We're the TSA and You Can Count on Us! (to overreact to tiny threats and ignore big ones)

With thanks to Facts Not Fantasy

Eight-year-old Michael Hicks named on terror watchlist

IS little Mikey really a terrorist? That is the question America is asking after it emerged that the eight-year-old Cub Scout from New Jersey is frisked every time he flies because his name is on a US terror watchlist.

Michael "Mikey" Hicks, whose father is a US Navy veteran and mother a photojournalist who has flown with the US vice-president, has been the target of extra security measures at airports since he was 2.

"Why would a kid be a terrorist?" he asks.

Michael is not on the US Government's "no-fly" list of 2,500 people considered too dangerous to be allowed into the air. However, his name appears to be among, or to closely match, one of the 13,500 on the "selectee" list who are singled out for extra airport security.

His parents first learnt of his status when they could not get him a seat for a flight to Florida because, as an airline official explained, he was "on the list". He was patted down for the first time aged 2 as he passed through Newark airport in New Jersey.

Michael has been asked to see the supervisor whenever he checks in for a flight. On a recent trip to the Bahamas he was frisked on the way out and searched more aggressively on the return flight.

Michael is the apparent victim of America's increasingly heavy-handed system of airline security.
The attempted "underwear bombing" of a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day led US officials to add even more names to the country's terror watchlists.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is charged with trying to explode a bomb, was identified as a possible problem when his father in Nigeria alerted the US Embassy that he had expressed extreme views before disappearing.

The US Government added Mr Abdulmutallab to the 550,000-name Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database. But his name was not added to the "no-fly" list or the "selectee" list, so he was able to get on a US-bound plane without attracting extra attention. Hundreds of people have been added to these lists since the breakdown was identified.

The United States, though, is deeply reluctant to start profiling passengers by singling out Muslims.

Instead the Obama Administration has taken an intermediate step by ordering full-body pat-downs for all US-bound passengers from Nigeria and 13 other countries where the US suspects that terrorists operate.

On its website, the Transportation Security Administration, which is responsible for airport security, insists that no eight-year-old boy is on the "no-fly" list.

"Airlines can and should automatically deselect any eight-year-olds out there that appear to be on a watchlist," it says. "Whether you're 8 or 80 the most common occurrence is name confusion and individuals are told they are on the no-fly list when, in fact, they are not."

Michael's mother, Najlah Feanny Hicks, has enlisted the help of her congressman to get the listing removed. "You could have seen that he was 2; that he was 3, 4 or 5. Now it's scary because he's 8. What happens when he is 16?" she asked on the television channel CBS2.

The Australian

The terrorists are winning

Shortly after the attacks on September 11, 2001; back when such attacks were almost universally considered to be acts of war and not just crimes committed by “alleged suspects”, there was a lot of talk of the terrorists winning or losing.

It was often said that if people in the West did this or did that, the terrorists would win. Those days are long gone. Although there have been a few such comments since the Christmas Day attempt to bring down Flight 253, they have been few and far between.

Perhaps this is recognition of the fact that the current administration and congress in Washington do not treat terrorists as enemies with whom a war is ongoing. It could also be that this “war” is easy to forget; although the militaries of the United States and its allies are engaged in fighting, it is easy for everyone else to simply ignore what is taking place.

In the above context it was somewhat surprising to see David McCaig, the head of the Association of Canadian Travel Agents, being quoted in the media as saying last week that the terrorists were winning.

McCaig was particularly referring to the use of full body scanners and searches where passengers are patted down all over their bodies except in the crotch area where Umar Farouk Abdulmatallab kept his explosives.

It will be years until this war ends, if in fact it ever ends, but looking at its progress during the last 12 months in terms of winning and losing battles, it is easy to conclude that the Islamic fundamentalists had a hell of a good year.

The terrorists won when Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. While John McCain seemed more concerned with reaching across the aisle to Democrats than enacting policies that would appeal to more conservative voters there is no doubt that he would have prosecuted the war more seriously than the Obama administration is doing. Obama ran on a platform of hope and change. Once elected, he “hoped” that the Islamic fundamentalists would “change” and not attack a country who was led by a nice guy like him. Obama was of course wrong.

