Should we focus on nail files or weapons launchers — just what is “Homeland Security” all about?
I’m not too sure about some people’s feelings, but I personally think the TSA mavens are missing the point completely. While we debate about how big nail clipper scissors may be we let thousands of shipments like this one travel the nations highways unmonitored.
The story above is from Canad, but it’s 100% applicable to the US. It also had a happy ending due to the fact that the trucking company owner had invested in a GPS tracking system.
But, since this shipment did not carry explosives, it would have been perfectly legal for these armored (and able to be armed) military vehicles to travel with no one watching. For years now the TSA has been mulling over the idea of tracking hazardous and potentially hazardous cargo in the US, yet no a single viable effort has been made to do actually _do_ anything about it.
Most of the TSA’s work has consisted of conferences where industry execs moan about the idea being “too hard:”, or meetings with tracking company leasers who spend the time arguing how their technology is the only viable one … and not a damn thing gets done.
In the meantime the TSA spins it’s wheels with re-wickering the rules on what can be hand carried onto airplanes … ignoring unmonitored containers of cargo on the same flights, or even armored missile launchers.
This might be an excellent time to write your representatives and tell them that the Michael Brown style of TSA leadership is now run it’s course. If we don’t monitor armored vehicle shipments then what on earth _should_ we be monitoring? And I’m talking a government-operated GPS master tracking facility that would actually keep tabs on these dangerous devices, not a simple reliance on the good will and public-spirited efforts of individual truck owners. Anyone else out there concerned?