Originally Posted by
GUWonder
They can be less effective. If I put a bunch of 7 years old to play TSA with the TSA luggage scanning machines, there would be a lot more variability in outcomes. While it wouldn't be as extreme with adult National Guard members as doing the same with a bunch of 7 year olds on the luggage scanning machines, I am pretty sure there would be even more extreme variability in outcomes with random National Guard members doing the screening than with even the current TSA crew.
Even if the National Guard members on average were at least as effective as TSA in WEI interdiction at civilian airports, the whole optics of further militarization of America for non-emergency purposes would be completely unwelcome by me. And I wouldn't find this kind of shutdown-driven 15% absentee rate of TSA screeners to be a national emergency requiring further militarization of American life in the civil sphere.
Originally Posted by
Boggie Dog
Hm... don't the National Guard and the active military have hundreds of fully-qualified ATCs? I wouldn't be too sorry to see some of those folks called in to alleviate the difficulties in the towers, since they wouldn't be engaging in violations of travelers' civil rights or acting in any sort of security, law enforcement, or military capacity. I would see that situation as comparable to the NG engaging in rescue efforts after a natural disaster - they're out there not as warfighters or occupation/peacekeeping forces, but as rescuers and aid workers.
Originally Posted by
Boggie Dog
Drudge Headline: Shutdown Resolution Reached: Announcement at 1:00 P.M.
No additional details.
Announcement now delayed until 1:30.
Just a hiatus. In three weeks we're quite possibly going to be back to square one.
In the meantime, I imagine that once paychecks go out, at least some of the TSA sick-outs will return to work, but I think we'll also see a lot of breath-holding, and a lot of TSOs simply quitting and looking for other work.
I wonder whether the resignation rate will be higher among those who called out sick, or those who worked through without pay?