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Via Instapundit, yet another example of the system working

A Waupaca woman finds herself in the middle of a major security investigation at Cleveland\’s airport.

Kimmy Janke had gone through security. In fact, she was in a secure part of the terminal when she stopped to go to the bathroom before making her connecting flight.

That\’s when she found a loaded handgun.

\”A little kid could have grabbed that. The wrong person could have grabbed that. You never know,\” Janke said.

Turns out it belong to a federal custom agent, who was allowed to retire without any discipline or reprimand or even a token slap on the wrist.  If any of the rest of us had done half as much you\’d have TSA agents probing orifices you didn\’t know you had….and I\’m guessing you wouldn\’t get so much as dinner&movie before.

What really bothers me about this is how elementary this error really is.  You don\’t need to be a \”highly trained federal agent\”, as she is described, to know how to handle a firearm in a public restroom.  This is a topic that\’s handled in the most elementary of firearms courses relating to carrying in public.   Basically ANY carry permit course/book/pamplet/business card/etc is probably gonna touch on this subject and how to handle it.  Yet a trained federal agent messes it up….it\’s the details that are important when it comes to national security, because it was messing up the details that caused the feds to completely miss the Eunuch Bomber.

It\’s actually pretty simple.  I\’ve heard more best practices on bathroom behavior than I really care to admit, even if it does relate to firearms.  Everyone has their preferred method, because nothing wants to be the cause of the dreaded \”CLUNK! Clatter, Clatter, Clatter\”.

One popular method is the shoe….take off your shoe, put the firearm in it, do your business.  The idea being nobody is going to forget walking out without their shoe.  I\’ve never been a fan of this method due to the simple observation that public restroom floors appear to be scientific experiments dedicating to evolving life all over at the cellular level.  Plus it makes your firearm very visible in the next stall.

Another method is to adopt something akin to Larry Craig\’s patented \”wide stance\”, which prevents your pants from dropping to the floor.  So the firearm on your belt remains up by your knees.  It\’s still attached to you, it\’s not visible.  Simple.  I was a big fan of this method until the US Senate\’s singular contribution that fateful year was to inform me that this was a way to proposition US Senator\’s in neighboring stalls.  Having been screwed over by enough politicians as it is, I\’ve since abandoned this method.

Another popular method, is the \”Is that a gun in your crotch….\” in which you place the firearm in the crotch of your pants.  You can\’t pull up your pants and not remember your firearm.  It\’s secure and away from the view of neighbors.  Pretty simple.

Now that\’s probably more information than you care to hear.  But the point is that these are all pretty simple.  If you ask any responsible permit holder, he/she can probably tell you what method they use if you care to ask.  Because they\’ve all thought it over ahead of time so they don\’t make this boneheaded mistake, because not being part of the privileged elite, they would get in trouble otherwise.

Which isn\’t to say that the fate of the country\’s national security rests on the bathroom habits of our customs agents, but it does indicate a rather lackadaisical attitude towards the details.  And as we all found out on Christmas, details matter.

France appears like it\’s trying to push a terror attack as the potential cause of the Flight 447 crash.

Two names on doomed Air France Flight 447\’s passenger list also appear on a list of radical Muslims considered a threat to France, according to French investigators.

French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31.

Agents are now trying to establish dates of birth for the two dead passengers, and family connections.

I\’m all for due diligence and yeah, explore the option but I would be highly skeptical of any suggestion that a terror attack was responsible for the crash.  That should have been obvious before the wreckage was even found, when after days (now almost two weeks) have gone by, nobody has claimed credit for the attack.

Terrorists exist to….well, terrorize (cue quotes from Jeff Dunham\’s act).  If a terrorist terrorizes in the middle of a forest and nobody is around, is anyone scared??  Well no.  So there really is no benefit to performing an attack and then not taking credit for it.  And terrorists organizations have not been shy about claiming credit, it\’s a win-win for them.  They get to terrorize but also raise their profile and it serves as a recruitment tool.  And finally achieving a successful attack on a Western airline would certainly be a coup for them.

Plus blowing up an airline over the middle of the Atlantic doesn\’t exactly sounds like the preferred way of blowing up an airliner.  Lessens the collatoral damage and a lot less visible.

So by all means pursue all leads, but if this is one that is seriously opined as a possible cause, I\’ll start suspecting ulterior motives.  Like protecting the image of both your nation\’s airline and it\’s largest airplane manufacturer by diverting blame.

