Originally Posted by Bart

As a trainer, I regard the national level covert testing a huge PITA. It doesn't do a damn thing for me. Of course, I speak heresy with that, but that's how I see it.

I prefer the local level testing because the data is much more meaningful to me. I can adjust the difficulty level according to the demonstrated proficiency level of the officer. That's how you improve performance. My objection to the Red Team is, for example, when they run a bag with a pretty difficult challenge against a TSO who just graduated from the basic screener course. Of course that TSO isn't going to get it; hell, he or she just recently got certified as an x-ray operator. There are a bunch of other reasons, mostly internal, that I couldn't care less if the Red Teams were to go away. Bottom line is that local trainers are in a much better position to assess the performance levels of their local officers and in a much better position to train, test, evaluate, re-train, re-test and re-evaluate to improve that performance level.

To the chagrin of the anti-military types in here: it's the same difference between an ARTEP and taking a unit to the NTC. One is a handy tool for the commander to improve combat performance while the other is, for lack of a better term, a political-level report card.