I’m torn on this idea: on one hand, we have all had our backgrounds checked for one purpose or another, from applying for a credit card to applying for a job. On the other hand, those are all simply voluntary, and here you’ll have the government checking your background like you’re a criminal to see if you will be allowed not to be groped in order to take a privately owned airline flight
If Americans don’t want the government touching their “junk†to improve air security, the alternative may well be greater scrutiny of passengers’ travel histories and personal backgrounds, security experts say.
The public backlash against the aggressive pat-downs the federal government rolled out this month could put more pressure on the government to introduce security measures previously rejected on privacy grounds, including in-depth interrogations of travelers at airports, government scrutiny of passengers’ airline information, and even creation of a secure, standardized national ID card.
Now, measures like this are used in many countries, such as Israel, and actually have worked very well. Of course, those countries do not have the same Constitutionally guaranteed Rights that we do, not too mention that Israel uses other measures such as profiling and heavily secured cockpit doors. Oh, and remember, El Al was actually a government entity, until it was fully transferred into private ownership in January 2005, so, people became used to the idea, and they were entering secured government property.
Yet, would this actually catch terrorists? That would depend, mostly, on how often the background checks are done, and how intensive. Also, whether Los Federales would actually have the cajones to deny the people most likely to be terrorists from receiving whatever groping waiver the background checks would provide. And, remember, Richard Reid and the Crotch Bomber all came on international flights, so, these background checks would have not caught them, unless the other countries do the same.
Would the TSA give out background check “cards” or something well in advance, which would allow terrorists to go through training afterwards, or, would they do a check at the time of ticket purchase, or even at the counter? The story suggests at the airport, but, that did not come from an actual TSA official.
Would they chicken out on profiling when issues in the background pop up? Take 9/11 for example: would TSA have had the fortitude to put four Muslim men per flight, with all sorts of worrisome past travel destinations, such as Taliban controlled and al Qaeda supporting Afghanistan, through advanced and intrusive body checks? Or, would they wimp out in the face of lawsuits from CAIR and the ACLU?
Speaking of the ACLU, did you know they have received more than 900 complaints so far over the enhanced gropings, er, pat downs?
The American Civil Liberties Union has received over 900 complaints in the month of November from travelers who have been subjected to the Transportation Security Authority’s (TSA) new “enhanced†screening procedures. The procedures include sending travelers through backscatter X-ray machines that produce naked outlines of travelers’ bodies and subjecting them to thorough pat-downs that include TSA agents touching their breasts and genitals on the outside of their clothing.
The story lists several stories of gropings, and you can read more stories here. Yet, for all that, the ACLU is mostly silent. Many people (I can guess which side of the political aisle they sit on) criticized me in my previous two posts about the ACLU being absent (interestingly, they mostly cited the exact same ACLU article I provided in the first story), yet, my point still stands: the ACLU is mentioning the issue of enhanced pat downs (without even the courtesy of dinner and a movie), but doing nothing about it. Usually, one can count on the threat of a lawsuit, or even an actual lawsuit, from the ACLU. Or, they might be DEMANDING records and government information. Remember the so-called “domestic wiretapping” issue, which was anything but, and, of course, not actually intrusive? They went ballistic. Here? It’s all “just send us your groping stories.” Maybe the ACLU plans to submit them to Penthouse letters or something.
(Photo removed so as to avoid Righthaven lawsuits)
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU. sit back and Relax. we’ll dRive!
still mostly silent ? you are faulting them for not doing enough ?
Does the TSA have some evidence that either the new whole-body scan or the ‘more agressive’ pat-downs have actually prevented somebody from getting on a plane with something that could be used to harm others?
There is no evidence at all that the TSA does anything. They showed (with pride) the weapons that had been found on people. They included a number of guns. The only problem was that the guns were toys and obviously something that was there to entertain the children. You might remember back in the 50’s and 60’s when we were free, you could carry a toy gun, now I am concerned that a child could be killed by a cop.
As to the background checks, that would make too much sense and would not be visible enough. The only sense of security that people get is the fact that the see the government doing something. Now understand that the pat downs and radiation do not do a thing, yet people feel that they are doing a job.
Security could easily be achieved by seperating out the Muslims. They are responsible for 100% of terror activity on planes over the last 50 years. Yes, I know of the attempted highjacking of airlines by one, maybe two men in the 60’s, but this activity was stopped dead by the metal detectors and was not the concerted effort by the religion of peace. As we have to give our names and identification to the airlines well in advance of boarding a plane, it seems that Muslims could easily be seperated before they even got to the airport. Then they could leave the rest of us alone.
The ACLU will not act on this as it would necessitate profiling and they feel that is worse than tearing up the constitution.
TSA made me get rid of my money clip, which had a tiny knife, for my flight to LA. Me, a white blond guy, they were worried about. The whole thing is nuts, but, like with most issues, the government is ignoring the People.
It is even worse than that. I read blog where soldiers came back from the Middle East, fairly fresh from combat. They still had weapons. The TSA insisted on inspecting them at one of the transfer stops. The idiot TSA guy took one of the soldiers nail clippers as it could be used as a weapon. The guy had a gun in his hand!! The point was made to the TSA nerd that the man had a weapon, his response was that the gun was not loaded. Apparently he was unaware that it is rare for the military to turn in all their ammo. Or that the gun could be used in any number of ways besides shooting.