.:Friday, November 16, 2007:.
What kind of idiot
| does it take to be warned that there will be people coming through to "test" the security at airports and STILL FAIL the test? WASHINGTON — Federal investigators smuggled the components of liquid-based bombs past screeners in 19 airports in secret tests earlier this year, showing that a terrorist could thwart the latest U.S. security regulations. "Our tests clearly demonstrate that a terrorist group, using publicly available information and few resources, could cause severe damage to an airplane and threaten the safety of the passengers," concludes a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday night by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Using easily available components, GAO investigators made an explosive device and a fire bomb that, when tested, exploded with sufficient force to cause significant damage. Investigators then used public information on the Transportation Security Administration's screening procedures to devise ways to carry the bomb components through airport checkpoints without being challenged. The oversight committee, headed by Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., is holding a hearing today on the weaknesses identified in the 6-year-old agency's operations — the second hearing in two days called to highlight TSA's shortcomings. "The situation is unacceptable; there are too many vulnerabilities, and we've got to fix them," Waxman said. "It's disappointing that after all the years we've had TSA in place and all the money, billions of dollars, that we have put into the problem, it's still not fixed." TSA Administrator Kip Hawley is expected to tell the committee today that his agency will adopt some of the GAO's recommended changes and take a more aggressive, visible and unpredictable approach to security. But he also is expected to stress that TSA's defenses are multilayered — including such measures as canine teams in airports, hardened cockpit doors, special self-defense training for airline crews and thousands of armed pilots. "Relying solely on security at the checkpoint or focusing all of our resources to defeat one threat is counterproductive and detracts from our overall mission," Hawley is scheduled to say in written testimony obtained by the Los Angeles Times. James Jay Carafano, a homeland security expert at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said TSA critics might have unrealistic expectations. "The system is never going to be perfect, it's never going to stop everything," he said. "The point is that screening was always meant to be largely a deterrent to definitely take amateurs off the field and deter the pros." Release of the GAO report follows a hearing Wednesday in which Hawley denied that screeners had been tipped off about covert security tests, even as lawmakers brandished an e-mail from TSA headquarters that not only warned employees of testing but described the methods and appearance of those conducting the probes. "There was no intent to tip off, there was no cheating," said Hawley, who insisted that the e-mail was sent not to tip off screeners, but because a TSA official thought the tests might be an actual al-Qaida operation. Democratic lawmakers were openly incredulous. "If you want me to believe that, I find that's a stretch," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J. The e-mail, dated April 28, 2006, was sent to more than 650 employees and titled "NOTICE OF POSSIBLE SECURITY TEST." It began: "This information is provided for your situational awareness. Several airport authorities and airport police departments have recently received informal notice of possible DOT/FAA (Department of Transportation/Federal Aviation Administration) security testing at airports around the nation." The message also describes a couple who try to penetrate security, place improvised explosive devises on planes and test gate staff. "The woman has an ID with an oriental woman's picture, even though she is Caucasian. We are getting the word out," the e-mail reads. The hearing was the latest by the House Homeland Security Committee to focus on screeners, who have shown little improvement at spotting explosives since the terrorist attacks of 2001. Lawmakers and witnesses said those failures have been compounded by a pattern of official leaks. Clark Kent Ervin, a former inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, said cheating seemed to be a systematic problem and pointed to inspector general reports about tip-offs to screeners in San Francisco and Jackson, Miss. And they questioned how screeners could perform so dismally when they are being forewarned about tests. "If screeners still fail tests that they know are being conducted, heaven help us when al-Qaida next probes for weaknesses," Ervin said. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and others expressed frustration about continuing weaknesses at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA. He noted that one of the busiest travel seasons of the year was about to start. "Covert testers are there trying to expose gaps before a terrorist does, and if someone at TSA undermines this testing, they are undermining aviation security as a whole," Thompson said. |
