Cheat Sheet
The Best In Brief
Airport Screening Scrutinized
In the wake of the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airplane Christmas Day, President Obama has ordered a review of airport screening procedures, his press secretary said Sunday. Appearing on Meet the Press and This Week, Robert Gibbs said Obama is being regularly briefed by national-security staff on 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s alleged attempt to detonate his explosive underwear. Since last month, Abdulmutallab was on a broad watch list of 500,000 names, Gibbs said, but being on that list does not automatically mean a person will come under tighter security checking. The president ordered a review of the process that determines which people will be pulled aside for more stringent screening. He also called for a review to figure out how someone could get on board with the chemical explosive Abdulmutallab is accused of possessing.
OldCrow
According to Janet Napolitano's interview on CNN this morning, "the system worked". Apparently, "the system" includes unarmed civilians taking physical action to disarm terrorists coupled with luck that one of these monsters won't figure out how to properly detonate an IED.
And she's in charge of homeland security? What a fool.
fred88
Any homeland security director would have said the same thing. The fact is that the passengers are probably the single biggest deterrent to terror on planes, much more so than the uneducated inept TSA.
JeffreyinLA
Surprise, surprise, after all the billions spent on faux "security measures" at airports, after forcing passengers to endure long, slow lines through "security," after practically forcing peopple to disrobe in public for "security" reasons, after hiring a lot of minimum wage ex-cons for "security," a guy walks onto a plan with enough explosives to bring down a jet. Why? Because there was no security checking for -- you know -- explosives. And now President Obama has issued a call for another hollow review. I don't suppose it hasn't occurred to the Ego In Chief that his continued wars in the middle east only serve to continue to inflame Islamist hatred of America. We cannot fight terror with terror.
DakLak
Good PR, Up the 'security' checks and impress the travelling public the U.S. is doing something - other than really pissing off the passengers - when in actuality the SYSTEM FAILED.
VISAS are supposedly issued when someone is approved after checks show that they meet certain criteria.
So the guy was on a 'watch list' - what the hell were they 'watching' - the answer is obviously NOT much?
After all the TRILLION OF DOLLARS wasted on Homeland 'Security' it simply DOESN'T WORK. As in NO DAMN GOOD.
It shouldn't be a matter of picking in some two-bit embassy position it should be whomever the idiot who established the system.
Maybe if the U.S. government did a Google search it would find out more than from it's multi-billion dollar computer system?
Don't increase airport searches; don't increase airport hassles - put the blame squarely where it belongs and that is some civil servant who claims security expertise.
How come we are not mad at not getting our monies worth from the government?
prettyscary1
Welcome to the airport please take your shoes and underwear off as we do a quick and efficient cavity check. Thank you for your cooperation
jojo12
A good friend of mine is still fuming over the $50 cosmetic brush one of those minimum wage TSA agents took from her. Surely, the agent didn't think that brush could be used to blow up a plane? Nah, the brush was worth more than a full days pay for that agent, she either kept it or clipped it to sell it.
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.