Ha ha ha ha! Don't you just love it when someone -- or in this case something -- gets hoist on its own petard? Not that it matters, of course; rarely does. People and organizations whose stupidity, hypocrisy, and incompetence are laid bare for all to see rarely change their ways. On the contrary, they double down.
Thus we have the latest story of the TSA's much vaunted security "layers," including Pre-Check, which cleared for expedited screening a known felon. The Hill tells the story:
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) approved a convicted felon who is a former member of a domestic terrorist organization for expedited airport security last year, according to a report released this week by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general.
The report alleges that the TSA cleared the June 2014 passenger, whose name was not revealed, despite the fact that the traveler had not submitted paperwork for its PreCheck trusted passenger program. The traveler was recognized by security agents at the airport.
. . . “However the TSO knew of the traveler's ... disqualifying criminal convictions,” the report continued. “The TSO followed standard operating procedures and reported this to the supervisory TSO who then directed the TSO to take no further action and allow the traveler through the TSA PreCheck lane.”
That's right. Once the supervisor realized his underling was correct, he took no further action and allowed the passenger through.
Meanwhile, people like architect Roger Vanderklok and artist Geoffrey McGann, just trying to go about their business, are detained, handcuffed, arrested, and jailed. Because, dear reader, in the infinite wisdom of our government, with its arsenal of alphabet-soup surveillance agencies, people like that -- and like you -- can't be trusted. But this guy can:
The Homeland Security inspector general’s report said the passenger, who it described as “a former member of a domestic terrorist group,” was cleared through the TSA’s Secure Flight program, which the agency says is supposed to match passengers’ boarding documents with federal No Fly Lists.
. . . The inspector general’s report said the Secure Flight program failed to flag a passenger who was "involved in numerous felonious criminal activities" and served a multiple-year prison sentence.
Meh, report, schmeport. We've written about the Inspector General's reports, plural, several times. Doesn't matter. The TSA just keeps on keeping on.
Lawmakers said the report shows serious vulnerabilities exist within the TSA’s expedited screening programs.
Duh. Ya think??
Oh, well, another day, another example of TSA abuse, fraud, and incompetence. There's enough to fill a book. But none of it will change anything. As we've reported so many times before, facts don't matter.
By the way, I want to point out here a caveat: it's quite possible that this guy (okay, I'm assuming it was a guy) is no threat of any kind, that he was one of the many innocent people entrapped by the FBI in its "terrorism stings," so beloved of the Bureau since 9/11. Also, "convicted felon" in and of itself doesn't mean anything; if he served his time, then he served his time. He's done. I don't know who this guy is. I'm pointing out that the TSA's rules and "layers" are a hodgepodge of whim, abuse, authoritarianism, contradiction, and caprice, and that we are paying for this mess to the tune of $8 billion a year.
