Posted on 02/22/2003 10:11:07 AM PST by forest
Except for providing an endless amount of humor for late-night monologs, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is seeming more useless every day. The Air Marshal program has had major problems from its inception and the idiocy of many airport passenger screeners is almost legendary.
As part of the Homeland Security bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush, TSA (1) was ordered to implement an affirmative program to arm any and all passenger airliner pilots wishing to participate in the program. There were to be no limits on participation. That is, each pilot of a passenger airliner that passes the screening and training will be allowed to carry a firearm on the flight deck. The passenger airlines will not be allowed to 'opt out' of the program. Participation in the program was to be an individual decision that each pilot will make independent of his or her employer.
One problem is that the Transportation Security Administration bureaucrats want to be the big fish in that little security pond. Air Marshals on board an aircraft means that the TSA actually "commands" the aircraft. The "captain" then becomes relegated to being a driver, rather then the senior officer.
Which means, TSA bureaucrats were totally against arming those folks in the cockpit charged with the safe operation commercial aircraft -- and all of the lives of the people aboard.
At this point we might also insert that a great many commercial airline pilots are prior military people. Which means, they already have significant experience with a vast array of weapons, ranging from handguns to fully armed war-planes. Furthermore, a large number of commercial airline pilots have been to war and successfully (obviously) completed their missions.
Even so, TSA bureaucrats are doing everything in their power to ensure that few, if any, commercial airline pilots are armed. A TSA attorney clearly told a member of the Airline Pilots' Security Alliance (APSA), that the TSA intends to make the program so difficult, intimidating and burdensome that no pilot will volunteer. And, so they are.
According to APSA (2), the application demanded by TSA includes a lengthy and probing application and resume'. A government administered psychological exam will be necessary to assure pilots can follow procedures and laws. Then comes a one-on-one "interview" with a TSA psychiatrist to ensure armed pilots will conduct themselves with regard to the safety and security of all aboard the aircraft. Next there will be a probing background investigation in which family, friends, neighbors and coworkers will be interviewed. Of course each pilot wishing to be armed will also need yet another medical evaluation (they already get two a year). And, as part of the program, TSA agents will evaluate pilots-in-training to ensure they have the proper mindset to carry a weapon on the job.
"We're focusing on their ability to be a good federal law enforcement officer in a crisis situation at 48,000 feet," TSA spokesman Robert Johnson told the Associated Press.
Well then, here's a thought: Subject every person in TSA to the same scrutiny. Better yet, every person in federal law enforcement.
Obviously, the TSA has no intention of following the law and quickly arming as many commercial airline pilots as possible. Based on these and other reports, it is becoming clear that the Bush administration should consider summarily dismissing all those in TSA supervisory positions. They have become a lot more trouble than they are worth.
1. <http://www.tsa.gov>
2. <http://www.secure-skies.org/>
3. And, for your viewing pleasure:
<http://www.whoohoo.net/pilot/index.htm>
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