Timing is everything…

Below is an AP article posted at midnight Saturday on Labor Day weekend.  How convenient for the government to warn us of the evils of “little airplanes” when there’s nobody to respond.  This is part of the plan people, Tuesday when the alphabet groups go back to work they will counter with the truth, but by then all the Senator Rockefeller wannabees that think “little airplanes” serve no useful purpose will have had their head start…

Feds warn of small airplane terror threats

By EILEEN SULLIVAN – Associated Press | AP – 8 hrs ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI and Homeland Security have issued a nationwide warning about al-Qaida threats to small airplanes, just days before the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Authorities say there is no specific or credible terrorist threat for the 10-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. But they have stepped up security nationwide as a precaution.

According to a five-page law enforcement bulletin issued Friday, as recently as early this year, al-Qaida was considering ways to attack airplanes.

The alert, issued ahead of the summer’s last busy travel weekend, said terrorists have considered renting private planes and loading them with explosives.

“Al-Qaida and its affiliates have maintained an interest in obtaining aviation training, particularly on small aircraft, and in recruiting Western individuals for training in Europe or the United States, although we do not have current, credible information or intelligence of an imminent attack being planned,” according to the bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.

The bulletin also says al-Qaida would like to use sympathetic Westerners to get flight training, then get them to become flight instructors.

Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, described the bulletin as routine.

“We shared this information with our partners to highlight the need for continued awareness and vigilance,” he said.

Aviation security is much tighter than it was a decade ago, but al-Qaida remains keenly interested in launching attacks on airplanes, believing large attacks with high body counts are more likely to grab headlines.

Threats to small airplanes are nothing new. After the 2001 attacks, the government grounded thousands of crop dusters amid fears the planes could be used in an attack.

In 2002, U.S. officials said they uncovered an al-Qaida plot to fly a small plane into a U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf. And in 2003, U.S. officials uncovered an al-Qaida plot to crash an explosives-laden small aircraft into the American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

You’ll notice this is “routine” and the only threat is over seven years old.  That’s the best they could do.  Yet, this crap will drive the security issue; one the TSA/DHS has been reamed about lately (cost benefit seems to be nil). 

‘You see, we are doing something…’

Yep, once again trying to ground all the GA aircraft in the country and destroy your 4th Amendment rights, not to mention the automatic reduction of your freedoms as a pilot.

Contact you Congressmen and Senators NOW, tell them this dis-information campaign has to stop and stop now!

Or Maybe It’s Not Working

Yesterday I posted an article where the TSA patted itself on the back, not the places you get patted, telling us what a great job they were doing.

Today, in the LA Times is another article questioning the spending of “$31 billion by 2014″ in the name of your safety.  The link is below, as the article is a bit long to reproduce here:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/september11/la-na-911-homeland-money-20110828,0,4574475,full.story

If you are unsuccessful with the link, cut and paste it.

I particularly like the nose leads and cattle prods, unfortunately not for muslim terrorists but cattle in Cherry County, Nebraska in case Al Qaeda sleeper cells decide to mount biowarfare against the cattle population.

I think the telling quote is: 

“For me to sit here and say all this money was spent wisely is for me to sit here and lie to you,” he said. “Could we have done better? Yes. Have we done all that bad? Probably not all that bad, in the overall scheme of things.”

Nevertheless, the TSA has stopped nothing.  The Christmas bomber was stopped by passengers, Richard Reid, passengers, Times Square, a street cleaner.  All these people have done is feel up children and grandmothers and destroy your freedoms — it’s going to get worse unless you ACT NOW!

Forward this to your congressman and tell them you agree, you want to help fight the deficeit by reducing the size and power of the DHS.

TSA coming up on 10th Anniversary

Updated: Friday, 26 Aug 2011, 5:21 PM MDT
Published : Friday, 26 Aug 2011, 5:21 PM MDT

• Reporter: Amanda Goodman

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – This fall marks the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

It is also the tenth anniversary of the Transportation Security Administration which was created in response to the attacks.

Over the last decade the agency says it has prevented millions of potential threats but people have also raised concerns about the TSA’s tactics.

Robert Gibbs has been flying for decades but he says since 9/11 flying has become more challenging.

“It is become a little more awkward and a little more uncomfortable to travel,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs said it’s uncomfortable because of the heightened security measures.

