone in the music or movie industries. I don't work for Google. I am neither Republican or Democratic.
What else would you like? My name and personal information are not relevant, even though Mike has them already.
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Oh, wait.
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9/11 Legacy
In 2008 who would have believed that people would allow a stranger to view a naked image of their child or permit the equivalent of a mall cop to rub their child�s privates in the middle of an airport?
Nearly a million people died defending the liberties that have been stripped away by TSA in the name of safety without providing any value. It is disgraceful that the government that is supposed to defend the Constitution is complicit in its destruction and that Americans dishonor the fallen by acquiescing to this.
Granting unbounded authority to TSA and it bureaucrats has led to wide spread and recurrent abuse of innocent airline passengers and their children. There have been thousands of reports of excessive and punitive searches that are amount to nothing more than gratuitous harassment of innocent people.
TSA operates with complete immunity and there a no consequences for abusing their authority. TSA is the sole arbiter of complaints leaving no avenue of redress for those who have been abused by the agency.
In the past two months 35 TSA workers fired or arrested and 66 more disciplined for misconduct. There were 98 TSA workers arrested in the last 20 months including 12 arrested for child sex crimes, over 26 for theft, 12 for smuggling contraband through security and one for murder.
A known pedophile, Thomas Harkins, was exposed three months ago but remains employed as a TSA Supervisor in Philadelphia with access to children. What kind of agency allows a known pedophile access to children?
It is unacceptable for any agency to be authorized to act contrary to the Constitution and the law. Both TSA and DHS need to be dismantled and their duties assigned to responsible and accountable agencies subject to strict Congressional and judicial oversight.
TSA has done more damage to our way of life and human rights than Al Qaeda could ever have hoped to do and Pistole and Napolitano have been their accomplices.
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Yet today we are far further from the words of that song that we were 35 years ago.
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Many Layers of Incompetence
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