Well you know that isn't what I was talking about. How about the knife in the shoe in Hawaii, the "bomb" in Oklahoma, etc. None of these have panned out. So I still posit that the TSA has found no terrorists at a checkpoint.


Offense is taken if you are telling me that our government is absconding with persons on US soil without any due process. Perhaps I need a reality check or perhaps our government should be following the law. Can you provide more info of what is happening? I'm sure at least some courts might be interested.

1. Check more than 20% of the cargo bins.
2. Use newer equipment than what the private screeners were using.
3. Consistent SOP applications.
4. If they're going to screen shoes, screen ALL shoes and stop being naive enough to think that a background check voids any possibility of smuggling explosives.
5. Maybe we're being naive, but $5.5 billion per year should deliver better than an 0 for 21 track record. If you don't know what I mean, Google that.
6. Accountability. At ALL levels.
7. Checking a catering truck or two and its staff once in awhile.

Bart, I think that silence on the part of many including myself, is not indicative of contempt. Trust me, I am proud of my military service and of other members of my family. You can ask Eyecue about the latter.

Certain people will always criticize the military and yet be patriotic. I don't see this as an oxymoron. I was in ROTC just after the Vietnam War. You can only imagine the taunts I received when I wore my uniform. They pale in comparison to anything on this board.

Better use of technology to reduce intrusive searches and seizures (Fourth Amendment term of art) of Americans who are not reasonably suspected of involvement in criminal activity. If no alarming of WTMD, nothing suspicious by X-ray or other scanning instrument, and no bulges under clothing, then no further searches.

Better security at airports, with screening for ground crews and equipment similar to that required of passengers. After all, who has more access to the aircraft at an airport, the passengers or ground crew?

Screen cargo for contraband, especially explosives. Remember Lockerbie, Scotland? One unsuccessful goofball triggered the shoe carnival, but TSA/DHS/the feds ignore a method that has already destroyed airliners in flight.

How was that for alternatives without hateful rhetoric?

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I think it is pretty clear from this post that I didn't miss one of your points. And it was to that I was responding.

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Come on, Bart. Just because I responded to one post doesn't mean I need to respond to everything you raise, especially when I didn't even bring it up. I just wanted to point out one issue. And we are seriously getting way OT on this anyway.

Err...Bart, I vaguely recall you attacking my military service in a thread not too long ago, so I have trouble understanding why you're going off on this riff.

There are few things more boring than those who constantly bring up their military service. Alas, we live in dark times; and I find it convenient to wear my ARCOM lapel pin so that right wing nutjobs will STFU instead of questioning my patriotism. In the America of Our Dear Leader, vets have more 1st Amendment rights than others. Mind you, I'd still question the patriotism of anyone wearing a decoration on a TSA uniform: the cognitive dissonance would be too great. See you (and this thread) in OMNI! :D

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Short answer, some have.

The question with the more interesting answer would be about FT receipt of any informational requests related to a "law enforcement" matter.

Observation about my being "...a bit on the theatrical side...." noted and admitted, Bart. I can be WAAAAY theatrical. By the same token, however, I note that most of my own rants and theatrics are civilian ones, whereas yours are usually otherwise.

Theatrical or not, I'm STILL not lining up. Does that count as action (or... INaction, I guess) as opposed to theatrics? Does kabuki theater qualify as theatrical, too?

I doubt it
 

In response to the original question, Does the upper management of the DHS & TSA lurk on FT?, I doubt it. Top management doesn't really focus on customer impact. They do customer surveys, collect complaints, and track and report results to DHS, the White House, and Congress, but aren't about to make any real changes based on the results. Congress created TSA, and it's pretty much operating as intended. We may think that it's silly (and I do, especially compared to all of the other countries of the world, who somehow get by without forcing people to take their shoes off and computers out of the bag and who somehow allow metal butter knives to be used in meal service), but the way that TSA works is basically the result of our democratic system in the U.S.; the "market" demanded it after 09/11, and most people (maybe not the super-frequent travelers represented here) feel more secure with TSA there and gladly accept the way that it does business.

Plus, we may be a bit melodramatic and self-important here. I am as big a fan of FT as the next guy, but I am not sure that a handful of people posting sometimes interesting, often trite and overly florid rhetoric, anecdotes, and personal opinions would be of great value to the Secretary of DHS or Assistant Secretary in charge of TSA, who (presumably) have more important things they should be doing. I have seen some decent points here, but very little that is particularly novel or that these folks haven't heard a million times before. Let's not overestimate the poignance of the body of material on this site.