After the terrorist attacks on 9-11 the Transportation Security Administration was created to enhance the safety and security of travelers.

Since then passengers have had to get to the airport earlier, remove their belts and shoes to go through body scanners.

The TSA said it’s all in the name of security and that it is working.

“We’ve found 50 million prohibited items 4,600 firearms; thousands of items that could have gotten through that could have posed a potential threat to the air traveler,” said TSA spokesperson Luis Casanova.

However some call the measures invasive especially the pat downs and body scanners which are quite revealing.

“We never had any desire to see a person’s image, our desire was to see a potential threat that that person might be carrying,” Casanova said.

Still, to address those concerns and try to strike a better balance between people’s privacy and security the TSA is phasing in new technologies, like the Automated Target Recognition Software, which they unveiled at the Sunport.

Instead of showing the individual’s body the new software shows just a generic outline.

Gibbs and other passengers flying out of the Sunport say they have learned to adapt in this post 9/11 world of travel.

“I think that if people remember it’s for our own security and safety then that should matter,” said traveler Cathryn Collins.

The TSA said it is constantly developing new technologies and ways to stay ahead of terrorists.

It also said the strategy of the agency from the beginning is to be random and unpredictable, which means those pat downs, will always be a possibility.

In addition to the security measures we do see the TSA also scans every piece of checked luggage behind the scenes.

“The TSA said it’s all in the name of security and that it is working.”  Or not, maybe we’re allowing our Constitutional rights to be eroded in the name of safety.  They claim to have found 50 million prohibited items; how many nail clippers, how many 4 ounce bottles of a liquid or gel, how many pocket knives, leathermans, etc.?

They haven’t found a guy with explosives strapped to his penis, they haven’t found a bomb in an SUV in Times Square…

They have required two mule drivers on a land locked portion of the Erie Canal to get background checks and TWIC cards, they have conducted illegal searches under “Operation Playbook”, they don’t require muslim women (we assume) to remove their veils.

How much longer will you allow your rights to be eroded, how much more freedom will you lose?

Omaha Airport Shut Down — over a science project…

From the Columbus, Indiana REPUBLIC:

OMAHA, Neb. — An Oregon college student’s science project forced the evacuation and shutdown of a terminal at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on Wednesday.

The student had been participating in a science fair at Creighton University in Omaha, FBI spokeswoman Sandra Breault said.

“The device had a legitimate purpose and was harmless but had a suspicious appearance, which triggered an appropriate response by TSA and law enforcement,” Breault said.

Breault said the student is working on a doctorate, but did not release the student’s name or other details — such as the type of science project that prompted the scare.

The airport’s north terminal was evacuated and shut down for about two hours Wednesday after X-ray screening workers spotted the science project in a carry-on bag, the federal Transportation Security Agency said.

The terminal was reopened around 2 p.m. Wednesday.

“Out of an abundance of caution [italics from STOPLASP], screening operations were suspended and the terminal was evacuated,” a TSA written release said. “The Omaha Police Department’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit cleared the item with negative findings.”

Screening operations continued at the airport’s south terminal, but crowds of travelers could be seen gathering outside the airport’s north terminal more than an hour after officials called for the evacuation.

Officers and police dogs could be seen inside the terminal checking trash cans, under chairs and even cabinets in the terminal’s shops and concessions area while the area was shut down.

The airport’s website indicated some flights in and out of the airport were delayed as police and officials swept the terminal.

SO, with your tax dollars it took  over two hours and they still weren’t sure (because of an “abundance of caution”); but to make sure, they had the dogs sniff the trash cans and under the potted plants.

This isn’t an “abundance of caution”, this is lunancy.  Imagine when you try to fly your personal aircraft and has an item that requires “an abundance of caution” — you’re going to be face down on the tarmac, the whole airport is closed, police helicopters overhead… when does the common sense kick it.

That’s an easy answer:  it doesn’t.  That’s why LASP and the other insults to our Constitutional rights (like SD-8G, Operation Playbook, etc.) should be done away with, whether Senator Rockefeller likes it or not.

