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Congress and Politics

TSA scanners and pat-downs: How "why" could have made all the difference

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November 24, 2010

By Kate Kennedy
Oh TSA. In the current aviation security environment, that sentiment almost speaks for itself. We’ve got screaming toddlers, screaming more than usual. We’ve got publically humiliated cancer survivors, forced to remove prosthetics in public. We’ve got a passenger stripping to his underwear to prove he is not a threat, only to get arrested anyway. All of this could have been avoided. The national uproar over the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) new pat-down procedures and Advanced Imagine Technology (AIT) machines is a perfect example of what happens when you leapfrog over the necessary step of building and launching a strategic communications plan.

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DHS weighs dropping color-coded alert system

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November 24, 2010

DHS weighs dropping color-coded alert system – GovExec
The Homeland Security Department has proposed to drop the color-coded terror alert system implemented after the Sept. 11 attacks, and replace it with more descriptive text-based alerts.

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A little empathy for the TSA: They are being told to do the impossible

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November 24, 2010

Let’s take a moment and view this patdown controversy through they eyes of the TSA. Nobody wants to be profiled. Nobody wants to go through scanners. Nobody wants patdowns. Frankly, nobody wants the TSA at the airports at all. And yet we all want the TSA to project us while we fly. The public is going to have to have a serious discussion about finding a balance between privacy and security. The obvious answer is profiling, despite the campaigns of professional privacy lobbyists against it.

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Is PBS tryingn to gin up controversy over TSA patdowns? Their strange Twitter campaign

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November 23, 2010

Seems like TSA has enough on its hands without media organizations, like PBS, attempting to gin up additional controversy over the TSA patdowns. We received numerous random e-mails from PBS encouraging us to tweet about TSA experiences during travel over the holiday weekend. They were particularly interested in anecdotes about wait times and “how the new security measures and some passengers’ resistance are playing out.”

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GOP Success May Hamper Action on Cybersecurity Bill, Experts Say

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November 23, 2010

GOP Success May Hamper Action on Cybersecurity Bill, Experts Say – CQ Homeland Security
Republican success in the 2010 elections is likely to change the contours of cybersecurity legislation, according to a number of experts, but they also said that Congress again might end up not acting at all.

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Audit criticizes TSA screener training

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November 23, 2010

Audit criticizes TSA screener training – GovExec
The Transportation Security Administration needs to better prepare airport screeners, in part by standardizing the training process, according to a report from the Homeland Security inspector general’s office.

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Security versus Privacy (redux) – TSA Scanners and Pat-downs

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November 23, 2010

America is once again going through one of the periodic dust-ups between security and privacy that mark our society as a truly free one. It was barely a year ago when the now infamous “Underwear Bomber” tried to ignite his chemically enhanced boxers to bring down an airliner over Detroit. At that time, nearly all the pundits and the most vocal citizens railed that TSA, DHS, and the President himself had let the American people down, and we had to do better. Now that TSA has done what “The People” called for, they are again vilified. Come on, folks, let’s get real.

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GOP: DREAM act would allow criminal illegals to gain residency

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November 22, 2010

GOP: DREAM act would allow criminal illegals to gain residency – Homeland Security Newswire
President Barack Obama and Democratic legislators push to pass legislation this year that would allow certain illegal immigrants to become legal U.S. residents, but Republicans are pushing back with details about the DREAM Act that have gone largely unnoticed.

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Pistole blinked and other Musings about Protecting your Junk

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November 22, 2010

After what can only be described as an endless barrage of horror stories, TSA Administrator John Pistole has blinked when it comes to the less-than-comfortable pat-downs that the air-traveling public has experienced over the past few weeks. After stating in recent congressional hearings, cable TV interviews and to just about any other available forum that the pat-down procedures were here to stay, Pistole has cried “uncle” and thrown in the towel. As this debate continues to unfold, it plays to the extremes, rather than the real risks and realities that have to be dealt with daily in a dangerous security environment. Pandering to fears about health and privacy certainly makes great politics and great cable news content, but it doesn’t necessarily deal with reality. Our level of respect in the debate seems to be going down hill at a faster rate.

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House Members Challenge TSA Policy on Pat Downs, X-Ray Technology

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November 22, 2010

House Members Challenge TSA Policy on Pat Downs, X-Ray Technology – CQ Homeland Security
At a time when the Transportation Security Administration’s use of “enhanced pat downs” is coming under increasing public fire, the Democratic leadership of one House committee and GOP leadership of another are asking the agency to reconsider the practice.

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