As head of TSA, you don't get to choose your battles. Last Thanksgiving, Administrator John Pistole was handed the hot potato of intelligence briefings about al Qaeda suicide bombers trying to penetrate the aviation system with non-metallic bombs hidden on the body. ... Although I disagree with his decision to pick the ultra-intrusive pat-down, I do understand how he was boxed in when making that call. ...
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Looks like Kippie put on some weight.
He's still an Idiot.
It does surprise me Kippie would have shown some restraint if he were in Pistole's position. You can't help but fault him for laying the ground work for this though.
I also find it interesting that he now things a trusted traveler type program is a good thing now considering how he dragged his feet about implementing one on his watch.
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It does surprise me Kippie would have shown some restraint if he were in Pistole's position. You can't help but fault him for laying the ground work for this though.
I also find it interesting that he now things a trusted traveler type program is a good thing now considering how he dragged his feet about implementing one on his watch.
I think it's all BS and whatever he said is in line with and supportive of his next TSA boondoggle (that the taxpayers will be paying for).
His track record speaks for him. Why would anyone expect him to show integrity or honesty now, when he never has before?
...It does surprise me Kippie would have shown some restraint if he were in Pistole's position. ...
I was surprised, and then upon a bit of reflection I figured if you aren't running the TSA show any longer, it's very easy to say, "Well, I wouldn't have done it THAT way!" Of course you can say that, Kip! You are on the outside now reading, listening and watching all the criticism and happy as a clam you didn't make that decision and aren't taking the heat!
So apparently he got another hot potato intelligence report recently indicating that terrorists can't pronounce their names.
His company is probably working on a new machine to assist the TDC. It will have voice recognition software, so when you say your name, it will scan the BP, hear your voice, compare the two...and if you pass, the TDC will then let you by.
Maybe the machine will even stamp your boarding pass with lots of colorful random markings.
And hey, only $1 million each for the machines, plus 14 repeat training sessions until the TDCs get it right.
His company is probably working on a new machine to assist the TDC. It will have voice recognition software, so when you say your name, it will scan the BP, hear your voice, compare the two...and if you pass, the TDC will then let you by.
Maybe the machine will even stamp your boarding pass with lots of colorful random markings.
And hey, only $1 million each for the machines, plus 14 repeat training sessions until the TDCs get it right.
For that price, it better put my name in my kippie bag, too.
I also find it interesting that he now things a trusted traveler type program is a good thing now considering how he dragged his feet about implementing one on his watch.
How desperate does Pistole have to be to get Kip out of hiding to come write this kind of garbage on his behalf?
I, too, call BS on the whole premise. For example:
Quote:
Originally Posted by KHIAI
Last Thanksgiving, Administrator John Pistole was handed the hot potato of intelligence briefings about al Qaeda suicide bombers trying to penetrate the aviation system with non-metallic bombs hidden on the body.
Thanksgiving is at the END of November. The intrusive patdowns started in late Oct/early Nov, and there was a thread foreshadowing "big changes" as early as October 8. And they didn't need "intelligence briefings about ... non-metallic bombs" when they had Underwear Guy the Christmas before as a useful excuse.
Hawley goes on to claim (his "first" and "second" points) that the program will use data already available to CBP; I see how that works for the GE/Nexus crowd but the pilot also included airline FFs. There must be (some/many?) US-based frequent flyers who (never/rarely?) travel overseas, so CBP has (no/little) information on them. Either this program, when full-blown, with only be available to GE/Nexus members (which might be a ploy for getting more people to sign up?) or they'll have to use personal data beyond that available to CBP. Hawley hedges his first two points with "Maybe security clearances are next..." and "The proof is in the details,..."
He further claims that "Some -- including, I believe, John Pistole and many of the front-line officers -- want more thinking and less rote implementation of a checklist." Uh, yeah, that's why they've been removing adult diapers and making people say their names out loud: more thinking. Sure.
And finally:
Quote:
Originally Posted by the Kipster
Anybody can bludgeon the many shortcomings and foibles at TSA, and there will be plenty more opportunities in the future.
At last, Kip and I agree on something.
I believe that they've been aiming for a so-called "Trusted Traveler" program (= "Give us all your personal information, pay an annual fee, and we'll let you skip things that we know are pointless anyway, like the shoe removal and liquid limits. Foreign citizens need not apply."). If they had simply introduced that in, say, 2006, they would have faced a backlash from privacy advocates and others. Instead, they've made the process so invasive for so many, creating the current media storm of criticism, that such a program will be welcomed as "relief" by far too many. And by the time the sheep realize the program is a fraud, it will be too late.
__________________ When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. - George Bernard Shaw
TSA is intentionally being very close-lipped about the potential benefits for the traveller under a 'Trusted Traveller' program.
That's because this has nothing to do with benefits for the pax. This has to do with collection of more data, more government intrusion into private citizens' lives. If this thing is at the point of announcing implementation plans, you can be sure there is a plan in place regarding what the pax will still be required to do. They aren't announcing it because it isn't going to be what folks hope for.
Further, what isn't being stated is that and FSD (or frontline TSO) can place additional restrictions at any time without justification. Yes, CBP can pull GE holders aside for random inspections, but they're few and far between. And I don't see FSD's (or their equivalent) stepping in and announcing that the GE kiosks will be closed for a day/month/year just because...
I also think that 'trusted travllers' will be steered to the NoS (while there's still a choice). I don't care what anyone says, I have yet to see a scanner that can process folks as quickly as the WTMD (and that's without the grope that often accompanies the NoS experience).
Rather than a tempting fishing expedition into the murky waters of commercial data with known and hidden privacy perils as well as dubious validity, Pistole appears to be sticking to the solid ground of already privacy-validated programs.
What an lying idiot! Kippie himself was the one who created the identical process using exactly the same data when some Blacklight Bob decided he didn't like someone's Passport Card. After all, Kippie declared, "ID matters." and it was so. Also, airlines illegally mined data on Kippie's watch for "Secure Flight" with his tacit approval.
Quote:
So TSA critics, seize this moment and give Pistole a hand.
m readers. I liked this one the best:
Sounds like vintage Spiff!
