$11,000 fine, arrest possible for some who refuse airport scans and pat downs - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

$11,000 fine, arrest possible for some who refuse airport scans and pat downs - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

The Terrorist have won!!! I previously raised concern over these body scanners. To have your body scanned to display your birthday suit is a violation of ones privacy. I know people are arguing that flying is not a right and one gives up the right to illegal search and seizure by purchasing a ticket to fly. Last time I flew to Tempe, Arizona for work I do not recall seeing a disclaimer or a waiver of rights on it. Nor did anything pop up when we booked a family vacation flight for April. So if you decide to opt out of the body scanner the answer is a full body pat down. Really? I understand that Homeland Security is concerned with keeping the airways safe but a full body pat down or scanners is a bit much.

I know profiling is not a politically correct option but let's get serious and rational about this. Profiles are used all the time by the FBI, CIA, NSA, etc to help them determine cases that present themselves. So why not allow profiles to be established for those that fly? I mean if Person A flies from Minnesota to Florida every year at Thanksgiving odds are their intent is not to blow up the plane. Now if Person B flies to and from locations that are hot beds for Terrorist activity then yes pull them out of line and ensure they are not bringing on items to blow up the plane. When did we lose our rational thought process to keeping our country safe? By profiling in this manner will mitigate the racial aspect. In all the pictures of Terrorist that entered a plane that I have seen not once have they been wearing a turban or traditional Middle Eastern garb; rather they all attempted to wear clothing that blended in with the rest of the passengers.

Profiles work and are effective. Prior to scanners going in and money being wasted on their purchase many said that the images would never be saved or uploaded to the internet. Well that is simply not the case as several hundred images have already found their way to the internet. Plus, is it necessary to pat down a Nun or a three year old child? I encourage everyone that will be traveling this holiday season, if you can, to use the bus, railway or drive your car instead of flying. Let's protest in the most Capitalistic manner we can; with our pocket books. Once airlines start losing capacity their high priced lobbyist will pressure Congress and the rules of the TSA will be changed.

President Obama gives Intelligence 101 speech

"As President, I have solemn responsibility to protect our nation and our people and when the system fails, it is my responsibility," said President Obama yesterday in his speech about the lapse in security of the "Underwear" Bomber. About time that President Obama takes responsibility and stops blaming the Bush Administration for all this challenges. I agree with President Obama that there was not one piece of data missed; rather the system as a whole failed to analyze the data properly. Perhaps the scolding President Obama gave the C.I.A earlier this year is having repercussions that he did not anticipate. The more troubling aspect of this incident is that Americans will see their freedoms reduced further under the guise of "National Security". I do not foresee another Patriot Act but the application of intrusive scanning may be moving us down that road.

President Obama said, "Ultimately, the buck stops with me." Did Hoover just walk into the White House? It is refreshing to hear President Obama to take responsibility and that he may finally understand the tough job it is to keep freedoms safe from those that seek to destroy it. "Because great and proud nations don't hunker down and hide behind walls of suspicion and mistrust. That is exactly what our adversaries want," stated President Obama. Correct, and our adversaries want to disrupt our economy and encourage further erosion of our freedoms. The plan going forward appears to be out of Intelligence Analysis 101 class.

Some of the actions President Obama laid out were timely distribution of intelligence reports; improve watch list databases, enhanced intelligence analysis, and aggressive and thorough pursuit of terrorism threat threads. See a more comprehensive list at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6065ZB20100107. All of these should already be in place. Perhaps if President Obama hadn't blasted the intelligence community earlier this year, they would be more apt to aggressively pursue terror suspects. Granted no system is fool proof and someone will always find a way to beat the system. As the old saying goes, "We need to be vigilant every day; the terrorists only need to be lucky once." What is the cost to Americans? After 9/11 we saw the Bush administration use that attack to pass the Patriot Act and now we see the Obama administration using the Christmas Day attack to deploy 300 advanced imaging scanners in the United States airport this year.

Here is what we can expect the TSA agents to see from the use of the scanners to be used:

Now is this something we as a Free Society need to subject ourselves to in order to "feel safer"? The TSA and government officials are saying that the TSA agent viewing these scans will not be in the same room as the person being scanned and that is to make us feel better? I was watching C-SPAN yesterday over the lunch hour, instead of having health care discussions on, the English House of Commons was on. The members of the House of Commons were grilling the Secretary of the Defense Ministry over various topics including the use of full-body scanners. The debate centered on the amount of personal freedom the members were willing to give up. The discussion did bring up the point about what would happen to the images. To which the honorable Secretary did not have an immediate answer.

Now the Obama administration contends that these images will not see the light of day and in fact will be destroyed. Really! If they are destroyed then what evidence one will have to go back to when determining how someone got another diaper bomb on the plane? Plus as one can tell from the images above, a woman with large breasts or a man with a large gut could easily hid bomb material. Also, my guess is that children will not be subject to these intrusive scanners which will give the terrorist their mule to getting explosives on the plane. The question comes down to this: How much personal freedom do we want to give up for safety from terror attacks? I do applaud President Obama for taking the potential terror attacks are still a real threat.

