Somebody walked through an unguarded door in the secure area of Terminal 8 at Kennedy International Airport this afternoon, causing the terminal to be evacuated and thousands of passengers to be re-screened. Another fine mess for airport security, which doesn't seem to be able to guard doors -- which is, come to think of it, historically the first job of security.
While no one is watching the doors, the TSA, still being run by Bush appointees, is busily awarding huge contracts to politically connected companies, including one represented by Michael Chertoff, the former Homeland Security secretary, for virtual "strip search" checkpoint technology whose efficacy has been called into question.
And by the way, the TSA has now been without a permanent director for one year and one day.
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This story is indeed another example of the lax security that exists at critical points in the United States. The nature of the public sector is such that good fixes are often set aside for ones that only appear to be good.
ReplyDeleteThe Obama administration, however, has no more of a corner on good ideas than anyone else. Just because a member of the Bush administration is responsible for something in Homeland Security does not mean, of itself, that it's destined to fail. It's the larger system that's broken, not one particular individual.
Moreover, the degree of security that would solve this issue is far beyond that which the American public would tolerate. This means that its citizens are as much to blame as anyone.