USDHS - TSA July 2014: "Enhanced security" overseas airports with US flights
Jul 2, 2014, 2:37 pm
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USDHS - TSA July 2014: "Enhanced security" overseas airports with US flights
The US homeland security department has said it will put into place "enhanced security measures" in certain overseas airports with direct flights to the US.
A UK transport official told the BBC the country would be among those to step-up security procedures.
The move comes amid US media reports that al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria and Yemen are developing bombs to smuggle on planes.
The department said the changes would be made in the "upcoming days".
A UK transport official told the BBC the country would be among those to step-up security procedures.
The move comes amid US media reports that al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria and Yemen are developing bombs to smuggle on planes.
The department said the changes would be made in the "upcoming days".
Caveat - we will be spending more time and enjoying more pantomime for "our security".
Jul 2, 2014, 2:52 pm
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"I have directed TSA to implement enhanced security measures..."
UA and other airlines have already conditioned me to cringe reflexively whenever I hear or see 'enhanced' or 'enhancements.'
It's almost as if Johnson's blurb writer reads FT and chose a word just to tease us.
It's almost as if Johnson's blurb writer reads FT and chose a word just to tease us.
Jul 2, 2014, 6:22 pm
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Rather than "enhancing" the process of getting on a plane, shouldn't the TSA and other agencies begin to pay more attention to the threat of terrorists on the ground firing RPGs or ground-to-air missiles at aircraft in flight? The recent killing of a passenger on a Pakistan airliner in flight from small arms ground fire should make security people wake up fast. The range of ground-launched rockets can be thousands of feet, so aircraft during takeoff/landing are very serious targets. The terorist won't have to kill himself or herself while taking down a plane. In early 1996, the NATO aircraft I was flying on took ground fire upon approach to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzgovina; luckily no injuries or catastrophic damage to the aircraft (a few bullet holes which missed hydraulic lines), but the threat was real. Today, this could become the number one terrorist action. Physical security zones around airports woiuld have to be greatly enlarged.
Jul 2, 2014, 9:39 pm
#5
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Another stupid move by a very stupid agency which should not exist in the first place. 
Jul 2, 2014, 11:41 pm
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Jul 3, 2014, 12:20 am
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"Tighter" "security" in this context is a misnomer. It's an expansion of the same nonsense the TSA has had done overseas already.
If this expansion were really tighter security, what does that say about what the TSA wanted and had done previously in the name of "security"? Relaxed security?
Lesson reinforced: minimize use of US carriers on flights to the US.
If this expansion were really tighter security, what does that say about what the TSA wanted and had done previously in the name of "security"? Relaxed security?
Lesson reinforced: minimize use of US carriers on flights to the US.
Jul 3, 2014, 1:51 am
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Jul 3, 2014, 2:00 am
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Jul 3, 2014, 2:56 am
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Link to BBC article
Caveat - we will be spending more time and enjoying more pantomime for "our security".
Caveat - we will be spending more time and enjoying more pantomime for "our security".
It kept happening up until the moment I handed my boarding pass to the GA to board the plane. I counted 4 times I was asked the "has anyone given you anything in your bag question". Not really sure how the DHS expects someone to get a bomb through UK security AND US security...
Jul 3, 2014, 5:09 am
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How can security get any tighter? It's a PITA already.
Jul 3, 2014, 5:39 am
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Uh, isn't this what they've been worrying about all this time? Bombs, planes, AQ, smuggle? Sound familiar? So all the NoS and ETD and groping for the past several years have been about, what, really?
Jul 3, 2014, 8:22 am
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Jul 3, 2014, 8:40 am
#15
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What it's about is publicity for DHS, and CYA insurance. Every so often they issue proclamations like this in order to protect themselves in the event of a successful terrorist attack to the transportation infrastructure.