The terrorists won when Obama’s first announcement as president was that he was going to close Guantanamo Bay within a year. The terrorists, as everyone else did, realized that he made the decision without deciding what to do with the detainees that were being housed in Cuba.

The terrorists won when the administration stopped using the term “war on terror” and began to refer to it with cutesy phrases such as “man made disasters”.

The terrorists won when Janet Napolitano, who had no expertise in security, was made Secretary of Homeland Security.

The terrorists won when Eric Holder was appointed as Attorney General. Holder had practiced law with a firm that defended some of the Guantanamo detainees.

The terrorists won when Obama travelled around the world and apologized for all the problems that were caused by the United States. This was especially true of his Cairo speech where he made it clear that Muslims, who are not a threat to the West, were much more worthy of priority than the jihadists who seek destruction.

The terrorists won when Barack Obama dithered and dawdled and seemed not to care about how many, if any, more troops should be sent to Afghanistan.

The terrorists won after Adulmatallab’s attempt to blow up Flight 253 when Barack Obama decided to stay on vacation in Hawaii. Even though the president could do everything from Hawaii that he could have done from Washington, it gave the perception that Obama is a weak leader who didn’t take terrorist attacks seriously.

The terrorists won when Obama’s first comment from his sunny vacation paradise was that the carefully planned attack was “an isolated incident”.

The terrorists won when Secretary Napolitano went on television the following Sunday and stated that “the system works”.

The terrorists won when the TSA came up with comical solutions to protect airline passengers. They could not be told or shown where the plane was during their trip and for the last hour would have to remain in their seats during the last hour with nothing on their laps, save their neatly folded hands.

The terrorists won when the American media heaped praise upon the president for being so brave as to actually use the word “war” in public.

One thing was clear; when Barack Obama returned from his Hawaiian vacation, he was scared.

Unlike some U.S. senators he can’t bribe the Islamic fundamentalists with stimulus slush funds. Nor can he bully the attackers like he tries to do with Israel; nor can he simply ignore the terrorists as he does with the student uprisings in Iran.

Obama may have finally realized that the fundamentalists are a threat not just to the United States but to his legacy. All he could do was blame everyone else while throwing out the line that “the buck stops here”, knowing that the sycophantic media would praise his leadership skills.

Like it or not, the terrorists are winning. And they probably had a few good laughs along the way.

CFP

How to Recognize and Fight a Terrorist on a Plane

The attempted bombing of Delta/Northwest 253 on Christmas Day was not the first from the Islamic terrorists nor will it be the last.

Since I am a pilot, I have had people ask what can a passenger do onboard an airplane to help thwart a terrorist attack.

Having personal experience with a few events myself, as well as reading articles and hearing stories from other crewmembers, I can give you some information which might assist you in dealing with a suspicious passenger or situation.

The first thing to realize is that there are a few different scenarios which the terrorists could be using on your particular flight. (Also realize that it could happen on any flight, not just one originating from a non U.S. location.)

Options include testing TSA and law enforcement personnel, testing passengers and crewmembers, observation, dry run/practice, and actual execution of an attack. Of course it is hard to differentiate which scenario is playing out until after your flight lands, but it might assist you in recognizing the threat and knowing how serious your reaction should be if you know all of the options. In most of these instances, their job is to also scare you.

Terrorists create terror. If you stop flying, they win. So be pro-active. Maybe something you do will cause them to call off the attack.

As a passenger you must be observant and vigilant. Most often someone notices some unusual activity or behavior. It doesn’t have to be just a person either. Suspicious bags, luggage, packages, notes, pillows, and electronic devices have been found on planes. One of the biggest advantages you have is the ability to profile. TSA refuses to do the obvious thanks to political correctness.

Everyone knows who is committing these attacks -- Muslim, Middle-Eastern men between 18 and 40. Maybe al Qaeda is trying to recruit others than don’t fit this profile but it sure fits the mold right now.

Some things to look for: groups or pairs of men, a passenger talking to themselves, speaking Arabic, watching crewmembers (this is different than looking), staring at the cockpit door, long stays or multiple trips to the lavatory, reading a book but not turning any pages, nervousness, being unusual by trying to fit in, taking pictures/videos, not making eye contact.

