I don't have much, if anything, to disagree with, so my comments will be short.
Originally Posted by Bart
And I cringed when I heard the President mention Department of Homeland Security during that speech he gave some four years ago to Congress. Making a bigger bureaucracy out of several already large bureaucracies never made sense to me, and it still doesn't. Having been a participant in numerous combined, joint and interdepartmental endeavors, the one constant was the separate agendas each member focused on with jealous protection while pretending to be a hand-holding, Kumbaya-singing participant in whatever venture we were conducting. This applies to government agencies, national agencies and international agencies: it was all the same game.
I'd take that a step further. Even departments within the same agency have their own agendas, and they will fight to protect them to the death. It drove me nuts that the director was telling us, and the press one thing, but people further down the stream pretty much thumbed their nose at it.
Status quo is the watch word for the government.
There is certainly a mentality that believes lengthy security processing somehow means good security. While a part of it can certainly be attributed to the so-called shoe carnival, I don't see it entirely different than pre-9/11. I remember waiting in long lines to get through the security checkpoint at BWI, Washington National, DFW and a host of other major airports. There may be some who wish to dispute this with me; however, I distinctly remember the various wait times at various airports and I personally don't see that much of a difference. However, I will admit that I haven't travelled since the creation of TSA and I'm basing this on comparing times while being at the other end of the walk-thru as a screener.
I'll disagree with the wait times here Bart.
I flew a good amount before and after 9/11. While I didn't fly out of DCA, I did fly out of IAD, BWI, and PIT fairly often. I rarely saw lines like I do today. Maybe occasionally at IAD, but never did BWI's lines come close to the international terminal from the D concourse like they do today.
Long lines are an indication of kabuki security, not good security.