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Aviation and airport security

U.K. shipper complies with "known shipper" requirements by installing Avigilon surveillance system

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March 3, 2010

U.K. shipper complies with “known shipper” requirements by installing Avigilon surveillance system – Homeland Security Newswire
By August this year, 100 percent of cargo on U.S. passenger planes will have to be screened. Most of the screening — and the safe warehousing and delivery of the screened goods — will be handled not by the government, but by private shippers who, if they comply with government regulations, will be certified as “safe shipper” (or “known shippers,” as they are called in some countries). The goods delivered to airports by these safe shippers will be subjected to less rigorous — and, hence, speedier — security checks.

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Burning Question: Will full-body scanners get TSA in hot water with the Pope?

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March 3, 2010

Burning Question: Will full-body scanners get TSA in hot water with the Pope? – Government Executive
The Associated Press has reported that the first of 150 full-body scanners slated to be deployed by the Transportation Security Administration at U.S. airports will be installed next week. The scanners have attracted their share of criticism on privacy grounds–and the latest has come from the Vatican.

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Lessons from the Napolitano Budget Hearings

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February 26, 2010

Someone needs to buy Janet Napolitano a beer. Or at least give her a double of whatever she wants. After two consecutive days on Capitol Hill testifying in front of four different Congressional Committees, she’s earned it. In defending the Administration’s proposed 2011 budget, she took on a whole set of bipartisan punches and barbs from an array of political players who weren’t exactly happy with what she was trying to sell them.

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Napolitano Takes Bipartisan Hits on Border Budget Proposals

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February 26, 2010

Napolitano Takes Bipartisan Hits on Border Budget Proposals – CQ Homeland Security
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the border security aspects of President Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget request against criticism from the right and left Thursday. Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., raised concerns about the inability of the department to implement provisions of the Sept. 11 commission recommendations (PL 110-53) that mandated the screening of all maritime cargo entering the country.

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Napolitano Faces Questions About Screening Technology Funding

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February 25, 2010

Napolitano Faces Questions About Screening Technology Funding – CQ Homeland Security
Both the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday questioned a request for technologically advanced airport scanners in President Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget request, but for seemingly opposite reasons.

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Calling Obama’s Cards – TSA and Collective Bargaining Rights

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February 23, 2010

Yesterday’s actions by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) to represent TSA’s 40,000 screeners has upped the ante in the high stakes poker game the Obama Administration seems to have avoided playing. Will there or will there not be a union at TSA? If we are to ever move forward, the White House’s deafening silence has to end. Whatever decision it makes will have tremendous consequences and will leave some players at the poker table inflamed and outraged.

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Moving Forward On TSA Representation

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February 23, 2010

Moving Forward On TSA Representation – FedBlog
The American Federation of Government Employees announced Monday that it has filed a petition with the Federal Labor Relations Authority to become the sole representative of 40,000 Transportation Security Officers — setting off yet another fight with a rival union, the National Treasury Employees Union.

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The Airport Security Process: Learning the Hard Way

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February 22, 2010

Last week, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers at the Philadelphia airport grossly mistreated Ryan Thomas, a 4-year-old boy who has intellectual and physical disabilities, and his parents. Headed for an Orlando-bound flight to celebrate Ryan’s birthday at Disney World, TSA security screeners forced Ryan’s parents to strip off his leg braces to clear security. What happened to Ryan is a symptom of what’s wrong with the airport security process, and it should be leveraged to enhance safety while improving the airport experience for all flyers.

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Small plane crashes into IRS building in Texas

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February 18, 2010

Small plane crashes into IRS building in Texas – USA Today
Fire officials said Thursday one person was unaccounted for after a small plane slammed into the second story of an office building in Austin, sending fire and thick, black smoke billowing from the windows. Harry Evans, assistant chief of the Austin Fire Department, said two people were taken to the hospital and another person could not be found.

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Student sues TSA, saying he was detained for five hours over English-Arabic flashcards

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February 11, 2010

Student sues TSA, saying he was detained for five hours over English-Arabic flashcards – Homeland Security Newswire
A Pomona College student filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging that he was abusively interrogated, handcuffed, and detained for five hours at Philadelphia International Airport in August because he carried a set of English-Arabic flashcards as part of his college language studies.

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