Clinton's Presidential Executive Order 12866 doesn't just affect security - it affects safety as well. The US is the only country in the world where the airlines dictate to the aviation authority regarding AD/SB compliance - everyone else carries out the directives.
I was in Atlanta recently, trying to establish what Delta had in the way of L1011 parts, tooling and other equipment; and in a meeting with some very senior people when I was informed that they had no idea what they had.
I said that they must have records to comply with FAA regulations. The response shocked me. I was told that no FAA person is allowed on their premises without a warrant. "FAA? Fcuk them!" is a direct quote.
I cannot imagine anyone at Virgin or British Airways saying anything like that about the CAA - not in that context, anyway.
A good friend of mine has inspected a number of US aircraft in the past and invariably has found numerous deferred ADs and SBs. ADs are generally issued for good reason and not to comply with them is grossly - if not criminally - negligent.
So yes, I agree completely with skydrifter that this Executive Order needs to be revoked as quickly as possible.
Of course, the downside is that the cost of compliance will be astronomical - US airlines have a lot of catching up to do to get back to first world standards.
As for security - it's long been a bugbear of mine that the US on the one hand would designate countries Category 2 and therefore unable to operate to or increase services to the US; yet on the other hand their own procedures were often inferior to those of the countries they blacklisted.
A wake-up call has been given to the US. Let's hope they heed it - for all of our sakes.