Actually I do not agree that the crew should be blamed with the pilot unless there is evidence that the copilot/crew specifically were asked their input. I would doubt that the pilot asked for their input as he felt that it was his decision. I do believe that while profiling should be used effectively to focus our securities attention no one should be denied anything because of looks, dress even attitude as long as it is not disrupting.

Just as I will probably subjected to looks and intense scrutiny tomorrow because I am flying from omaha to dusseldorf and returning with only a 3 hour layover. I will not be checking any luggage and I actually paid cash because I used a cash voucher and only owed 40 some dollars afterward. I will put up with the additional checks politely as have several arab friends that have flown since 9-11. I do believe that everyone, not just a SS agent should be treated the same. At the same time, I think people are most upset that an agent was denied because it is such a cut an dried situation. (ok I will grant we might not know everything, but I can tell you that if the agent acted anything but a professional he knows he would be reassigned and punished for bringing disrepute onto the presidential detail. That would also be the case with any armed officer that acted badly in this situation. Even a city police officer would be severly punished if he acted out in front of other police officers/witnesses.)

I also disagree about the use of the initials SS, that is taking political correctness to an absurd level. While I do believe some people use USSS, many publications have used SS otherwise why not require people to use USFBI or USDEA. Usually you would use US if the publication was aimed at an international audience or in a situation that talked about history of security detachments that might refer to both US and Nazi German ones.

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Robert