Posted on 04/25/2006 4:28:51 PM PDT by Malsua
Big Brother Is Watching WHO??
TSA "Terrorist" Turns Out To Be A Homeward-Bound Marine by ANN Senior Correspondent Kevin R.C. "Hognose" O'Brien
The Transportation Security Administration bagged a terrorist in Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday, or so they thought. Daniel Brown's name came up on their no-fly watchlist, so they dragged him into interrogation and grilled him, despite the protestations of Brown and his fellow travelers, who swore they could vouch for him.
The others in Brown's party went on their Northwest Airlines flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul, where they waited on a bus at the airport. You see, the detained man was Staff Sergeant Daniel Brown, USMC Reserve, and he was traveling with the other members of his Marine Reserve Military Police unit, which was heading home to Minnesota from eight months of combat in Iraq. The Marines were in full uniform and all, including Brown, had travel orders and military identification cards.
After attempts to stonewall under claims of "security," TSA spokesmen finally admitted that Staff Sergeant Daniel Brown was placed on the no-fly list, and ultimately detained, because they had detected gunpowder on his footgear -- not on this flight, but on a prior flight, which earned Brown a permanent place on the TSA's mysterious terrorist lists.
The footgear that had been exposed to gunpowder? Brown's combat boots, and the occasion of that flight was after his return from his first combat tour in Iraq. Gee... a combat Marine in Al-Anbar Province being exposed to gunpowder.
Exposure to gunpowder isn't something the TSA knows a lot about. Hey, who are you gonna believe, this here watchlist or your lyin' eyes?
Ultimately, the TSA screeners figured out that Brown really was a Marine, and no threat to his fellow passengers, and let him board a later flight. When he deplaned at MSP, his unit's bus was waiting -- his fellow Marines in it.
Marine 1st Sgt. Drew Benson explained why. "We don't leave anybody behind. We start together, and we finish together." All 26 Marines waited for Brown -- even though their families were waiting for them at a scheduled welcome-home bash at Fort Snelling.
Brown's mother Terry was glad they did. "They all come back together... no matter what it takes and I think that's very important," she told WCCO-TV.
Frequent TSA critic Richard A. Altomare, Founder and Chairman of the Coalition for Luggage Security -- and a former marine -- said, "I'm proud that Sergeant Dan Brown's Marine unit refused to report to their post until the 'man left behind' was permitted to get on a passenger plane. This TSA's bloated bureaucracy with documented insensitive treatment of countless Americans really rings home a need to dismantle their growing airport agency before all American freedoms are lost -- since now even the United States Marines can't help us."
The TSA watch lists are shrouded in such secrecy that it's impossible to tell if they have done any good. The TSA refuses to say how people get on the list or even how many are on. On the other hand, the absurdities of the list have been well publicized.
Senator Ted Kennedy, former child actor David Nelson, and other celebrities have turned up on the list. (TSA explained to Sen. Kennedy that there was a terrorist who once used "T. Kennedy" as an alias. "T" is not one of the Senator's initials; his full name is Edward Moore Kennedy).
Some of our own writers were placed on the list after we ran several Aero-Views critical of TSA management.
In the last few weeks, a DHS official originally recruited by TSA was in the news after being caught in a child sex sting; as Aero-News reported, before joining TSA he took early retirement from Time magazine after a porn scandal there.
Last month, a classified Government Accountability Office report leaked to NBC News reportedly revealed that security testers were able to bring bomb-making materials through TSA security at 21 of 21 airports tested.
But the TSA will not strike its colors; it has not yet begun to fight. Boston TSA head George Naccara told CSO Online, a magazine for security executives, last month that the TSA needed to extend its unique approach to security to other modes of transport: "subway stations, rail terminals, cruise ship and ferry docks, even special events like conventions."
"TSA was never clearly given a mandate to focus only on aviation," Naccara said. "I want to bring a sense of urgency to other modes and explain to them what we do and how it can be adapted to work in their environments."
Meanwhile, does the Marine of the hour have any words? Turns out he does. "As somebody who has served 16 months over in Iraq for the U.S. Marine Corps and come home and get hassled by TSA, it's kind of a major disappointment," Daniel Brown told TV station WCCO. "I've been fighting terrorism for the last 16 months in Iraq. I don't think I should have to come home and deal with this."
Brown's father Carey echoed his son's sentiments. "For an individual who spent two tours over in Iraq fighting for his country, I think it's one of the biggest bogus things they could ever come up with."
WIth luck, no one at TSA will take that as a challenge.
The fact that "Thousands Standing Around" detained a Marine really infuriates me, specially considering his UNIT was right there. Gunpowder on his boot and now he's a permanent member of the TSA watch list. Gee, a marine, with gun powder on his boot. Whodathunkit!
Go figure. I wish the FR search engine sorted 3 letters
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Gunpowder on his boot and now he's a permanent member of the TSA watch list.
Gee, a marine, with gun powder on his boot. Whodathunkit!
"What a bunch of maroons"(TSA Clowns)!
"Hey you dim bulbs, don't mess with our MARINES!"
Thanks for posting it Malsua.
And some people want the government to run everything?
That pretty much sums it up for me. I've flown probably 200k miles since 9/11. I was once pulled out of the line for a PEN in my suitcase. I guess they thought it was a shiv or something.
For a marine, who most certainly has a Mil ID and his UNIT, all with Military ID standing there vouching for him this is pure insanity.
We see again and again that there is all too often no one on the front line at TSA checkpoints able to think and make rational decisions.
On a night with bad weather I and others had to scramble to get where we we going. I bought a full-fare, one-way ticket home (like those stupid terrorists who cannot plan ahead) which entitled my to a free rectal exam. (Couldn't they have just asked me for my drivers' license and seen that I was indeed traveling home on a Friday night?) Another who received a full recal examination that night was a Marine in full dress uniform carrying travel orders.
What schmucks we are!
ML/NJ
Only the socialists.
idiots...
I worked as security in Ben-Gurion airport in early 80's. When i see how security operates in US airports,i'm ready to cry.God help us...
Get a life.
It's just amazing to me that we don't use the same sort of interview system that the Israelis use. Before I left Israel in the summer of 2001, my friends advised me to say I had wrapped their gifts myself. But when asked whether I packed everything myself, I told my interviewer, "No, but the things I didn't pack myself are all on top in my suitcase. We can open them if you like." I pointed out that they were gifts from friends and family. She asked for names and addresses which I rattled off quickly. She was done with me within a minute.
ML/NJ
Reminds me of what they did to Joe Foss.
My apologies.
I'm unfamiliar with Joe Foss other than a brief google on the name just now. Can you elaborate?
I saw an interview with an Israeli terrorism expert where he said that Israel had offered to assist in training our TSA staff. Apparently, TSA didn't take them up on their offer because we have TSA idiots working in our airports. I will repeat that, TSA idiots!
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