Homeland Insecurity, or you are what you eat
If you've gone abroad in the last four years, you've probably been given a "terrorist risk" score.
My guess is probably not.
The real heroes are the front-line law enforcement people who alertly catch people trying to bring explosives into the country during the Millenium celebrations. We need more like that, and fewer morons in Homeland Security wasting money on ineffective boondoggles.
They spend billions on this kind of stuff, and for what? So that law abiding citizens get cavity searched because they ordered a vegan meal or something?
Without their knowledge, millions of Americans and foreigners crossing U.S. borders in the past four years have been assigned scores generated by U.S. government computers rating the risk that the travelers are terrorists or criminals.Our country is being run by idiots. What kind of meal they ordered? "Excuse me, flight attendant, I'll have the Islamo-fascist Bacon, Champagne and a side of Boxcutters, please." I wonder if there is a field for "Saudi Arabian nationals who want to learn to fly jumbo jets but aren't interested in take offs nor landings?"
The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments, which the government intends to keep on file for 40 years.
The government calls the system critical to national security following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Some privacy advocates call it one of the most intrusive and risky schemes yet mounted in the name of anti-terrorism efforts.
Virtually every person entering and leaving the United States by air, sea or land is scored by the Homeland Security Department's Automated Targeting System, or ATS. The scores are based on ATS' analysis of their travel records and other data, including items such as where they are from, how they paid for tickets, their motor vehicle records, past one-way travel, seating preference and what kind of meal they ordered.
The use of the program on travelers was quietly disclosed earlier this month when the department put a notice detailing ATS in the Federal Register, a fine-print compendium of federal rules. The few civil liberties lawyers who had heard of ATS and even some law enforcement officers said they had thought it was only used to screen cargo.
My guess is probably not.
The real heroes are the front-line law enforcement people who alertly catch people trying to bring explosives into the country during the Millenium celebrations. We need more like that, and fewer morons in Homeland Security wasting money on ineffective boondoggles.
They spend billions on this kind of stuff, and for what? So that law abiding citizens get cavity searched because they ordered a vegan meal or something?
