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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To give TSA some credit it has done somethings right, unfortunately the same cannot be said of DHS.

What TSA has done correctly.
1) The quality of the screening has gone up. Sure there are some new rules that slow things down, but for the most part the quality of screening has gone up. I know we all hate the shoe thing, the laptop thing and what ever other thing TSA decides to implement on that day. I do however, understand the laptop removal, at least from the main bag. The amount of electronics and wires in the bag makes it difficult to identify other items in the bag.

2) The reduction of the number of items on the prohibited items list is a sign that there are some people with brain cells working in TSA. Granted it is not the list that makes the most sense, but it is an improvement. I understand that inital list was an overreaction after 9/11, but I believe that over time the list will get more reasonable. (unless some idiot on capital hill decides to get involved)

3) Many of the people who work for TSA are people who actually care about doing their job. However, there are those that are rude beyond belief. There should be a mechanism in the TSA to remove those folks from contact with the traveling public. (put them on the employee lines, or somewhere else.)

4) A level of consistency has at least been created. In the pre 9/11 days we didn't complain about the consistency, why because it wasn't consistent. Too many different people running the systems. And they weren't that effective either. TSA at least has some ground rules that almost everyone seems to follow. The problem we have with the system is the rouge screeners who decide to do things their way. We are just more sensitive to the issues now than we were in the past.
Now for what TSA has done poorly (AKA FT gripes)

1) Checked bag screening procedures. The encouragement to leave bags unlocked has lead to a number of problems, and more are sure to come. Be it theft from bags by screeners, or ramp agents an unlocked bag makes it all easier. Further opening a bag outside the presence of its owner does nothing to enhance security. If the passenger is present during screening of the bag it serves two purposes. 1) The agents can gauge the pax reaction to the process, and can imidiately aprehend or otherwise question the passenger if an item is found in the bag. 2) The passenger can ensure that no items are added to the bag to be used for smuggling purposes. Further It should be required that all bags be locked.

2) The whole SSSS thing -- I have asked many times and have not gotten an answer from any screener to the following question -- "Do you find more prohibited items on passengers having SSSS than you do on non-SSSS passegner and passengers randomly selected?" In other words is the percentage of hits on SSSS passengers significantly higher than the number of hits on non-SSSS passengers? If there is a not a significant difference, then the SSSS program is nothing more than the dog and pony show we believe it is.

3) Shoe policy -- In reality it needs to be an all or nothing approach. In otherwords, either all shoes need to be swabbed or just forget about it. It slows down the line, and adds very little to the overall equation.

4) Stupid pilot programs to find the bad guys. These attempts are just a waste of money in an attempt to justify the contiued procedures.

I guess what i am saying is that TSA has been both good and bad. The problem for them has been a bloated management chain that doesn't understand the problems the line folks go through. They respond to the lowest common denomenator (The anything for security folks) and do not consider the real world. The real world needs to realize that there are risks and things will happen. TSA should be risk mittigation and not risk avoidence.

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No, what the TSA needs to do is only open bags in the presense of passengers, unless the passengers have given prior consent.

Too many bags being opened to do this? Then it's time to stop wasting money on Workfare and get better pre-screening technology.

I don't have much, if anything, to disagree with, so my comments will be short. :)

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.

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.

Bart , Thanks for your detailed reply. What you have described as the process for screening checked baggage differs significantly from what I have experienced. Specifically I have had a number of TSA approved locks cut, or worse yet the bag was cut at the zipper connection point with the TSA lock still on the bag, the indicator was still green and the nice little notice from TSA saying they had been in the bag. My experience up until recently has been that many TSA agents didn't care about the approved locks and just cut them off.

I am glad to hear that there is some discretion given to screeners regarding searching bags. Also I am suprised to learn that if there is a lock on the bag TSA is to page the passenger. I have never heard of that, didn't know it existed, and I don't think I have even heard a page for that. (Is the page, Mr. XXXX please report to the nearest security checkpoint. Or is it, Mr. XXXX please go to the nearest white courtesy phone and dial 201 for a message)

Also I was wondering if you could answer this question as well from my previous post?
Thanks again for your willingness to discuss these things. ^ Hey we may not always agree on things, but an open and honest communication goes a long way towards understanding.

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I agree with Bart's posts here except his view on the lengthy lines. In 30+ years of frequent flying, I have encountered long lines on occasion prior to September 14, 2001. But the wait times at airports all over the country jumped dramatically (for me, at least) on September 14, 2001.

Note that I'm not blaming the TSA for the drastic slowdown in checkpoint throughput. Idiot Mineta's "Spend lots of time searching for many non-credible dual use items" policy is to blame.

Problem is, the TSA inherited his prohibited items list lunacy, and his subsequent shoe lunacy (check nearly all of 'em in our risk avoidance strategy), and the lines are still far too long. Only recently has the TSA relented on some of the nonweapon items, and it ignored the most obvious (and most hated, by me) stupid prohibition: small penknives.

