New Jersey Legislators to have news conference on TSA
http://www.examiner.com/essex-county-conservative-in-newark/airport-security-debate-heats-up-nj
Best quote from the article:
We have open borders and we have no idea who’s coming in and out of our country. Yet when American citizens try to travel, the TSA is actually groping people’s genitals, buttocks and breasts, including children.
It’s about time legislators stood up to this. When the Nude O Scopes were initially introduced there was some back lash from Utah’s Representative Jason Chaffetz, but they were never successful in penetrating the federal machine. If the state of NJ with its major Continental hub in Newark can make a stand against these machines their may be some hope in other states. I doubt it though.
The article also talks about pilots can take down the plane even without any weapons.
why would a pilot be subject to such a scan? Any pilot can destroy his aircraft in any of a hundred ways by virtue of his access to the controls, to say nothing of the axe that every airliner carries in the cockpit. (History records one instance of a copilot who deliberately ditched his plane, an EgyptAir flight, into the Atlantic Ocean, despite the strenuous efforts of his captain, who probably never realized until far too late that his own copilot was committing murder-suicide.) Thus a pilot, though trusted to fly the aircraft and to cut his way out of the cockpit with an axe if necessary, is not trusted to refrain from carrying explosives or small weapons hidden on his person or in his flight bag.
I am glad there is all this groundswell against TSA and I like talking about it, but I also can’t wait until I have time to blog about more important travel issues again.
Actually, pilots do still need to go through security. A pilot may be unwilling to be a suicide pilot, but they may be willing to carry explosives into the secured area for another person willing to be a suicide bomber.
Now I understand that they undergo background checks, are trustworthy, etc, but the argument that just because they have an axe and a plane means they shouldn’t go through screening is erroneous, IMHO.
But airline ground personnel often enter the secured side without passing through any security so if someone wanted to get something to the other side they can still do that. Why screen pilots and flight attendants but not the people taking tickets at the gate? Of course, not all airports have this type of setup, but many do.
http://www.secure-skies.org/airportemployeeaccess.php
Excellent point, Grace!