The Real Threat To Airport Security Is The Guy Bending You Over
You'd think the TSA would take the uniforms and badges of people who leave their fine force, huh? If so, you'd be real idealistic. Alan Levin writes on ABC.com:
The agency overseeing security at the nation's airports failed for years to track security passes and uniforms of former employees, creating widespread vulnerability to terrorists, says a government watchdog report obtained by USA TODAY.The Transportation Security Administration lacked centralized controls over the secure passes issued to some of its employees, according to Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner. The passes grant people access to the most sensitive areas of an airport, such as where baggage is screened or planes are parked.
Investigators found numerous cases in which former employees retained their passes long after they had left the agency.
The investigation also found that TSA uniforms were frequently not collected when employees left or were transferred.
Can we please start referring to this department as the Transportation "Security" Administration? ("The 3,000-plus Stooges" seems a tad impolite.)
Ever since the CIA revolted against the Bush administration, against an elected government, I've advocated moving all intelligence and security operations into the Department of Defense.
Everyone working on intelligence matters should be in the Defense Intelligence Agency complex, bound under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Who leaks state secrets will get a firing squad instead of a cover story in Vanity Fair.
Everyone working on security matters should be under a newly formed para-military security force run by the Coast Guard. Why the Coast Guard? Because they have a long experience working as a law enforcement unit for the Dept. of the Treasury during peacetime and as a military unit in wartime. Air-ports should be secured by the same people who secure our sea ports. They know how to do this stuff.
All emergency relief operations should also be rolled under the Coast Guard. A civilian FEMA employee can refuse to act in a Katrina-like situation. A military officer who fails to act will get 20 years hard labor at Ft. Leavenworth.
Civilian agencies are simply to undisciplined to handle security, intelligence, and relief operations. Roll it under DIA and the Coast Guard, and do it yesterday.
Jeff at October 20, 2008 8:53 AM
Of course, Patrick Smith, commercial pilot, has the same disdain for TSA that we do.
Second the USCG. I adore their unofficial motto, "You have to go out. You don't have to come back" as much as I respect their seamanship (former USN sub guy here). I just despair of it surviving creeping politicalization as (if) it grows. Soon, the latest outcome-based programs will be mandatory before anything else gets done. That happened at NASA.
But this thread is especially apropos for another reason. I just got back from work. This morning, I get a complex e-mail from off-site, saying that the new USACCESS badge I got (to replace the one I got through an actual investigative process) is ready. Go to the Web site, set up appointment. Done. Appointment is today. Good. Arrive at location. Parked more than 30 yards from building as dictated by DOE, because suicide bombers are totally deterred by having to park farther away from the building, and/or they need a running start, I dunno.
Then, I wasted my time. The official document, stating that my badge is ready, doesn't reflect the fact that two people on site are in a "turnover process", and the new person "hasn't approved them yet". Apparently there are ~600 badges held up for this. No, the automated program calling people for appointments can't be changed.
I go back to the office, and upon login am reminded again what idiots Federal employees are: the Login message warning that I am using Federal equipment is actually, legally and grammatically, wrong. I have brought this to the attention of our local site pros - apparently hired for their skills, not some imaginary criteria - and was told that yes, they know, it was put there by Federal "experts", and to correct it will cause us to fail the automatic network security audit. The same "security" measures have crippled several databases with which we operate. Two programs on the PC fail to shut down properly; "a patch is on the way".
Four hours and eleven minutes after I appear at my appointment, I get another automated e-mail informing me that my appointment is canceled.
Real morons. In charge of "security".
Grin. You're paying for it. After all, my work is at a Federal site.
Radwaste at October 20, 2008 3:38 PM
Rad, that's what happens when you are bound by law to grant all contracts to the lowest bidder.
brian at October 21, 2008 6:04 AM
And when Congress mandates that a Federal agency is in charge.
SRS (srs.gov) has had tiered security levels since it was established - back when the FBI or the Army could be prowling the grounds, and could use their knuckles to talk to you about why you were asking questions about things not your damned business. I work with a fellow who started there when he turned 22, and his father had already been there since before he was born; the boy heard nothing - nada - about what Pop did for a living until he got his own badge. The computer security hassle is largely manufactured. There is no Federal expertise beyond our own - which was hired without low-bidder constraints.
That just makes it worse. If it was cheap, I'd understand. We're paying for an ape to drive the Rolls while the chauffeur can only sit and watch.
Radwaste at October 21, 2008 2:50 PM
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