Should we fire the TSA?

Reader Larry from Texas sent in a note expressing his frustration with the "rules" the TSA implemented immediately after the Christmas bombing attempt on Northwest Flight 253. Recall that these rules included restrictions on what passengers were allowed to do in the final hour of a flight. Since these were reportedly the same actions taken by the terrorist (a visit to the bathroom, covering up with a blanket, etc.), we assume the subsequent restrictions were enacted to prevent another bombing attempt.

Here's Larry:

"This most recent attack attempt is an Islamic issue, is it not? Even our President Obama will not call it what it is. Will you?"

Well, I think it is an extremist Islamic issue. We shouldn't conclude that all of Islam is a problem, but we should understand mainstream Islam in order to help understand the extremist minority.

"Only in the United States of America can restricting your urinary needs fight terrorism!"

I agree that it is a comical reaction. On the face of it, getting up from your seat in the final hour of flight is not a terrorist act, nor is it required to perform a terrorist act. Saying you can't pee then doesn't seem to make sense.

Now, I did hear something from Dr. Todd Curtis at AirSafe.com that started to make a little sense. He said a temporary restriction like this might deter copycat terrorists - people who just try to recreate the same bomb attempt without really thinking it through. I guess, but it's a little hard to imagine someone out there doing that.

"Here is the deal as I see it. An educated fool from a piss pot place like Nigeria is allowed to board an airliner with so many red flags flown for so many of the so called overseers of aviation security. Nigeria is a given that security is nil. How the idiot passed through the Dutch system even as an international passenger is a shocker. The Dutch don’t play games with security. How the idiot did not end up on the “No Fly” list after his own father denounced him to the Americans is a disgrace! The failure was an American failure in the final result. The idiot was allowed on an American carrier! Only his stupidity and the quick action of passengers and crew prevented a disaster on Christmas."

This is a problem. The U.S. Government is not as connected across all it's agencies as it could be. Little bits of intelligence can exist here and there, but there is not always a process that connects all the related bits. We need to change that, but carefully so as not to create a "central repository" of all your personal information that can be abused. I don't necessarily mean "abused" in an evil way. It wouldn't be too hard to abuse the information in well intended ways.

"Someone in the American government quickly dictated that there would be no toilet use in the last hour of flight to fight terrorism! A NO PEE rule will prevent terrorist attacks! We have not been told who is the originator of that ruling but we should know. We should also know that that person has been fired from government service. Rather than find out how this string of human and system failures happened this government employee focused on the NO PEE regulation!

"How many passengers have medical conditions that cause sudden and frequent need for urination? If you notice the radio and television commercials most must have something going on in the PEE-PEE department. How many would chance arrest by defying the NO PEE rule over wetting his/her pants in flight? I would! What in the name of enlarged prostates is this government doing? I will not wet my pants on any flight!"

As a member of the enlarged prostate club, I can easily identify with Larry on this. There are times when I just gotta go! I could probably write a book on "interesting places I have pee'd" and there are plenty of people out there who have other issues that cause them to need a bathroom on very short notice. I know some of them who don't fly for just this reason. Those of us in the commercial aviation industry want to see more flyers, not fewer!

Now, on the issue of how these rules came into effect, I'd be very interested to know the process the TSA goes through to arrive at actions immediately following a terrorist act. Sure, we want them to react quickly, but not without thought and some process of vetting the proposed rules.

"A stupid religious nut from the third world has outfoxed the American Government again. How bloody sad! Only Americans can allow this kind of politically correct bowing to the Muslim community to continue or to be abruptly halted and reversed. If you knew you were in the sights of the next Islamic attack would you be politically correct or in prevent it? Profile and neutralize the enemy!

"I do not care if Muslims are offended. I AM OFFENDED that Muslims think I should walk on eggs for fear that they might be insulted if I protect my safety in the air! I am offended when my government, media, and even our universities are bowing to the Muslim community not wanting to offend them.

"This most recent attack attempt is an Islamic issue, is it not? Even our President Obama will not call it what it is. Will you?"

Here I differ a little from Larry, although I do respect his viewpoint. Again, I think it is an Islamic extremist issue - one that we need to understand and effectively deal with. I'd like to hope that we could do so without "collateral" damage to non-extremist Muslims who are innocents, but I recognize this might be hard. Especially if the frequency or scope of terrorist acts increases.

My views probably won't satisfy reader Larry, but I'd be interested in your thoughts. Write a comment to this post and tell us what you think. The comments are moderated so please don't be offensive or hateful and keep it PG-rated. Thanks.