This is outrageous. Bush and the Republicans on Capitol Hill put a provision in the law creating the Transportation Security Administration that will soon permit airports to kick out the current federal security folks and go back to those private sector morons we had screening you and your baggage pre-9.11.
I remember traveling at Dulles Airport in the DC area just after 9.11. The same airport that was used to fly the plane into the Pentagon. The security guys could NOT speak English, not a lick. I asked one if they had food courts in the area post-security, and he couldn't understand a word I said. The second guy was at the metal detectors and he couldn't put a sentence together when I asked him whether to take my laptop out of the case or not - I'm talking, the man couldn't understand a word I said, and couldn't say a word in English to save his life. We spent two minutes going back and forth, me trying to sign language taking my laptop out of its case and him looking all dumb and reiterating some phrase that no one in line could understand. How in the hell are these guys going to catch the next Mohammad Atta?
I'm quite serious about this. My mom and grandparents immigrated to this country, I've lived abroad, I speak five languages, I've dated foreigners who didn't speak English (Italians, mmmm), so I get the immigrant thing. But don't put guys in charge of security of our airports, guys in charge of sussing out who is and isn't carrying a bomb to kill me and 300 other people (or 3000 people), who can't even speak or understand a word of English (not to mention, some of the born-here Americans at security were a trip as well). That doesn't instill a lot of confidence, not to mention, what the hell is he going to do if someone is a security threat - motion to others with his hands? But that's what we'll be getting back to, thanks to GW Bush and the Republicans in Congress who wanted to give the security gravy train back to their wealthy corporate donors.
NYT Editorial:
Bashing federal bureaucracies is a favorite sport among Republicans on Capitol Hill, but their fun should not come at the expense of national security. That is what is likely to happen if airport security checkpoints are once again turned over to profit-driven private contractors. Under a little-noticed provision of the post-9/11 aviation security law that would undoubtedly shock most travelers, airports may soon have that option.
