301 moved permanently

Paul Gillin's Blog - Social Media and the Open Enterprise

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Arrogance in the skies

BoingBoing.net compliments and links to a 60 Minutes report, “Unlikely Terrorists On No Fly List,” which paints a devastating picture of incompetence and arrogance at the FBI and the Transportation Safety Agency. 60 Minutes got hold of the secret “No Fly” list and found 44,000 names on it, including numerous dead people, heads of state and people locked up in prison. The names of 11 of the 15 9/11 hijackers were on the list, despite the fact that they’ve been dead for five years.

The most amazing part of the story, I thought, was that common names are included in the list without any additional identifying information. This creates enormous disruption for innocent people whose only crime is having the same name as somebody else. And it’s not like these are distinctive names. One of them is Robert Johnson. CBS actually gathered together a group of people named Robert Johnson at random and asked them about their experiences. All of them have experienced significant delay and disruption when going through airports. Many said they are routinely questioned for hours before they’re allowed to board a plane. Do you think the FBI could provide screeners with a little more information than just a name? Of course not. The agency is shielded by a shroud of government secrecy, which covers up its ineptitude.

I’ve been on a rant about airport security since these ridiculous new rules were passed limiting travelers to carrying on no more than three ounces of liquids and gels in a one-quart plastic bag that must be available for inspection. Where on earth do they come up with these rules? What’s magic about three ounces? Why does it have to be a one-quart plastic bag? We don’t know, because the TSA doesn’t have to explain anything. The fact that it would be almost impossible to blow up a plane using chemicals doesn’t matter.

Meanwhile, we now arrive two hours before a flight leaves, endure half-hour waits in security lines and wait 30-45 minutes in baggage claim at our destination because we had to check our luggage in order to bring a can of deodorant on the trip. And the real likely targets of the next terrorist attack – subways, concert halls and sports stadiums – remain wide open.

Compliments to 60 Minutes for exposing this stupidity.

¶ 7:54 AM

Comments:

Paul,

As someone with a very common name, I've fallen into the group of regular citizens whose name had made it on the mysterious "no-fly" list.

I've only been delayed at check-in once in recent years, but when it happened, I was pulled aside by the ticket counter agent, who then had to call someone on the phone (not sure who that someone was) to further verify my identity with SSN, address, etc. I gave all of this additional information verbally, by the way, so I could have told them anything.

Turns out I wasn't the monster they were screening for, and was sent on my way. Fortunately, the process wasn't repeated on the return flight.

I completely agree that the TSA screening rules are pretty much a joke and, for the most part, based in some bureaucrat's fantasy world of trying give passengers a false sense of security.

# posted by