Attorneys' Investigative Consultants

11/13/05
bulletThe article that appears below is two years old. It is only relevant because it serves to underscore how moronic the currently projected relaxation of airline security screening is.
bulletIt appears that TSA is using the nation's educational system as a model. They can't cut the mustard in the real world, so they reduce the standards so that everybody -- even the nincompoops at TSA get a passing grade. 
bulletTSA can't do a competent screening so they plan to allow certain currently prohibited sharp objects pass through the security screen. One has to ask if a scissors suddenly became less deadly?
bulletThey won't even focus on the guys who look like Arab Terrorists! Its not politically correct!
bulletThey also plan to set up a fast track, no inspection, screening lane for persons who undergo a "background investigations". Background investigations come in all sizes and scopes.
bulletHaving conducted scores of BIs personally and supervised thousands, I'm here to tell you that a thorough BI, in most cases, can take weeks or months -- and even then, is often demonstrably porous. It is a very complex issue that I will discuss at a later date.  I'm confident that those who are trying to sell this  fast track program will omit asking certain politically incorrect questions like, "Have you ever been treated for a nervous or mental disorder?"

bulletIt appears that TSA is trying to answer  the question, "How little
security can we provide, before the roof falls in?"
bulletWe are  headed toward a transportation security screening
program that does the following:
bulletIt makes no special overt effort to screen people who
look like the vast majority of terrorists.
bullet It will increase the ability of would be terrorists to bring
dangerous items on board.
bullet

By substituting the buzz words "Background Investigation",
 It will allow many unknowns to by-pass, common sense
physical screening

During the Cold War, Russian comedian Yakob Smirnoff came to this
country and became popular repeating the expression, "What a Country!" 

These days mass murderer, Abu Musab al-Zaqari, must be studying his target list and at our mindless lack of security and be saying the same thing, "What a Country!"

  

 

October 20, 2003

BALTIMORE — A college student who the FBI believes hid box cutters and other banned items aboard two airplanes will face federal charges, a law enforcement source said Monday.

The charges against Nathaniel Heatwole (search), a 20-year-old junior at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., will likely deal with carrying prohibited items aboard a plane, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Heatwole was expected to have an initial court appearance at 3 p.m. Monday in U.S. District Court, the source said. A criminal complaint had not yet been filed Monday morning in the court clerk's office.

At an initial court appearance, a judge typically explains the charges against a defendant, asks if the defendant needs an attorney and considers whether the person should be detained.

An FBI spokesman and a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office declined Monday to comment on the case.

On Thursday night, Southwest Airlines (search) maintenance workers found small plastic bags containing box cutters, bleach, matches and modeling clay in lavatory compartments on planes in New Orleans and Houston.

Notes in the bags "indicated the items were intended to challenge Transportation Security Administration checkpoint security procedures," according to a statement from Southwest Airlines.

A Bush administration official has said the suspected perpetrator last month sent the government an e-mail warning of his intention to conceal suspicious items on six planes and provided dates and locations for the plan.

The suspect was identified through a database search that linked the bags found on the planes to the e-mail, the Transportation Security Administration (search) said.

The discovery triggered stepped-up inspections of the entire U.S. commercial air fleet — roughly 7,000 planes. But after consulting with the FBI, the TSA rescinded the inspection order.

No other such suspicious bags were found in the inspection.

The modeling clay found aboard the Southwest planes was made to look like an explosive, while the bleach could have been used to demonstrate how a corrosive or dangerous liquid could be smuggled aboard a plane.