When you are at the boarding area and on the plane if you notice a suspicious passenger, look for others. How many? If it is one or two then they could be planning on bombing the aircraft or just making observations of crew procedures. 6 or more? Then this cell’s objective would be hijacking the plane by brute force. Also remember that there are sleepers that try to blend in with the other passengers and could be very hard to notice.

A website reports a well-dressed man in custody that was also a passenger on Delta Flight 253. After an incident, your entire plane might be delayed for security and they will treat everyone as suspects. Also expect the government and airline to try to cover up parts or all of an event.

A recent example of a possible test occurred on Nov 17 with an Airtran flight from Atlanta to Houston. Eleven Muslim men got on the plane and caused a big disturbance and ended with passengers assisting the flight attendants in the commotion. TSA was called, they took the men off, talked to them, and put them back on.

The crewmembers walked off the plane refusing to fly it, and then passengers walked off as well. The terrorists tested the TSA and passengers but probably also threatened lawsuits to the government and Airtran.

This could be setting up a later mission with hopes the TSA and airline would be afraid to take them off the plane. Just like the Delta flight, the final layer of security, the crewmembers and passengers, are the ones who might have prevented an attack, nothing the government did was successful.

Read more at Human Events

Hamas-linked CAIR whines about airport search of woman in hijab

Hmmm, let's see. An unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case is complaining about a Muslim being subjected to a security search at an airport.

Obviously CAIR would be happy if it succeeds in intimidating the TSA into relaxing searches of Muslims.

And by sheer coincidence, the people today who are most intent on sneaking explosives onto airplanes and blowing them up are Muslims. So if CAIR gets its way here, everyone who flies an airplane will be at greater risk.

And yet the mainstream media continues to portray this thuggish, dishonest, pro-jihad organization as a neutral American civil rights group -- as you can see right in the lead sentence of this Detroit News article. "Muslims question full-body search of woman in head scarf: Dearborn native says she was told she was singled out by security," by Oralandar Brand-Williams for The Detroit News, January 7

Detroit -- A national Muslim civil rights group is asking the Transportation Security Administration for clarification on whether Muslim women wearing Islamic head scarves, or hijabs, will be singled out for additional security checks after a traveler said she was targeted for a "humiliating" full-body search at an airport Tuesday.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations office in Washington, D.C., sent the letter via e-mail Wednesday after a Muslim woman Tuesday from Washington's Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles said she was asked to remove her hijab and then put through a full-body pat-down search when she refused to take off the scarf.

She said she did consent to a search. The woman told CAIR officials her clothes, luggage, laptop computer and cell phone were searched and tested for bomb-making materials.

Nadia Hassan, 40, of Maryland said she was patted down in front of her daughter, 5, and several male TSA staffers.

"It was very humiliating. It was very uncomfortable," Hassan told The Detroit News via a telephone interview from California. "I didn't say anything. I didn't want to cause any trouble. ... I'm an American. I'm not a foreigner. My country is treating me this way?"

John Walker Lindh is an American. Adam Gadahn is an American. Anwar al-Awlaki was born in New Mexico. With American Muslims waging jihad warfare against the United States, what exactly does Hassan expect the TSA to do?

Hassan, a Dearborn native, said she was told by one of the TSA guards that "I was singled out because I was wearing the hijab" and that the search was part of new rules that went into effect Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, did not comment on the incident but said TSA screeners do not single out Muslim women wearing head scarves.

"The Transportation Security Administration's current procedures for the screening of bulky clothing or headwear -- which have been in effect since 2007 -- remain unchanged.

The wearing of a hijab itself does not automatically trigger security checks," said Sarah Horowitz in a written statement to The News. "To ensure the highest level of security, passengers wearing loose fitting or bulky clothing -- including headwear -- may be subject to additional screening."

CAIR National Director Nihad Awad wrote to TSA Acting Director Gale D. Rossides on Wednesday, saying, "If this troubling new policy is indeed in effect, it represents religious profiling in its most egregious form. We respectfully request that you clarify whether Islamic head scarves will now trigger automatic secondary screening for Muslim travelers.