We Got the Wrong Guy…

Posted: 07/31/2011
Last Updated: 51 minutes ago

• Michelle L. Clark

GAO releases misguided GA security report, AOPA points out flaws in study

By AOPA ePublishing staff

The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recently released report, “General Aviation Security Assessments at Selected Airports,” fails to accurately assess GA security measures, neglects to acknowledge security procedures already in place, and lacks justification for its misguided, broad-brush conclusions, AOPA says.

The report was requested in early 2010 by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to study the “security risks posed by unauthorized individuals gaining access to airports with general aviation operations.” The critical flaw with the report, AOPA says, is that it does not accurately assess security risk, which comprises vulnerability, threat, and consequences. The report addresses only vulnerabilities, painting an inaccurate picture of GA airport security.

“When misguided reports find their way into the hands of regulators there can be problems,” said Craig Spence, AOPA vice president of operations and international affairs. “Thankfully Congress and the Transportation Security Administration are much smarter on the subject and will see the report for what it is—a classic misunderstanding of the issues and facts.”

The association had reached out to the GAO numerous times to help provide accurate information but was not included in the process.

The GAO’s misunderstanding runs so deep that the report inaccurately states that the “sole common characteristic of general aviation operations is that flights are on demand rather than routinely scheduled.” It fails to clarify that GA is private, with the pilots and aircraft operators knowing one another at the airport and each person who boards their aircraft, much like a close-knit neighborhood or family carpool.

The GAO studied 13 airports, including three with commercial operations, from April 2010 to May 2011 that met two of five characteristics: public-use airport, located within 30 nautical miles of a population center of at least 1 million people, base to aircraft weighing more than 12,500 pounds, has at least one runway that is 5,000 feet or longer, and has more than 50,000 annual operations.

AOPA points out that selecting any two of the five characteristics can lead to drastically different airports with different kinds of risk. Based on this approach, analyzing security measures will not assess the level of associated risk. Security measures studied were perimeter fencing; controlled access points; perimeter, access point, and hangar lighting; locked and secured hangars and aircraft; on-site law enforcement or security officials; transient pilot procedures; intrusion detection systems; cameras; passenger, baggage, package, and cargo screening; and back-up power supplies.

While the study looked at TSA-suggested security enhancements, it did not take into account the cost of some of those voluntary measures. For example, the report noted that five GA airports had full perimeter fencing, while five had partial and one had none; two commercial airports had full fencing and one had partial.

“A fence line can cost $1 million a mile, which means it would take tens of billions of dollars to make the upgrades,” Spence said. “Airports simply don’t receive that kind of funding, and the money would be better spent on addressing other threats.”

In assessing these security measures, the GAO did not test the effectiveness of the security, nor assess measures not directly related to physical security, such as pilot background checks or other intelligence-gathering activities. It made no mention of the highly effective AOPA Airport Watch Program or the TSA’s General Aviation Security Program for certain operators of aircraft more than 12,500 pounds max takeoff weight. The report also left out the Large Aircraft Security Program supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking that would address all aircraft over 12,500 pounds. It is currently working its way through review and is scheduled to open for public comment before the end of the year.

By neglecting these security measures and without providing any data as proof, the GAO report concluded that “Larger aircraft, such as midsized and larger business jets, could cause catastrophic damage to structures and pose a greater risk if they are located near major metropolitan areas. Preventing unauthorized access to general aviation airports and aircraft may help mitigate some security risks.”

“The only access issues that the GAO has disclosed is its lack of access to the facts,” Spence said, pointing to a 2009 report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General. That report says terrorist threats to GA are “limited and mostly hypothetical” and do not merit expanded regulation. In addition, it states, “The current status of GA operations does not present a serious homeland security vulnerability requiring TSA to increase regulatory oversight of the industry.”

If you click on the link, it will take you to the GAO report, and lo and behold, the Chairman of the requesting committee would be none other than our good buddy, Senator Rockefeller (D-WV).  Seems the GAO told him exactly what he wanted to hear.

Your tax dollars at work, what a crock.  Keep up that pressure, elections are coming again, let them know how you feel about your freedom to fly.

If you give them enough time, they’ll put their foot in it…

Napolitano:  No “Logic” In Profiling Muslim Men Under the Age Of 35

You’re not using good logic there. You’ve got to use actual intelligence that you received. And, so, you might — all you’ve given me is a kind of status. You have not given me a technique for tactic or behavior. Something that would suggest somebody is not Muslim, but Islamic, that has actually moved into the category of violent extremists,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at a forum on U.S. security and preventing terrorist attacks.

