Ex-US Presidents (and their spouses) to be indefinitely exempted from TSA screening
As a consequence of just about the entire Congress fast-tracking a law and the POTUS signing it today, former US Presidents and their spouses/widow(er)s will again be exempted indefinitely from TSA screening because they will have lifetime government-funded Secret Service protection and those with such armed escorts have exemptions from the TSA dog and pony show. The under-16 years of age children of former Presidents will also get the same benefit.
"As it stands now, the measure affects only two presidents -- Obama and predecessor George W. Bush" ... and their spouses and any children who may be 16 years of age or under.
Too bad the government doesn't have even the shallow audacity to exempt us all from the strip search machines at TSA screening checkpoints.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chollie
This makes me sick.
We are elevating our elected politicans to lifetime royalty.
At the risk of turning this political, we are well down the road to a totalitarian state. One need look no further than the TSA and some of the court decisions around TSA & DHS blacklist procedures to understand that.
We are elevating our elected politicans to lifetime royalty.
Foreign royals in the US with armed government escorts are also exempted, by way of law and regulation, from the worst excesses of the TSA dog and pony show ... but even then the TSA is known to have messed up there too.
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Like TSA, DL SkyMiles management treats airline customers as if they are the enemy or sheep to be fleeced and it shows.
This bill has nothing to do with TSA. It is a law extending secret service protection to former US presidents. It doesn't mention exempting them from TSA screening.
In any case, former US presidents don't travel commercial.
This bill has nothing to do with TSA. It is a law extending secret service protection to former US presidents. It doesn't mention exempting them from TSA screening.
Since they would be flying with Secret Service, this would have the effect of exempting them from TSA screening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by castrobenes
In any case, former US presidents don't travel commercial.
This bill has nothing to do with TSA. It is a law extending secret service protection to former US presidents. It doesn't mention exempting them from TSA screening.
In any case, former US presidents don't travel commercial.
castro
Yes, they do - or at least one of them does (probably the only one humble enough to do so).
I was on a commercial domestic DL flight with Jimmy Carter and three Secret Service agents a couple years ago. They boarded and deplaned from a stairway leading directly to the tarmac, where a vehicle dropped him off and picked him up, not from the jetway to/from the terminal.
This would suggest to me that he and his agents probably didn't go through the checkpoint either.
BTW, Secret Service protection is also extended to ex-First Ladies. It has been extended to only one Vice-President in history (costs the taxpayer $1 million a month, although he would NEVER fly commercial - Cheney).
Clinton extended SS protection to Chelsea Clinton for a time after he left office. Bush extended protection to his daughters (adults) when he left office, for an unknown length of time, and they are still under SS protection at this time.
Since they would be flying with Secret Service, this would have the effect of exempting them from TSA screening.
Lots of things have lots of effects. The title and post were disingenuous and designed to make it sound like a law was passed with the purpose of exempting former presidents from TSA screening.
This surprises me. I still bet that neither W or Obama will be traveling commercial, and those are the beneficiaries.
I will defend the law. Former presidents (both the ones I like and dislike) are important symbolic targets. Lots of people would like to make a name for themselves and hurt the country by attacking them. It is in the national interest that they are protected.
I won't address the screening part of this. You are free to debate it, but I am not.
I flew on a commercial flight with Gerald Ford sitting in the seat behind me (1990s). He had two Secret Service agents with him and they all boarded via the jetway stairs from a car on the tarmac.
Lots of things have lots of effects. The title and post were disingenuous and designed to make it sound like a law was passed with the purpose of exempting former presidents from TSA screening.
Perhaps you need to re-read just the first sentence of the OP to show how it really isn't disingenuous:
Quote:
As a consequence of just about the entire Congress fast-tracking a law and the POTUS signing it today, former US Presidents and their spouses/widow(er)s will again be exempted indefinitely from TSA screening because they will have lifetime government-funded Secret Service protection and those with such armed escorts have exemptions from the TSA dog and pony show.
[Emphasis added]
Quote:
Originally Posted by castrobenes
This surprises me. I still bet that neither W or Obama will be traveling commercial, and those are the beneficiaries.
We now have evidence that numerous ex-Presidents have flown commercial. In addition, President Nixon even flew commercial while he was president.
__________________ "The goal of terrorism, you see, is not to make a nation bleed but to make it fear." - Leonard Pitts, Jr.
I agree with Castrobenes, however - regardless of the past, I think it highly unlikely that Bush or Obama will ever fly commercial after leaving office. Their children might (but they will be bypassing security as long as they are enjoying the benefits of taxpayer-funded SS protection, as the Bush girls still are), but the ex-Presidents will not.
Part of the transition of the POTUS to aristocratic status in this country.
I disagree about the value of the former heads-of-state as targets - here or elsewhere in the world, and I disagree even more with the value of their wives and children and vice-presidents (Obama signed off on making Cheney the first VP in history to get SS protection, $1 million monthly) as targets.
Certainly not a lifetime risk, or anywhere close to it, and certainly not enough of a risk to justify housing, cars, first-class plane tickets, etc. for groups of high-paid professionals to accompany the former POTUS and his wife, even when they are apart (most couples do spend plenty of time apart as well as together, Laura Bush isn't a mountain biker, George doesn't lunch with the ladies) - a costly endeavor now extended to adult children for indefinite periods of time.