"If so, does this new policy apply to all those who wear religious head coverings, such as Sikh men, Catholic nuns and Orthodox Jewish women, or will it apply exclusively to Muslim travelers?"

Tell you what, Awad: as soon as a Sikh man, a Catholic nun or an Orthodox Jewish woman blows up an airplane, get back to me on this.

With thanks to JihadWatch

Man who threatened 'to kill Jews' on Detroit-bound flight charged

THE man who disrupted a flight as it was leaving Miami by saying he wanted "to kill all the Jews" has been charged with threats against a public servant.

He's also been charged with disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest without violence, NBC Miami reported today.

Passenger Mansour Mohammad Asad said "I'm a Palestinian and want to kill all the Jews," and had to be removed by officers from the plane, according to police reports

Northwest Airlines Flight 2485 returned to the gate after Asad's disruption, where he and three companions were taken into custody by officers. The three other men have since been released.

It was reported that Asad, 43, struggled during his removal and had to be tasered.

He is said to have threatened officers, used racial slurs, and was reportedly chanting in a foreign language.

After the inccident, the Transportation Security Administration released a statement saying, "While Northwest Airlines Flight 2485 taxied prior to departure from Miami International Airport (MIA), a passenger was heard making inappropriate remarks and acting disruptively.

"The flight crew made the decision to return the plane to the gate.

Local law enforcement and TSA met the aircraft upon its return and all passengers were deplaned.

"The passenger and three travel companions are being questioned by Miami-Dade County police.

The aircraft, bound for Detroit Wayne County International Airport (DTW), was swept with negative results and has been cleared for departure."

The Australian

U.S. Requests Pat-Downs on All Flights From 14 Nations

American authorities announced that as of Monday, anyone traveling from or through nations regarded as state sponsors of terrorism — as well as "other countries of interest" — will be required to go through enhanced screening techniques before boarding flights.

The Transportation Security Administration said those heightened security measures would include full-body pat-downs, carryon bag searches, full-body scanning and explosive detection technology.

The U.S. State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. The other countries whose passengers will face enhanced screening include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.

The new measures followed the arrest of a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly tried to set off an explosive device on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.

Germany announced increased security at all airports following the failed Christmas Day attack, but authorities on Monday said no further measures have been taken since.

U.S. officials in Washington said the new security measures would be implemented Monday but there were few visible changes on the ground in Europe, which has thousands of passengers on hundreds of daily flights to the United States.

Large hubs such as London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt alone account for 20-30 trans-Atlantic flights a day each.

In Britain, a major international transport hub, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation said he was still trying to decipher the practical implications for Britain of the new U.S. rules. He refused to give his name due to the sensitivity of the subject.

In Switzerland, authorities were studying the new U.S. security measures, but so far the old controls were still in place, said Jean-Claude Donzel, spokesman for Swiss International Air Lines.

And a security official in Spain, who spoke on condition on anonymity in line with agency rules, said U.S.-bound passengers from countries on the new watch list were not being singled out for body frisks.

Muslim advocacy groups bristled at the new TSA rules and urged the agency to consider alternatives. “It comes pretty close to across-the-board profiling of Muslim travelers,” said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic relations, adding that it would unfairly single out not just foreigners but Muslim Americans traveling to see their families in the selected countries. “It only serves to alienate those whose hearts and minds we’re trying to win.”

Alejandro Beutel, government liaison for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said the ruling would cast such a wide net as to ultimately be ineffective.

“We do see this as profiling, and profiling is very poor policing,” he said.

Elsewhere in the world, there has been a general ramping up of security since Christmas.

In Jordan, a key U.S. ally, security was beefed up at Amman's main international airport since the Christmas Day bombing attempt. An official at Queen Alia International Airport said "enhanced techniques" were being applied, especially in screening passengers bound for the United States. He declined to elaborate.

Pakistan's national airline said it was intensifying security checks for U.S.-bound passengers, even though there are no direct flights to the States from Pakistan. Screening was also stepped up for those flying to the U.S. from other parts of Asia and the Middle East.

