Chertoff Abdicates Security Responsibility
 

Aviation Planning Article

Chertoff: If They Attack, It Won't Be My Fault. It's bad enough to be threatened by terrorists, but it gets really sick when our own Homeland Security chief does it.

"Before we go any further, let's keep some facts in mind: Keep in mind the consistent and on-going failures of the TSA, reported almost daily. Keep in mind the billions that the TSA has wasted. Keep in mind the fact that there is no effective financial or operational oversight regarding how the TSA operates. Keep in mind that the TSA has no problem appointing politically-connected hacks with no security experience to positions of authority.

Now, with all those mental pictures, compare and contrast how the TSA now wants to gouge travelers with higher "security" fees that will allow the TSA to continue to do what it does so poorly. They claim they need even more money, but instead of outlining in a professional manner how this dough will be used, they've taken the low road, with thinly-veiled innuendo implying that any resistance to the fee increases could lead to people dying...

...What we really have an interest in, is firing incompetents like Chertoff. No question - if one wants to isolate the real threat, it's represented by Chertoff, who's trying to blame airlines for the fact he can't manage a budget."

What a well-written article. Kudos to Michael Boyd. ^

Comrade Secretary Chertoff: GET LOST! :mad:

Besides the point of the ineptitude of the TSA in general, step back on this whole "war on terror" and how things are being done within our own borders, and that quote is a home run on how things are going overall.

I hope we don't get the answer
 

Job 1 for a government burro-crat is Self Preservation and Increase Next Years Budget. All else is so far down the line it does not count.

Just suppose: Congress gives Comrade Chertoff a blank check. "Here is all the money you want and more--make us secure". Then six months later a 9/11 Type Event takes place.

It can't be his fault or his agency's fault, why their press releases declare themselves to be ready for anything and running at 100% competency level. They even gave themselves bonuses for being so ready; that could not possibly be a mistake.

How would he explain it away? Who would he blame?

Congressional hearings would question the loopholes that currently are in place. Then, Chertoff would blame the loopholes on the lack of funding.

I am frustrated as anyone with the airport screening processes. I try not to take out my frustrations on the screeners, they're in an unenviable position between their boss and us passengers in a no-win situation. The screeners aren't the decision makers, they're the low-paid grunts.

The article makes a good point in that the problem is with the management, all the way to the top of the heap, Chertoff. Chertoff has shown he can't manage FEMA and we all know he can't manage the TSA. Someone needs to get Donald Trump to call him into his office and tell him "you're fired!"

And just think: Chertoff resigned from a lifetime appointment as a Federal Circuit Court of Appeals judge to become Secretary of Homeland Security. What was he thinking? Surely he didn't think his current position was a stepping stone to higher office. :rolleyes:

Bruce

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This time, Bart, I agree with you on every single point! ^

Not much to discuss really, since behind the sometimes immoderate rhetoric, we actually agree on most points.

I have two bones of contention and do try to keep them separate.
1) the DHS. I really have nothing good to say about them, their performance is just about impossible to judge since I can't find many areas where they are performing at all. Which does not stop them seeking more draconian and totalitarian powers, ably abetted by cowed lawmakers.

2) the TSA. The irksome points here are; firstly why does it take so much longer now to clear security than it did pre-9/11 ? If you accept the premise that prohibited items at checkpoints are more or less the same in kind and numbers, then it has to be those :mad::mad::mad::mad:ing shoes. Secondly, and you amongst TSAers at least acknowledge the problem, are the rogue screeners etc. who ignore how they have supposedly been trained to act in favor of sopping their own egos. Even if they are in the minority, it is a customer service maxim that a single bad experience outweighs a considerable number of good ones. Which is why much of this forum is devoted to recounting the 'bad' experiences.

The solution ? In a word - accountability; and so long as the nation's watchword continues to be security at all costs, there will never be accountability. With us or against us, y'know :rolleyes:

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From our local paper
 

Please bear with me, as I can't find the article on line so I'm gonna have to type it out:

Guards say Homeland Security HQ Insecure

WASHINGTON - Guards at the Department of Homeland Security say the agency mishandled a potential anthrax attack on its headquarters, one of several incidents that led two senators to require an investigation of the agency's own security.

The private guards complained that inadequate training led to confusion in handling bomb and biological threats and failure to stop test vehicles that were sent to checkpoints with improper identification.

"I wouldn't fee safe nowhere on this compound as an officer," former guard Derrick Daniels told The Associated Press. Daniels was employed until last fall by Wackenhut Services, Inc., the private firm that protects a Homeland Security complex that includes sensitive, classified information.

An envelope with suspicious powder was opened last fall at the headquarters. Daniels and other current and former guards said they were shocked when superiors carried it past the office of Secretary Michael Chertoff, took it outside and then shook it outside Chertoff's window without evacuating people nearby.

The scare, caused by white power that proved to be harmless, "stands as one glaring example" of the agency's security problems, Daniels said. "I had never previously been given training.... describing how to respond to a possible chemical attack."

The passage of time does affect one's memory, but for sure, in close to 40 years flying prior to 9/11, I never had to line up outside the terminal. And I won't swear to it, but I don't recall seeing those rat-maze barrier things before then either.

Some of this is attributable to increased pax volume at certain airports, but I still think a lot of it is taking off shoes, jackets, extricating lap-tops etc. and (SSI notwithstanding) the detectors seem to be set to a higher sensitivity.
IDs should be checked (if at all) at the gate, it serves no purpose WHATSOEVER at the security point; BP is sufficient.

If this actually increases security then.... (but you know how I feel) @:-)

What was he thinking? He was not thinking at all. Pure Pavlovian response by a good Loyal Party Member.

(insert image of Dr. Frankensteins monster here, hands out, shuffling toward the Oval Office)

"My Leader Calls I MUST OBEY Without Thinking or Question"

What scares me is a President surrounded by such unquestioning Yes Men, coming at his call, telling him what he orders is 100% right. It's one reason W is so out of touch with reality.

I think everyone, W included, just does what Karl and Dick tell them to. Dick does what his former...ahem...current employer at Halliburton tells him to do.

Maybe Chertoff thought this was going to be a great opportunity to make a difference? Well, as someone with years of government service, he should have known better. However, making idle threats to Congress (and the American people) in the format he used is not going to buy him any friends or get his agenda accomplished.

I loved the dramatic touch of his former punching bag, Michael Brown, waiting for just the right moment to come out swinging and take both C and W out with one punch. Maybe he wasn't such a dumb fashion princess after all? I was actually cheering for the guy when that video got released. That was some serious damage they still can't spin right.

With so many things going wrong, it's becoming hard for the American people to concentrate on which things the Administration is doing badly. Katrina, the war in Iraq, Guantanamo, the Ports sale, DHS mismanagement, the Abramoff case, the VP shooting. Oh, the choices, the choices.

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