The “system worked” or did it?

The walk out to the end of the driveway this morning was a bit chilly; thermometer read -10 degrees Fahrenheit. The Christmas break found the area covered in a blanket of snow. On one of our outside excursions to the park, the depth of the snow was just below the knee cap. While the Christmas break brought many gatherings of cheer, family and friends a disturbing story was taking shape. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded a plane destined to Detroit with a surprise in his underwear. The 23-year old Nigerian man's attempt to blow up Northwest airlines plane, with 278 passengers, was thwarted when his device malfunctioned. The first reaction by the Obama Administration was for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was to state on CNN's "State of the Union' last Saturday that, "no suggestion that [the suspect] was improperly screened" and that the "system worked". Really, the system worked?

Mr. Abdulmutallab successfully brought on board Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) hidden inside a condom that was stored in his underwear. Also, Mr. Abdulmutallab brought on board a syringe filled with a liquid that is believe to be glycol-based liquid explosive. Yet Secretary Napolitano believed, until yesterday, that the system worked. According to James Crippin, an explosive expert from Colorado, and other law enforcement officials said "modern airport screening machines could have detected the chemical" (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/27/national/main6028366.shtml?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell). The types of detection devices airports are able to use are "puffer" machines, bomb-sniffing dogs, and hands-on searches but none of these, at least not yet reported, were used as Mr. Abdulmutallab made his way through security to board the airliner. Another interesting point is that the father warned the United States embassy in Nigeria about his son in November of this year.

For those that have flown since 9/11 have seen many changes in airport security which include removing shoes, placing laptops in the bin, having a photo I.D., and not allowing non-passengers to see loved ones off or greet them at the gate. While many of these changes make sense, the question raised is at what cost to our freedoms? In other countries, like Israel, profiling is done to detect potential terror activities. Profiling has become a dirty word in the United States in recent years because of abuse. The Israeli security personnel do not question everyone that travels through their El Al terminals but they do signal out a certain profile which includes "Arabs and certain foreigners" for "intense grilling" (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001/09/12/israelisecurity.htm). Can profiling help? Does profiling go against the core of freedom? What degree of freedom must be relented to ensure safety in the air?

These are all questions with no clear answer when it comes to balancing freedoms vs. safety and often evoke emotional response rather than rational ones. The TSA announced on their website, "As a result of this incident, TSA has worked with airline and law enforcement authorities, as well as federal, state, local, and international partners to put additional security measures in place to ensure aviation security remains strong" (http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/dec25_guidance.shtm). Secretary Napolitano said in a statement, http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/northwest_statement.shtm, "I am grateful to the passengers and crew aboard Northwest Flight 253 who reacted quickly and heroically to an incident that could have had tragic results. The Department of Homeland Security immediately put additional screening measures into place – for all domestic and international flights – to ensure the continued safety of the traveling public." If the system worked then why the additional need?

The TSA has updated their list of what one can and cannot bring on board: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm. The question still remains at what level are Americans will to give up their freedom for safety. On some flights it was reported that people were not allowed to have anything in their laps during the final hour of the flight and that pilots are no longer allowed to alert passengers of major landmarks. While I do not think we need armed guards as one will see when traveling internationally but something needs to be done to ensure safety. Otherwise one can expect to be required to be at the airport 4-5 hours prior to boarding.

War against Islam not true, then why do we hunt the terrorists?

President Obama stated in Anakra, Turkey that the United States “is not and never will be at war with Islam.” The number one terrorist is still Osama Bin Laden who, unless recently converted, is a Muslim. Now Bin Laden does preach and practice very strict Islam, one that believes there is no other “God” then Muhammad. This Muhammad dictates that all infidels must kneel before or perish. By definition the infidel is anything non-believer. The reason President Obama is ramping up troops, we won’t call it a surge because we know those don’t work, in Afghanistan to go after Al-Qaida. Al-Qaida belief system is driven by a strict interpretation of Islam.

The United States does not have a state recognized religion. Yet, the common belief is that Christianity is the unofficial religion of the United States. Since the birth of Christianity, a war has been waged between Islam and Christianity. The fact that one of President Obama’s plans in the Middle East is the eradication of terrorist safe havens in Afghanistan and Pakistan is an extension of the war on Islam.

For President Obama to state that the United States is “not and never will be at war with Islam” slaps every man, woman, and child who lost a loved one in the attack on 9/11. We are at war with Islam. Right now we are focused on the Opus Dei wing of Islam. Wake up America and realize the vote for “change” was a vote for the death of the American Dream. Religious tolerance is built into our Constitution but I do not think our Fore Fathers took into account the revenge factor of the Crusades. Either President Obama is naïve or does not understand the reason behind those that seek to destroy the West. Personally I hope President Obama is naïve as the alternative is scarier.