Came across an article that may as well been written by Department of Homeland Security Chief Michael \”Lettucehead\” Chertoff, when you consider how much of a fluff piece it was. Basically you have 26 paragraphs of all the new procedures and checks they are putting into ports, airports, embassies, checkpoints, etc. Everything from biometric data before an international flight leaves the ground, to scanning shipping containers, to radiation detection.

Now don\’t get me wrong. All of these things are necessary and a good step forward. But for all it\’s cheerleading the rather obvious flaw is unmentioned. Our backdoor is wide open and free to anyone that wants to exploit it.

Why carry a radioactive bomb on a plane and go jump through all sorts of hoops to try to get it into the country, when you could pay a coyote a couple thousand and have him bring you in where there are virtually no obstacles preventing your entry?? As much as critics like to say border security advocates are racists, they have to admit that right now both of our borders are a national security loophole just waiting to be exploited.

I keep thinking back to a situation I found myself in shortly after 9/11, and thanks to changes FINALLY in place, I don\’t believe I\’m endangering anyone by talking about it.

Years ago, before we were moved to another undisclosed location, I used to work at the base of the MSP airport control tower. It was truly an awesome office location. Every day, I parked next to a F-14…although I think it was being used for spare parts as it never moved. Every day, C-130s, 747s, 737s, the occasional C-5, Air Force One, etc rolled by my office window, not 100 yards away. In the winter, they de-iced the planes right outside the air intake vents for our heating system. More than once I drove home realizing I had been high all day long from jet fumes and whatever is in that de-icing fluid. I\’m certain I\’ll have lung cancer by the age of 40…and I don\’t smoke.

My point is that every day, I simply drove up to my building, parked, got out and walked in. If I wanted I could drive within 10 feet of the actual control tower. After 9/11, airport security went nuts. You couldn\’t get on a plane without major inconvenience. Yet every day, I could drive up to the control tower without anyone asking any questions.

While TSA was worried about passengers bringing items onto a plane, every day I could drive my SUV up to the base of the control tower without question. Imagine how much explosives could be put in there?? While a terrorist could take out one plane, an enterprising and creative terrorist could put hundreds of planes in jeopardy.

Of course my co-workers and I mentioned it several times to those that were in charge, but it was quite awhile before anything changed. Fortunately now it has. While it might still be possible to do the same thing, you couldn\’t do it unquestioned and certainly not without bashing your way through some barriers.

Today I see the Homeland Security Department effectively doing the same thing on a grander scale. While we have our front doors locked tight, the borders are wide open. Just asking for someone to drive up and blow up something important….like say, Dallas, Or Chicago, Or LA, or New York. It took years for a simple airport, I wonder how long it will take them to put up the protection for the country??? I\’m afraid to know the answer.

[Cross-posted at True North]

Every once in awhile I come across a news story where I have to wonder if the writer was intentionally try to cause panic in the reader, or was just plain ignorant of what they were writing about. I suspect both.

European jet maker Airbus is taking an unprecedented step to expand cockpit automation: onboard computers that will automatically maneuver jetliners to avoid midair collisions, without any pilot input.

Ok I presume they are referring to a variation of the TCAS-II system, designed by MITRE. That automatically monitors nearby aircraft, and notifies pilots of possible or imminent collision threats. If it detects a possible collision it warns the pilot. If it detects an imminent collision it interfaces with the TCAS system on the other aircraft and they work out a solution virtually instantaneously, and tell the pilot what action to take (usually ascend or descend) to avoid collision.

But here\’s the catch, this isn\’t some new skynet system. All commercial aircraft carrying more than 30 passengers within US air space have been required to have a TCAS-II system installed since 1993. Europe, Australia and China have required it since 2000. And per FAA directive, pilots have been instructed to follow the instructions of the TCAS system even if it conflicts with an air traffic controller\’s directions. Since this system has been introduced, mid-air collisions have virtually disappeared….except in cases where one or both pilots ignored the instructions of their TCAS system.

So first of all, let\’s not make it sound like this technology is \”unprecedented\”. It\’s relatively mature technology and has done wonders to improve aviation safety. And really all that\’s changed is the slowest and most unpredictable part of the equation is being removed….the human pilot. Think of all the time that passes while a human pilot recognizes the situation, comprehends what the computer is telling them to do and then reacts. Then consider that a human pilot may overreact placing a great degree of stress on the aircraft and possible putting the aircraft into conflict with yet another nearby aircraft.

Sorry WSJ, but this is neither a new story, nor is it overly sensational.