In the aftermath of 9/11, a foolish Congress shifted airline security screening to the inept Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which fails to detect explosive ingredients and fake bombs, in performance tests. Now, the Obama Administration is making matters even worse by undermining both airline security and railroad safety.
A study found that the TSA is more than twice as likely to fail to detect a bomb as the private security firms it replaced. And TSA's failure rate is three or four times as high as the few remaining private firms still allowed to handle airline security.
Rather than having the federal government take over airline security screening, the Feds should have stepped up policing and regulation of the private companies that performed it, to weed out bad companies and promote the best.
Bush initially objected to Congressional demands for a federal takeover, but then knuckled under for political reasons. Ironically, even in European countries governed by Socialist parties, airline security and screening is generally in the hands of private companies, because private companies are usually more diligent and innovative and less bureaucratic and inefficient.
The Obama Administration is also undermining the security of railroad passengers by gutting an expert, highly-rated, anti-terror agency at Amtrak, which Amtrak's unions hate, despite its efficiency, because it is not unionized. Political cronyism is also playing a role in the gutting of Amtrak’s Office of Security Strategy and Special Operations (OSSSO). Ultimately, OSSSO's "highly-specialized officers" will likely be replaced by unionized employees with "alarmingly low pass rates" in "basic" classes.
Comments
It is a bunch of garbage that the private companies are better. They are better than some and worse than others. The issue is our freedoms, laws, and political concerns really prevent the best technology from being put in place as well as the best procedures. Pepole like the GAO come in and ask "how many terrorists have you caught". Great question, but another might be how many terrorists have been caught at any checkpoint screening process in the world. Do we know if a terrorist exhibits something which a criminal does not. Do we know if the iindividual with 4 IDs, all w/different names is here for a better life or has other intentions...NO. The bottom line is in the nearly 2 million passengers per day in the US air system maybe 6-12 are really of interest. It would be so nice if they wore a scarlet letter but they don't. Many scorn TSA but few really offer solutions and of those solutions most will go nowhere because of the politics. Lastly, remember most experts are selling products
All that privatizing does is see that the people actually doing the work are paid and treated like low life, most of the money going to the well connected middleman.
I would invite Mr. Bader to try working a few weeks in a government agency which hires predominantly from private industry and whose supervisors and managers have no knowlege of the Office of Personnel Management rules on treatment of employees. TSA is an "excepted service" - and that stipulation is trotted out by myriad supervisors, managers, and TSA leadership as carte blanche to arbitrarily fire employees, for which the employee has zero recourse. TSA screeners are routinely directed to work split shifts, with no notice; or are called in to work on their "weekend" day for involuntary overtime. Sure, OT pay is good, but when you don't feel like you can even count on your scheduled days off, it's a real morale-buster. The "excepted service" provision has led most "leaders" in TSA completely unaccountable for what would likely be illegal employment practices everywhere else. All that TSA employees want is a fair shake.
It is stupefyingly dumb and risky what Obama is doing, all to pander to public employee unions.
Not only is it risky to the country, it's risky to his own political fortunes.
The one issue that could cost Obama re-election is national security, and he is giving the GOP a potential opening on this issue, if another terrorist attack matters.
If he hadn't pandered to the unions like this, they'd still have voted for him based on his support for other things like Card Check.
But he would have closed a serious weakness on national security issues.
I've seen very few Unions that produce anything but lazy overpaid employees and thugs for union reps. These people allow themselves to be represented by mostly corrupt people who have no more real compassion for those they represent short of the power and influence it affords them. The gov't getting involved will do nothing to keep us, the traveling public, safer but will ensure the lines will be longer, less likely to catch those who mean to do us harm and more corrupt in the future.
Undermines??? We are up to our necks in "security", and the fact that 9/11 was an inside job go to show most is all for nothing but to perpetuate the myth of 19 arabs hijacking planes, especially when most of them were found alive since then and their names were not on the flight manifests as well even though their passport was found in the wreckage? But not in the manifest? Hmm? We have police state for a lie, two wars for a lie. You want more security? Go to russia or some other totalitarian regieme. Go ahead and erase my post, you are a censor and a gatekeeper. I remember you!
RSBL, My point is that burdensome, big government "solutions" actually create problems.
Do you disagree with that?
Restrictions on freedom and free enterprise (such as wiping out private airline security screening firms) often harm security.
Do you disagree?
Freedom and security are not inherently opposed to each other. Free societies tend to be more secure than oppressive societies.
You cannot have security and freedom at the same time, I believe Ben Franklin said it best? "Those that give up essential liberties for temporary security get and deserve neither". Something like that. Other than that, I agree with your comment.
Freedom is responsibility, being responsible for your own security. We dont need others to "secure" us, unless of course you are lazy or a coward. Our founders set us up with the most formidable security apparatus in the world...the citizen soldier, armed and free. However, as soon as lazy people started turning everything we should have been doing for ourselves over to the governments, it slowly turned into a nanny state, both right and left (if you even still believe it exists) did this to us. We need to get rid of the two party one headed system, they both work to remove any power left from the people. Responsibility needs to be taught by parents and schools, not reliance. We had a declaration of Independence, not dependence. Also, smacking other sovereign countries around with our foreign policy WILL cause blowback, time to look back to our founders for foreign and domestic policy, they were smart.
Our country saw it's greatest period of affluence and growth when union membership was at its highest, and the government was highly involed in anti-trust activity. Progressive policies do have their problems, I'll admit, but progressives rarely STEAL. Thank God the Bush Kleptocracy is over.
"Restrictions on freedom and free enterprise (such as wiping out private airline security screening firms) often harm security."
One company was responsible for all the airports involved with 9/11, they were an Israeli company, outsourced, since when do we rely on foreign nations for our internal security, and those that arent even friendly to us, except towards the dual nationals in congress? Remember the "dancing Israelis" on 9/11? No? Time for some research. (9/11 started smelling like mossad/cia quite a few years ago after you follow the money, the players, the positions they held, and their relationships to eachother...and Israel) Not being an anti-semite here, just calling it like I see it. Dont forget PNAC as well with their statements before 9/11 and where those people ended up in the administration. Need to look at the root of all this "security" since it is in light of 9/11. Peace.
" I'll admit, but progressives rarely STEAL"
Cough cough, bank bailouts, cough.....
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