TSA Chief At Dulles Is Charged With DWI

[seacue]

"The chief of the Transportation Security Administration at Dulles International Airport was placed on administrative leave yesterday after being charged with drunken driving while he was on duty for a New Year's Eve Code Orange alert, officials said."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48173-2004Jan1.html

[Kalium Chloride]

So at a time when BA is cancelling flights to Washington over security concerns, the head of security is (allegedly) driving while p!ssed?

That's just great :rolleyes:

[FlyUK]

Sums it up really dosn't it. Bloody rediculous.

Expedite.

[Biggles Flies Undone]

Not often lost for words, but something like this (if true) leaves me speechless.

[Half a Mexican]

Let me get this straight:

It was New Year's Eve, there was a code Orange alert, Dulles was considered one of the most at risk airports in the world and the chief of the Transportation Security Administration was on duty. Pissed. While driving.

You've got to be kidding.

[saltyswede]

I'm getting sick of being search by these often reeking of booze TSA losers when I go to work. Can we and who do we report them to when they are drunk while on duty.

[BlackSword]

It gets even better, the BA flight to Dulles on New Year's eve was being escorted by fighters - preparing to shoot it down if it veered off course!

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3362043.stm

[Navy_Adversary]

Hopefully the F-16 pilots weren't dragged from the Officers Mess to escort the aircraft into Dulles.:eek:
The Easyjet story is equally disturbing yet will in all probability nnot get the same publicity:hmm:

[zed3]

Boy oh boy.....seemingly we now have PISSED lunatics running the asylum!

[Airbubba]

More on the PHL TSA story mentioned above:

"...In the statement, Golden denied a broadcast report that the TSA had decided to fire him for practices that included hiring and promoting his son-in-law and hiring a former exotic dancer to supervise screeners at the airport."

[LatviaCalling]

This guy had to be brain-dead, or in a worse case scenario, he probably didn't even have a brain and therefore was working for TSA.

I am convinced we would do better with a voluntary draft for airport security screeners. We could have a small nucleus of full-timers, backed by part-timers who would be drafted.

I think law school students would be excellent candidates. They would have some idea of the theoretical conflicts of individual rights and public safety, and their educations would be expanded by excperience in a practical application.

They could do this as an on-the-job training assignment. Lawers, like doctors, have to perform a certain amount of internship, so why not make one of their choices the TSA. And they would probably get better pay and damn good on-the-job training.

A big problem with today's screeners is that the job is stultifyingly boring, leading to lax attention, and is tolerable as a career only by the brain-dead.

They could do this for a number of years which would be recognized as part of their pro bono cases. It would improve the system, save billions of dollars and do away with a vast horde of government parasites.

However, it would probably also make too much sense to be implemented.

[cargo boy]

A big problem with today's screeners is that the job is stultifyingly boring, leading to lax attention, and is tolerable as a career only by the brain-dead.Same goes for the sky marshals. :zzz: :bored:

[B Sousa]

There but for Fortune.........................

[Tom the Tenor]

Drunk lunatics running the asylum - Ha, ha, very good, that is the best yet! Day by day the predicament gets nuttier and nuttier.

Time to catch the ferry?

[interestedparty]

If my memory serves me correctly the company PanAm used to carry out security checks at FRA at the time of the Lockerie outrage hired female staff by the casting-couch method.
What goes around comes around, and sometimes comes down with a crunch.

[Rwy in Sight]

Maybe all the orange level warning was created because he was drunk with something orange maybe a screwdriver cocktail....

Sorry we are not suppose to make fun of a fallen guy but there was such a mess in the States I could not resist.


Rwy in Sight

[Alty Meter]

Will the airport authority and the prosecutor be briefing the press to prejudice him like they did about the Virgin captain?
Was he kept in jail until he went to court like the Virgin captain?Did the airport authority lawyer oppose bail like he opposed bail for the Virgin captain?
Or is it one rule for pilots and one rule for their own?

[Earl]

This sure puts TSA's credibility on the line, if they ever had any to begin with.
As in the cancelled flights thread: There is more going on here than we know about.
Think maybe they all had too much to drink during the holiday's.
Bin Laden does not have to do anything anymore.
The US out of fear will do it to theirselves.
Its good to take precautions but their is something called overkill.
Really sad so hear that someone like him was at the controls during such a high state of alert.
Thank God nothing happened an no command desicions had to be made by this idiot.

[Dog's Bone]

TSA = Terminally Sick America

[Tripower455]

Was he kept in jail until he went to court like the Virgin captain?Did the airport authority lawyer oppose bail like he opposed bail for the Virgin captain?
Or is it one rule for pilots and one rule for their own?


It's the latter, without question.........

[Airbubba]

>>Was he kept in jail until he went to court like the Virgin captain?Did the airport authority lawyer oppose bail like he opposed bail for the Virgin captain?
Or is it one rule for pilots and one rule for their own?<<

Drunk driving is a misdemeanor, but drunk flying is a felony in Virginia. The bail requirements tend to be more stringent for felony charges.

Don't worry, the TSA official will get plenty of coverage in the D.C. media. He'll probably cop a plea, but lose his job is my guess. We'll see...

[GotTheTshirt]

But if he was on duty with a full alert how come his normally ever vigilant, ever concerned, ever conscientious, ever by the rules, colleagues did not report to the plod that he smelt of drink ??:) :)