Originally Posted by
Thedude
1- Well, we have this nifty thing called crew pass now. We had the technology for it 7 yrs ago but the TSA didn't want us to have it 'cause it wans't their idea. Or we could have done bio-metrics.
2- They don't know the pax from Adam either but they accept a DL as a form of ID. Why not accept a SIDA badge. The old one I had for DFW was magnetic and (good luck on try to duplicate that thing) I could bypass security form the employee lot.
3- Once your inside the secure side of the terminal, you still just cant get access to the plane. Something about having keys codes and other info.
4- Guess you have never come up against a TSA moron who is on a power trip. They wanna give the whole search and then some. Right after 9/11, I was getting the full pat down infront of the pax. That served no reseaon other than to give the illusion of security.
5- I bring up the point again, do judges and lawyers get screened when they enter the court house. I think not. Most courthouses even have underground or seperate parking for those work in the courthouse. The same for US Embassy in foreign countries. Ever seen a US Diplomat or Embassy employee bypass security when going to work. I have.
2. The pax get screened...possession of a state DL does NOT exempt pax from TSA screening. Possession any piece of plastic should not exempy ANYONE from screening, unless it has biometric info encoded.
3. If you DON'T get screened, you can bring in a weapon. With a weapon, you can then access anything you like.
4. There are idiots in any group (even OUR group).
5. Who cares about courthouses? You can't hijack a courthouse and use it to kill thousands of people, or attack national-security infrastructure.
I fully agree that anyone who is going to bypass security (LEO's, diplomats, flight crew, etc) should have biometric ID.
While I agree that TSA management has fallen short in many, many ways, their basic screening policies are in line with accepted security and anti-terrorism practices (as devloped by the military and many foriegn governments long before TSA existed).
Personally, I don't think TSA ever should have existed in the first place...they were created by one political party in order to establish a large block of unionized government workers, who traditionally vote for that party. Their job could be done better by private screeners who are SUPERVISED by a small cadre of on-site armed federal LEO's. The adult supervision would be key to maintaining performance, and would provide a fast-reaction team of non-barney-fifes..