Sorry, I didn't write exactly what I was thinking - it would be a much bigger deal if we ratcheted the requirements way up. The missing piece was that we would mandate that anyone flying into the US would have to go through the scanners, like is the case at AMS (although that was their decision, not ours). Do we have American TSA agents stationed at every airport that originates flights to the US?
This is what is supposed to happen today, so what you are proposing is nothing new. Passenger secondary security check at the boarding gate follows procedures laid down by the US for US bound flights that are reviewed and certified by US. Passenger lists are supposed to be transmitted to US before departure and a departure to US is supposed to take place only after permission is received from DHS. There have been cases of denial of entry into US airspace too, when after the fact US discovered that they did not like the name "Ahmad" on the passenger list.
And you believe that a scanner would be more likely to find stuff that will not be found by a full body massage that we get before boarding a flight to US already? Doesn't happen in Europe but is mandatory in many Asian airports. If Americans had to go through what one needs to go through to get to the US, they would possibly reduce flying considerably, since Americans are much more antsy about having their body touched by someone else.
Actually that's not really true. He flew into Amsterdam and remained within the secure area prior to boarding the flight to the US. So while Amsterdam did give him some security checks, they didn't give him the full treatment since he had already cleared security for his first flight. Had he exited the secure area at Amsterdam, there might well have been a better chance that he would have been caught. No guarantees, he might have still slipped through, but the point is that in this case Amsterdam isn't totally to blame; that first airport gets the lion's share of the blame.
I'll grant you your point about the flood of info that IAs handle daily but the British managed to deny this clown entry, and I still say that The State Dept. is ultimately @ fault also because they issued this cretin a 2 year unlimited visa! As to your point about nobody's perfect, agreed! But Intels job is to gather the info, collate it and SHARE with those that need to know! IMO that's why the President is angry, and rightfully so, these guys screwed up big time and of course it's not the first time either, theres an old saying from the 60s about getting your s**t together, bout time with all the billions we spend on these spooks!
His airport of origin was Lagos, Nigeria. The cynic in me really wants to say do I need to say anything else? Considering Nigeria's history of systemic corruption that the Lagos Airport meets international security standards was to me surprising. Maybe the international aviation community needs to take Lagos off of the list of airports that meet these security standards. I read in some newspaper online that had Lagos not been on that list the passengers connecting through from the KLM flight from Lagos to Amsterdam would have had to exit the secure area and reclear through the checkpoints at Amsterdam.
I thought separate security check at the boarding gate for US bound flights was instituted across the board after 9/11. Has that been discontinued? At least the last time I was in Amsterdam I was security checked an additional time just before boarding. So I am dubious about claims that this guy did not go through at least one security check at Amsterdam. And this latter check is actually done per DHS instructions and handled by the airline in question and not necessarily by the airport security. The airline in some cases contracts with airport security to handle this too
. See here. This has delayed the flight that I am taking back from Delhi later today by over 4 hours. It is interesting that the end of it all they are apparently not even certain what happened, who it was and whether they actually managed to get him/her to go through security check or not. :unsure: h34r: :You can see further reaction from people that were there in this airliners.net thread.
(Emphasis added.)
Don't let facts get in the way of a good rant. It's also worth noticing that folks released from US custody were likely behind the most recent attempt. I'm sure that George has the US in mind when he was referring to "those parts of the world".
Another classic example of Security Theater and post incident hysteria, and this by an Airline employee, not even a spook!What on earth is this world coming to when famous people are third degreed (she had a valid passport!) and real suspects are allowed to waltz onto planes with bombs in their drawers! I know it's not an easy job but common sense and calling for a supervisor =if unsure should be SOP, sounds like more training is needed by ALL airport personnel and that Joan should get a travel voucher to fly around the world! :lol:
Well Joan Rivers looks pretty scary to me, maybe we should give the gate agent some slack this time.
Especially when you consider the amount of plastic surgery she's had and how bad some of her acts have bombed I could see how an airline employee might confuse her with plastique. :lol:Well Joan Rivers looks pretty scary to me, maybe we should give the gate agent some slack this time.
Funny thing is that the hand wands get set off by the little chip that is buried within the new E-Passports! So it goes beep-beep when waved over the pocket. Ooops what is that? Ah of course! Your Passport!
