If pilots are such a risk, let's park airplanes nationwide for 24 hrs, or for however long it takes to bring pilots into the decision making loop in regards to security. Let's make it secure. Not a friggin dog and pony show.
fwd -
Reliance on "scarecrow" measures, intended to instill consumer confidence
Thursday January 17, 12:57 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: The Boyd Group/ASRC
BoydForbes Report: Airport Security Still Lacking; Explosive-Detection Efforts 'Window Dressing'
EVERGREEN, Colo., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study finds that political game-playing and lack of cohesive security strategy has left U.S. airports unacceptably vulnerable to future terrorism.
Ground Stop: The Failure of Airport Security, is the first independent report on the nation's airport security progress. It concludes that airport security is going in the wrong direction, with weak, politicized direction from the DOT and Congress, and reliance on allegedly "heightened'' security measures that don't work. It is published jointly by BoydForbes, Inc., a new aviation security consortium, and The Boyd Group/ASRC, a leading aviation consulting firm.
The blunt, to-the-point 20,000-word report states the situation clearly: the DOT's inept direction has provided little improvement in security, proven irrefutably by continued security breaches at many airports since 9/11.
"Security is anticipating, identifying, deterring, and responding to threats,'' noted David Forbes, President of BoydForbes. "The DOT is reacting, circling the wagons, waiting for the next attack. The initiative is still with the terrorists.''
Ground Stop notes the DOT ignored basic security steps immediately after 9/11, implementing instead ridiculous measures that made the nation a laughingstock. One example: instead of National Guard troops securing airport perimeters, they were stationed like mannequins at screening points watching sloppy security companies allow breach after breach.
Ground Stop outlines what must happen to assure airport security and efficiency, including independent oversight of security performance, tough penalties for failure, professional screening staff with accountable supervision, use of new explosive detection technologies, national standards for airport law enforcement, national airport ID cards, and security event process-mapping at all airports.
The report outlines failures of the DOT, including:
-- Reliance on "scarecrow" measures, intended to instill consumer
confidence, at the expense of real security;
-- Losing public confidence with foolish "enhancements" such as
confiscating tweezers at screening points;
-- Reliance on explosive detection technologies with questionable
reliability;
-- Reliance on disparate, non-interactive airport security systems.
-- Failure to demand accountability from FAA officials in the wake of
9/11.
The Aviation Security Act was found to be "vapor, not substance,'' leaving the same DOT in charge, restating existing laws previously ignored, and making screeners federal employees without any substantive increase in qualifications. As for explosives screening, "The DOT and Congress are substituting
PR for effective screening techniques,'' according to Michael Boyd, co-author of the study. The most egregious failure of the Act: no independent oversight of the Transportation Security Agency. "The TSA is merely shifting titles at the DOT. It was the DOT's FAA that failed repeatedly to meet security mandates. Without independent oversight, the TSA's effectiveness is fatally flawed.''
Mr. Forbes: "Some say that 'we need to do something.' But that's not license for politicians to do the wrong things.''
Reliance on "scarecrow" measures, intended to instill consumer confidence