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Is this the face of a terrorist?
http://www.startribune.com/politics/...lightModules:2
John Anderson's family was taking a trip to Disney World in 2004 when they were stopped by security at Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport. The airlines thought John, who goes by Jack, was on a terror watch list. Agents were dumbfounded when they looked over the counter to see the suspected terrorist -- a 2-year-old St. Paul toddler dozing in his stroller with a pacifier hanging from his mouth. Two years later, the family was stopped by airport security again, owing to Jack's common name. The Andersons have since given up flying, waiting for federal authorities to fix a database that has ensnared more than 30,000 Americans. Prompted by cases such as Jack's, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is announcing legislation today to minimize airport delays and correct other problems caused by the watch list. Good luck with that endeavor. Love these nuggets from the TSA: Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokeswoman Carrie Harmon said the department is working closely with airlines to prevent misidentifications. "TSA hopes to resolve the issue with airlines cooperatively," she said, but added that fines or other penalties "remain an option for carriers that inaccurately tell passengers they are watch-listed." TSA officials are also very guarded about how different names end up on the watch list, citing national security. "Watch lists keep legitimate terror threats off of airplanes every day, all over the world," Harmon added. TSA puts the onus on the airlines to administer the list but doesn't allow them any latitude for common sense while at the same time absolves itself of any responsibility for the content of the list. See the comment made by a reader of the article: "...that all too often, the mistake is made by the airlines." Untrue. The TSA puts out mandates that any name that matches their lists must be flagged. The airlines have to call the TSA to clear the names if the passenger birthday is within two years of the list name's. If the airline doesn't comply, they get fined. How is this the airlines fault? |
Absolutely! Who knows what the kid could have been packing in his diaper! I definitely advocate TSA agents having to hand-check each and every diaper that goes through.
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Well, I read somewheres where the some FAMs could not board their assigned flights due to their names were on the list. TSA has problems with their own people. Not too swift!!!
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To be fair, read a couple of the threads in the various airline forums about kids in first class and you'd think that the kid is a potential terrorist.
Mike |
Originally Posted by mikeef
(Post 10152756)
To be fair, read a couple of the threads in the various airline forums about kids in first class and you'd think that the kids is a potential terrorist.
Mike |
They were stopped twice in two years and they gave up flying? That seems kind of extreme. The article doesn't really say what the 'stopping' consisted of. It could have been anything from a 10-minute delay or a full-on cavity search.
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Originally Posted by Telfes
(Post 10150496)
Absolutely! Who knows what the kid could have been packing in his diaper! I definitely advocate TSA agents having to hand-check each and every diaper that goes through.;)
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