In many airports, the TSA checkpoints occupy several times the square footage of the old checkpoints. Example: AA was in the process of remodeling its T-4 terminal prior to 2001, and part of the work was some nice new terrazzo flooring on the upstairs entrance to the concourse, where the security checkpoints have always been. The three x-ray machines and WTMDs occupied, at most, several hundred square feet. There was lots of open space and even newstands and other vendors up there.

Well, along comes the TSA, and that agency now occupies several thousand square feet - it now occupies the entire upstairs entrance to the concourse. It's squeezed up against the stairs and escalators. TSA added several more x-ray machines and WTMDs and hundreds of linear feet of plexiglass holding pen panels. Yet long lines are still typical.

Oh, about that nice terrazzo? Can't see it anymore, as TSA has covered it with numerous machines and plexiglass pens. Holding pens? Never saw them, pre-TSA. Obviously we are safer because of them.

Bottom line: Almost Nobody had to undress in the old days. Belts, shoes, jackets, etc were all ok to go. The cowboys with Dinner-plate-sized belt buckles and the stoners and rural hicks with their huge chain-secured wallets were the exceptions. Now, traversing the checkpoint looks a lot more like a prison intake procedure than it ought to. And that's shameful. I still don't understand how Americans can treat fellow Americans so disgracefully. Perhaps the larger federal paycheck (much larger than under the old system) convinces them.

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In post #16, MSY-MSP refers also to "ROUGE screeners".

OMG! Referring to the screeners, or specifically what they're allowed to SCREEN?

Come clean, screeners! Who are your eyeliner and lip-gloss FSDs trying to fool?

Bart
 

Do we all get to meet you as we pass through SAT on the Fly3 promotion???

Just curious

Bart, Thanks for answering the second question for me. I knew where your feelings stood on the issue of SSSS, but I was really wondering the actual outcome at the checkpoint. It makes me feel that much better what you reported that the SSSS is nothing more than kabuki security, and generally the items that are found are found because of lazy screeners who know the bag will get searched anyway.

Anyway, keep up the good work and keeping us informed as thing change and progress.

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Yes! :)

I apologize for not clearly writing the paragraph that disappointed you, but rest assured, it wasn't directed at you. You have previously written that you ran to the airplort and volunteered pre-TSA (IIRC, post-September 11). As retired military, it's not likely that you become a screener to feed your family or because it was the highest paid option available to you.

While I don't understand what motivated you to become an airport screener, you are obviously not a power-hungry punk like the ones who smirk as they yell "assist" when I question their "recommendation" to remove my nonprofile shoes (I'm pretty certain they don't meet the profile given that 95% of the WTMD screeners agree with me). These are shoes I've worn for many years and have consistently worn since Richard Reid's stunt. Pretty low incidence of that particular defect in the ranks.

I served my country with honor and I don't get the connection between your admirable service and your disappointment with my paragraph. I most certainly understand the concept of sacrifice and service to one's country. You aren't equating the two, are you? As in TSA employment = Honorable military service??

We've been over it before, probably hundreds of times, but I don't agree that the checkpoints had anything to do with September 11. Many people did see a connection, and the bad-mouthing of the contractors began in earnest. Mineta ordered airport shutdown after after shutdown in response to well-publicized gaffes (unplugged WTMDs, sleeping x-ray screeners or exit monitors) in his campaign to ensure passage of the Act on Nov 19, 2001. His antics also helped cement a connection in many people's minds that the low-paid foreigners (who didn't even speak English, they kept reminding us) were a contributing factor to the success of Atta's terrorist plot.

Here's the crux of my difficulty: I couldn't be convinced to confiscate/divest/prohibit the silly prohibited items on the prohibited items list (excluding the guns, large knives, real weapons, hazmat, etc) for any amount of annual income. Just a philosophical failure of mine, I guess. I similarly couldn't "recommend" that pax remove their shoes, jackets, and other items under pain of full secondary searches. Not for any amount of money. And I have difficulty understanding how others can do it.

Can't imagine anyone prostituting themselves for a paycheck? I knew enlistees who hated the military and only did it 'cause they were out of options. I realize that you aren't prostituting yourself for the federal paycheck. Which really confounds me - WTH would cause someone as upstanding as you to do it?

In any event, my travels don't take me to San Antonio with any regularity. It would be great if you were manning all the checkpoints, at all the airports, but unfortunately, you're just one cog in a 44k employee (or whatever it is today) mistreatment machine.

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When I first read this I thought Bart had fallen in the same trap that almost everybody else has: Baggage is not only zippered bags but there are a lot of us that still use hard shell, Samsonite-type, bags. Yes, I know, we are a buch of oldies, but there is a large investment in those bags and they will stay with us until the airlines break them.

Then I saw this:

That's more like what it used to be pre 9/11 and I appreciate that there is someone in TSA that still knows about the master keys that will open (almost) all suit cases. I just hope that it is common knowledge and that we still can lock our hardshells.

B-but don't we get to hear anything else about those ROUGE screeners???

Fascinating new twist in the world of cosmetic security...