Newsstand - TSA Reworks Air Travel Screening Program

Macon Telegraph Article (http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/9146867.htm)

"The government is revising a plan to check all airline passengers' backgrounds before they board a plane, further delaying a program once described by the Bush administration as urgent.

Acting Transportation Security Administration chief David Stone said the agency is "reshaping and repackaging" the project. He did not say what prompted the changes but indicated privacy concerns were involved.

"The Department of Homeland Security and TSA feel very strongly that we should not move forward on any program that doesn't preserve our freedoms," Stone said Tuesday during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on his nomination to become TSA administrator."

Why do I get the feeling that Admiral Stone is blowing smoke up Congress' and the public's collective asses? His stupid, un-American policies of haraSSSSment, Shoe Carnival, ID harassment and the Great Sharp and Pointy Object Search all show that Admiral Stone doesn't give a damn about preservation of the traveling public's freedoms.

He should be deported, not confirmed.

via Reuters:

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government is dropping a plan to collect personal data on airline passengers to assess security risks because of privacy concerns, USA Today reported Thursday, citing the U.S. homeland security chief.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said officials had all but scrapped plans for the controversial Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, known as CAPPS II, which has come under criticism from privacy advocates and some members of Congress.

via Reuters:

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government is dropping a plan to collect personal data on airline passengers to assess security risks because of privacy concerns, USA Today reported Thursday, citing the U.S. homeland security chief.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said officials had all but scrapped plans for the controversial Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, known as CAPPS II, which has come under criticism from privacy advocates and some members of Congress.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

I'm still very concerned that the TSA will now make life unpleasant for those who do not sign up and "volunteer" for the Registered Traveler Program. This would just be a de facto CRAPPS 2. :(

I'm still very concerned that the TSA will now make life unpleasant for those who do not sign up and "volunteer" for the Registered Traveler Program. This would just be a de facto CRAPPS 2. :(

We also have to be in the look out for alien offspring. When government programs are killed, their pieces scurry under rocks and start to grow into new programs, each time more stealthy. It is evolution in action.

I think this might be the public's first victory against the government since 9/11.

As for that stupid registered traveler program, I'm not a big fan. I have a feeling that terrorists could probably get "registered" if they really wanted to, and there's enough stuff in the "sterile" area to take a plane over without having to smuggle anything through security anyway.

And, of course, they can always force us to "volunteer," as well.