This is the source of the OP’s concern:
Interesting article, however brief.
I suspect TSA’s getting a little too big for their britches, and sooner or later there’s going to be a smack-down. It may come from congress, it may come from the states pushing back, it may come from the airline business, or possibly other law enforcement agencies expecting a turf war, but I’m sure it’s going to come.
Weren’t TSA people thrown off Amtrak property several years ago by the chief of Amtrak police, saying in so many words “Get off my turf!”?
Mind you, I don’t mean this as a blanket indictment of TSA. The lack of nasty airline incidents since 9/11 says to me they’re doing the job they were assigned to do and doing it pretty well, although it’s also very possible that hijacking an airliner isn’t an option for terrorists, or anyone else for that matter anymore. The days of passengers sitting there like sheep and doing as they’re told are over. The bad guys have to come up with something else from now on.
Thanks for posting gthe clarification. Sometimes it helps to actually read the article so one knows what is going on, rather than rushing to a bunch of paranoid conclusions. Drivers licenses that comply with the federal Real ID Act of 2005 are sufficient. This concern is amply covered by the interstate commerce clause of the US Constitution. Waivers were granted several states to give time for them to get onboard. However, time is up for WA, IL, NM and MO, so passports will be needed to fly. Big deal!!
And how many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of residents of those states do not possess a Passport and have no need to possess a Passport?
It’s a good point, Balt. The solution is for those states (including mine) to get off the pot and update their drivers licenses/personal IDs to meet the federal standard. After all, they have had almost 10 years and the other 46 states seem to have been able to accomplish this. Constitutional challenges are likely to fail.
Actually there are 20 states who don’t meet the bizarre standards.
As the federal requirements keep getting more and more bizarre, if people keep making that stupid statement “Oh well, better safe than sorry” the feds will keep tightening their grip.
Even better still is to go to the source material about what’s going on; for example:
As I said, only four states are non-compliant and have not received an extension.
LOL and Illinois is one of them. So after January 10, schlimm you can’t fly domestically unless you have a passport.[:D]
Here are the regulations. I am surprised Texas is not already in compliance, we are usually a law and order state and lead efforts like this…
That is correct, although there are more states operating on temporary waivers. However, can you imagine the chaos if one of the major states – say Washington or Minnesota – simply refused to even apply for waiver on the basis they don’t intend to comply? Sea-Tac or MSP would go into meltdown the day the feds attempted enforcement. That would attract the media, and we would be treated to breathless reporting from those locations about how poor Sally here --weeping on camera – can’t go Aunt Beatrice’s bedside to comfort her in her final moments.
About a day of that and the TSA would discover the current licenses from those states are plenty good enough.
This is not just the TSA. This law was a recommendation of the 9-11 bipartisan commission in 2005. South Dakota seems to have figured out how to comply. Ten years is a long time to do something that is not exactly rocket science.
If those 4 states decided to defy the TSA state ID mandate, passengers in those states would start getting advanced warnings from the airlines that they would need passports or other acceptable ID, or they may not be able to board. The citizens and business of that state would quickly tell their legislatures to fix their problem.
Perhaps it is easier for a state like South Dakota, with its limited number of public employees – smaller than individual departments in many other states – to fully implement new criteria for IDs. More surprisingly, local TSA employees even carry out their duties with a measure of “Midwest nice” that is absent in many other places.
However, my basic conviction is that much/most of what the TSA does furthers no purpose save their continuing existence. As I’m convinced of that, I’m opposed to any attempt by them to extend their methods to trains.
So 4 + 4 Jan 10 ; 1 Jun 1, and 22 states Oct 10th.
question. What happens to persons in any state that do not have the revised licenses ? In Georgia not everyone will have enhanced license until Oct 1, 2017 since licenses are 5 year, enhanced started July 1 2012, & could be renewed for up to 90 days before expiradation.
Georgia also has some lifetime licenses mostly to vets.
Yup, former Infantryman here…while I will not pass myself off as a airport security expert. Certainly I can spot the holes in security. The ways around TSA to the jetliner itself still have not been secured. TSA is nothing more than a “feel good” placebo for the traveling public, in my opinion. Now they might have a visible deterrent value but in my view they are not as effective as most believe. Other items of my observation:
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Roving guards around airport perimeter not frequent or enough.