"It is beyond my imagination what more they could do," said Nadim Umer, 40, a Karachi-based linen merchant who said he was subjected to a strip search when he arrived in New York last June. "Those who are dying to go to America at any cost can put up with all this inhuman behavior, but I cannot."

A spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines said the company began applying the new security standards Jan. 1 on U.S.-bound passengers.

Sultan Hasan said the passengers are subjected to special screening, including full body searches, in a designated area of the departure lounge. He said the airline had run advertisements in newspapers to warn prospective passengers of the increased safety measures. maintaining strict security standards at all airports for all flights.

"We are already carrying out all possible security arrangements at our airports which can be compared with any Western airport," Pervez George, spokesman for Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority. "Safety of the airliners and passengers as well as security at the airports is a top priority and we are maintaining it irrespective where the flight is going."

In South Korea, an official at Seoul's Incheon International Airport, Lee Ji-hye, said U.S.-bound passengers are now required to go through additional security before boarding their flights, and security officials also compile lists of "suspicious" passengers to monitor based on their nationalities, travel patterns and ticket purchases.

Australian Transport Ministry spokeswoman Moksha Watts said all passengers flying to the U.S. would continue to be patted down and have all their cabin luggage searched.

Baghdad's International Airport already has extremely tight security, with passengers having their luggage sniffed by dogs and getting patted down before entering the airport.

"Our security procedures at the airport are more intensified than that in any other airport in the world," said security official Umran Idris.

Maayan Malkin, spokeswoman for Israel Airports Authority, declined to discuss security arrangements. The Ben-Gurion International airport is considered one of the safest in the world.

FoxNews

Attention Jihadists: Please Have Your Boarding Passes Ready

Those of you planning on visiting loved ones during the upcoming holidays may want to be extra vigilant at the airport, as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the very agency which has been in charge of protecting America’s airports since the September 11^th terror attacks, has given terrorists worldwide all of the information they need in order to breach security measures currently in place.

Reports of this generous act surfaced yesterday from nearly all media outlets, which described the TSA’s posting of an extremely sensitive document (on the eve of a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on terrorist travel, no less), which detailed the nation’s airport screening procedures.

The 94-page document provides any potential Jihadist taking the time to read it a how-to manual for bypassing those very same procedures.

They would learn about the limitations of x-ray machines and may be pleasantly surprised to find that only 20% of all bags checked in are hand searched for explosives.

They would learn how flying in from countries such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Syria, and Sudan, would subject them to extra scrutiny, or that during peak travel times, TSA screeners who check identification can reduce from 100 percent to 25 percent the times they use black lights to authenticate documents.

And to round out TSA’s largesse, as an added bonus Jihadists downloading the document were also provided with sample CIA, Congressional and law enforcement credentials, which they could then duplicate at leisure to be used later!

Speaking of leisure, our enemies had 9 months to study the document, as it was posted in March before being removed this week. Not only that, it was actually posted on the Federal Business Opportunity website, a resource for those seeking federal jobs.

How did this happen?

That’s what Senator Susan Collins (R-Me), wants Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to explain:

Senator Susan Collins: This shocking breach undercuts the public’s confidence in the security procedures at our airports. On the day before the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s hearing on terrorist travel, it is alarming to learn that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inadvertently posted its own security manual on the Internet. [DHS needs to explain] how it will remedy the damage that has already been done.

Napolitano, who has shown time and again that she is the wrong person for the job of protecting the nation’s borders from those intent on doing us harm, minimized the damage caused by the posting of the document by claiming it was an “out-of-date” document that had been superseded:

Janet Napolitano: The security of the traveling public has never been put at risk. The document that was posted was an out of date document. I’ve directed that we do a review department-wide of all of our components to make sure that we are being rigorous and very disciplined on what is posted and what is not.

Well, thank goodness for that. We’re all resting much easier now.

The full texts of the unredacted document, together with a sample CIA credential can be downloaded here: CLICK HERE TO READ THE SCREENING MANUAL and HERE TO SEE THE SAMPLE CIA CREDENTIAL

Happy travelling!

NewsReal Blog

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words