Today the airlines decided to ask TSA to move air marshals from the first class seats so they could make a few more bucks! This is absurd! This is the path to the last 9/11 so apparently some sharp folks at the airlines, you know, the same ones that charge you a fee for everything they can these days, run airlines into bankruptcy then walk off with a $26 million dollar payout, have decided they are now U.S. intelligence analysts, and know how to run security and want to go down the SAME path, just nine years later.
This is trouble and here’s why. Prior to 9/11, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was responsible for airline and airport security. Unfortunately, it was hard to tell the difference between an FAA employee and an airline lobbyist as they tended to change job titles frequently. The biggest criticism of the FAA in the post 9/11 days was that they were a cowtow agency to the airline industry. Whenever there were significant improvements that could have been made the airline industry revved up the lobbying engine and made sure that nothing that would impact the bottom line would actually come to fruition. Their reward for this was having four of their aircraft hijacked and destroyed, along with the deaths of nearly 3,000 people. Now, the airlines want to tell us how to do security, again?
Maybe they should watch the United 93 movie just for refresher. I’ll buy the popcorn for them. The first class area is the BEST area a hijacker can sit if they want access to the cockpit. I’m not giving up national security secrets here, just go ask 100 people on the street and they’ll tell you the same answer. It just stands-to-reason!
Yes, I’m passionate about this. Because I saw one aviation security measure after another get shot down by the airline trade associations in the days, months and years before 9/11 and now the airlines want to return to that way of doing business.
Obviously, the airlines watch their budgets, but after 9/11 they got what they’ve been after for a long time – they no longer have passenger and baggage screening as an expense. TSA now does that job. There are several airlines throughout the world that not only still provide money, personnel and equipment for screening, but employ their own armed and trained security personnel who watch their ticket counters and fly on their planes. Not only is the ATA trying to dictate security, it seems a bit ungrateful that they are already absolved from so many other expenses in protecting their passengers.
I hope that TSA stands their ground. Airline security, along with airport security, begins with understanding on both sides of the fence. The ATA has expressed that they want the air marshals to evaluate the threat for each flight to determine the best seating arrangement. Hey thanks, they’ve been doing that, and you know what, often times the risk demands that the fed with the gun sits near the cockpit door.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-10-18-air-marshals-first-class_N.htm?csp=hf

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