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Critical ATC control equipment outside airport perimeter largely unsecured.
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Airfield itself in a lot of cases has numerous close in warehouses and general offices that have no security layer. I worked in one at DTW that was hiring it’s security guards fresh off the boat from the Sudan (lol).
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Airport public observation areas in a lot of cases, direct line to departing and landing aircraft with easy freeway access.
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External or foriegn to the U.S. Airports do not supply same level of security to inbound to U.S. flights. Most especially at Mexico City and other 2nd world countries.
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Access doors to jetliners or to airport tamarac from airport terminal building not always secure or secure procedures not followed.
Most USAF airfields have a significantly higher level of security at a far lower cost than what we get with TSA at a civilian airfield.
Putting tsa in train (or bus) stations is a total waste. There are too many other opportunities to attack either, during a trip!
I mostly agree with Firelock76, Phoebe Vet, and Dakguy201. That the tsa is a feel good solution, largely ineffective (missing more “testing screening” fake bombs than they catch; denying kid’s toys as “looks like a weapon”, etc), and am opposed to a national ID card.
I also agree with CMStPnP, that many “security” measures the government takes are, at best, poorly thought out, and incomplete.
I was stationed at Ft. Meade 25+ years ago when they added “security” measures to stop car bombs, at a government agency sited there. The measures, then, would stop one car, but probably not multiple vehicles, and would be totally ineffective against motorcycles (reference Vietnam, bicycles made into bombs) running in the doors.
Our tax dollars, Wasted!
Chicago airport police: Guidance to unarmed aviation police: Run and hide
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/30/us/unarmed-aviation-officers/
http://wgntv.com/2016/01/03/unarmed-ohare-midway-aviation-officers-told-to-run-and-hide-report/
http://godfatherpolitics.com/27702/airport-police-shooter-strategy-run-hide/
With an Ill driver’s license, I would use my (retired) military ID.
While I agree that much security (airport and elsewhere) is theater and illusion, the telling stat is results. How many successful air-related terrorist/deranged person/hijacking events within the purview of TSA have occurred since its inception?
I have a better question. How many terrorists have they intercepted? I am not aware of a single one. I do, on the other hand know that they have seized thousands of dollars worth of property from honest citizens, and know people who have missed their flights because they were singled out for additional harassment disguised as screening. They have arrested people for expressing anger at the dehumanizing way they were being treated. I have seen an airport employee arrested because he jumped the fence when he got to the unmanned gate, realized he had left his ID in the car and would be late to punch in if he ran back to get it. So he jumped the fence, punched in, then returned to the car to get his ID. On the other hand they did NOT intercept a runaway who climbed the fence and stowed away in the wheel well of an airliner.
I think it’s odd that the same Republican politicians who keep offering bills to allow people with carry permits to take their guns into bars, and schools, and movie theaters never offer a bill to allow them on aircraft or in the visitors gallery in the legislature. It would seem to negate that claim that a gun free zone is a terrorist’s dream.
I don’t think that is an accurate test myself because it goes to motivation to conduct the attacks A LOT MORE than it does to security effectiveness. It took quite a bundle of money on the terrorist side as well as resources to pull off the 9-11 attacks. So much so that even if we had not added to security, not very likely they would repeatedly pull off an attack like that due to the cost, planning time and difficulty of keeping it a secret for so long. Also, it would lose much of the shock value and probably effectiveness with attempts at repeat because of the old adage…fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice, shame on me.
It’s roughly analogous to asking how many Females passed the Marines test of integration into the Infantry ranks? And just stopping with that answer to draw a conclusion. Without asking more detailed questions on the tests, why there was failure, what was run differently vs normal tests prior to the female integration question, etc. That whole fiasco with the Marines has me chuckling still. I have to give them credit for the effort they put into it but an EPIC FAIL on camoflage of their intentions/motivation for the test…lol.[:D]
It amazes me how easily people give up freedom if you keep them afraid.