“We have ways to make some of those cuts. And they involve the intel that comes in, the analysis that goes on. For example, we often times, for travelers entering the United States, we won’t not do what is called a secondary inspection just because they are a 35-year- old male who appears to be Muslim, whatever that means. But we know from intelligence that if they have a certain travel pattern over a certain period of time, that should cause us to ask some more significant questions than if we don’t.”

The “ways of making those cuts” so far haven’t been all that productive, reference the Christmas Bomber.  Remember, the IED in Times Square was found by a street cleaner, not any of Naplolitano’s minons.

I will give her one credit, doing an enhanced screening of every darkskinned male with an Arabic name would not be cost effective… so why is screening every private aircraft and pilot prior to every flight?

SIMPLE, we’re not noisy enough.  Muslims have CAIR, we have the alphabet group who want to compromise and declare victory.  Sam Graves (R-MO) is right:  THIS IS A BAD IDEA, PERIOD — no compromise required.

Just like thousands and thousands of dark skinned Arabs/Muslims have no intention of doing harm to National Security, 99.9% of licensed pilots in this country have no intention of harming our National Security.  Yet we are going to be faced with extra cost, un-Constitutional scrutiny, and crippling paperwork all because we enjoy a certain hobby or use a specific tool in our business.

CALL, FAX you representative.  Another example of our “great protectors” not having a clue.  I promise you if Muslims were to be targeted, CAIR would be in the news in a heartbeat!

Pistole’s about “Operational Assessments”

From the Aviaton Week website:

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) chief John Pistole says the next decade of security screening will focus on operational assessments “to stay ahead of tomorrow’s threats.”

Pistole, in an address to the 83rd annual conference and exposition of the American Association of Airport Executives May 19 in Atlanta, outlined three principles to guide the TSA. Each new step will strengthen security, he says. Screening will be “smarter,” rooted in the knowledge that the vast majority of 628 million annual air travelers pose little to no risk. TSA will be guided by the philosophy that “we can mitigate risk” but never fully eliminate it, he says.

The risk-based security program will be enhanced as TSA reviews current procedures and technology, how procedures are carried out and how segments of the population are screened.

Pistole suggests that TSA will move to more identity-based screening. “Just six months into this process, we have made good progress toward developing a long-term security construct that we hope could eventually change the flying experience for most travelers.”

A small step will be taken in coming months, when TSA officers will use an identity-based system to verify the identity and employment status of pilots against airline employee databases. Testing is under way at some airports and should expand further this year. Flight attendants are under consideration for a future phase.

“Eventually, passengers who can be deemed ‘low-risk’ after volunteering information ahead of time could be eligible for expedited screening,” he added. “While there will never be a guarantee of expedited screening—we must retain a certain element of randomness to prevent terrorists from gaming the system.”

What a crock!  The test program for pilot screening at BWI has been going on for years!  How long will it take?  Now we’re going to see this at a couple more airports, yip-te-do.

Once again, the Kool-Aide is poured and people are lapping it up.  There is no threat in General Aviation, there is no threat in commerical aviation pilots.  Yet the sieve approach, ‘screen ‘em all, let God sort ‘em out” is the way it works.

LASP II will probably be out in about 10 months my sources tell me.  Maybe longer if the DHS/TSA keeps stepping on itself like they have been.  Keep your elected officials in the loop.  A call is best, fax second best.  Use the AOPA resource to offer them a ride, show them GA — show them we’re no threat.

And how did that disaster excersize work out where GA was going to fly the relief effort (you know, kinda like we already did with Haiti)?  But, I guess we’re still a threat, because all those pilots must have had a 5 year background check, been fingerprinted.  All the passengers were searched and wanded, checked against a No Fly List, even Senator Rockefeller.

“Sudden Jihad Syndrome” — it’s not terrorism, it’s mental illness

What happened on AA Flight 1561

Michelle Malkin – Syndicated Columnist – 5/13/2011 8:50:00 AM

If you listen to the passengers and crew who flew on American Airlines Flight 1561 last weekend, there’s no doubt about what happened on their harrowing trip: A Yemeni man shrieking “Allahu akbar!” at the top of his lungs more than 30 times rushed the cockpit door twice intending to take down the plane and kill everyone on board.

