Originally Posted by
swag
It seems to me what you're saying is really that TSA is the problem, but the solution must come from legislative oversight.
I'd probably agree with that. TSA certainly seems unlikely to fix itself, and neither Bush nor Obama have done much of anything to rein them in.
And it really isn't that difficult. The basic protections passed by the House in HR 2200 would have solved 90% of the problem. Those protections are:
1. No SDs longer than 6 months without an NPRM
2. No hiding behind SSI for will-o-the-wisp procedures and rule making.
The administrative procedures act, while not perfect, forces agencies to justify to the public, their actions and rules. They have to respond to comments and some agencies have amended or dropped rulemaking when opposition was too great, including the TSA (witness the ill-considered LASP).
This means they operate in the clear light of day. Not behind secret directives, based on secret information, by rules largely hidden from the view of those directly affected.
I heard on NPR this morning one commenter on the wiki-leaks release that the State Department and the US government has apparently been permeated with elevated concerns about security and that has been a focus of some of the data in foreign policy. While they didn't say it, the commenter almost implied there was a tone of national security paranoia in the revealed documents.
I expect front line security managers to be paranoid. I also expect their masters to be bring balance, which is clearly not happening in DHS/TSA.