“Again, it’s because you can fire a bad contractor, but you can’t fire the government. I think TSA stands for Thousands Standing Around.” -John Stossel
*****
This is a no brainer coming from our side of the house, and I salute John Stossel for calling it the way he sees it. I brought up three interesting informational pieces on airport security, and the reasoning behind going the private route. For one, it works, and number two, it is what the Israelis do.
I know, I know, we have a much larger airport system in America than the Israelis do. But we must look hard at what we are doing, versus what others are doing, and ‘build a snowmobile’ out of the thing. Privatizing airport security is just one component of the strategy, and using what we can from the Israeli and European models is essential. By the way, I love the quote that Stossel put together up top. lol-Matt
—————————————————————–
O’Reilly Tonight: Privatize the TSA
By John Stossel
January 5, 2010
I’ll go on O’Reilly tonight to talk about the ridiculous new flight rules from the TSA .
Before my last flight, right after Christmas, security officials patted me down. I was wearing shorts. But they patted down my bare legs. There is a lot of “security” that seems pointless. Jet Blue told us that TSA had ordered them to keep all TV’s off for the whole flight. Everyone had to stay seated for an hour before takeoff — without blankets, pillows or personal belongings on their laps. And so on—you’ve heard about the new rules.
Those rules might help stop a terrorist if he did the exact same thing that Abdulmutallab attempted on Christmas. In reality, I suspect the rules will do nothing but inconvenience millions.
TSA should not exist. Before 9/11, screening was private — private companies, working for government, did the screening. They weren’t very sophisticated, but they did the job. The small knives the hijackers used were not violations of government rules. Neither were unlocked cockpit doors.