The clammy, sweaty lone male passenger exhibited classic symptoms of what Middle East scholar and author Daniel Pipes has dubbed “Sudden Jihad Syndrome” — a seemingly random outbreak of threatening behavior or violence by a hysterical Muslim adherent who had not previously exhibited signs of Islamic radicalization. It took at least four men to tackle and restrain Rageh Ahmed Mohammed al-Murisi. “There was no question in everybody’s mind that he was going to do something,” passenger Angelina Marty told the San Francisco Chronicle.
 
And no, that “something” did not mean enlisting his fellow flyers in a midair flash mob performance of the “Hallelujah Chorus.”
 
Not everyone was so grounded in reality. Bleeding-heart sympathizers seriously speculated that al-Murisi had simply mistaken clearly marked lavatory doors for the clearly marked cockpit door (because, you know, it’s normal to shout “God is great” repeatedly just before relieving yourself as your plane is about to land). Some federal authorities and media whitewashers proclaimed that al-Murisi’s motives were “unknown.”
 
If only al-Murisi had been screaming phrases from the Constitution. The Selective Motive Determination Machine — the same one that rushed to pin the Tucson massacre on the Tea Party, the GOP and Fox News without a shred of evidence — would have kicked in to full gear.
 
On Wednesday, a San Francisco judge denied al-Murisi bail. Unburdened by the paralyzing prissiness of political correctness, federal prosecutors noted that “Allahu akbar” was the same refrain invoked by the 9/11 hijackers over Shanksville, Pa., and by the would-be Christmas Day bomber over Detroit. Not to mention Fort Hood jihadist Nidal Hasan, the Frankfurt, Germany, jihadist who killed two U.S. airmen on a bus in March, the young Portland, Ore., Christmas tree lighting bomb plotter, every last suicide bomber across Europe, Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, and every last evil al-Qaida beheader broadcast on video over the past decade.
 
So how, despite a massive transportation and homeland security apparatus, did al-Murisi get into this country and get on a plane? He had no keys, no luggage, $47 cash, two curious posted checks totaling $13,000, and a trove of expired and current state IDs from New York and California — where relatives said he had not notified them that he was coming. He is young, male, brought no family with him, had no job or other discernible income, and hails from the terror-coddling nation of Yemen. Yes, the same Yemen that is Osama bin Laden’s ancestral home, harbors al-Qaida operatives who are burning the “torch of jihad,” and is deemed a “special interest country” whose citizens warrant increased scrutiny by DHS when they cross the border illegally.
 
As I reported last month, a federal watchdog revealed that TSA’s counterterrorism specialists failed to detect 16 separate jihad operatives who moved through target airports “on at least 23 different occasions.” Neutered by Islamophobia-phobia and an “overtime over security” mentality, our State Department consular offices’ and airline security bureaucracy’s stance toward the al-Murisis slipping through their snaking lines is:
 
Nothing to see here; move along.
 
At least the heroes of Flight 1561 who refused to sit silent learned the proper 9/11 lesson. “I swore to myself that I would never be a victim” after the 2001 attacks, passenger Larry Wright, one of the men who brought al-Murisi down, told reporters earlier this week. The only effective homeland security begins and ends with a culture of self-defense. Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no “see no jihad, hear no jihad, speak no jihad” delusionists on airplanes with Allahu akbar-chanting flyers beating down doors.

 From Prespectives on www.onenewsnow.com.

Now, I guess, jihad is actually a mental illness.  So naturally it fits that General Aviation should feel some pain because there’s no telling when any of you, flying your 1500 pound Cessnas over the vast country will suddenly get “Sudden Jihad Syndrome”.

Oh, wait, you have to be Muslim I guess for this to happen.  And generally you’re an adult male, between the ages of 18 to 35.  And you have ties to a terrorist country (or your Dad has already told the State Department you’re a terrorist), little money and a somewhat strained relationship with your family.

I don’t see anything about flying private aircraft… but, thanks to Norm Minetta and PC, we can’t profile because that would be wrong.

Instead, all of us GA pilots will feel Senator Rockefeller’s pain over being wanded and patted down at Dulles.

There, that’s better.  Have some more Kool-Aide.