Reality Check for TSA: GA is Not the Problem

The office of the Inspector General (OIG) is one of those things about American democracy that gives me some faith that his 233-year-old experiment might be workable after all. Unlike any other part of the government, the Inspector General's Office doesn't do government business: it acts as a watchdog to see that other in government are going about theirs legally, ethically and efficiently. Few would argue that they have their work cut out for them. (This really is about airplanes, I promise.)

A couple of weeks ago the OIG issued a report on the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA)efforts intended supposedly to keep us all safe by keeping a close eye on General Aviation.

The report was a vindication of what we at Flying and pilots in these pages have been saying for too many years. GA poses a very limited security threat and that if the TSA were to enact sweeping programs to regulate GA, there would be little or no effect. You can read the report here:  OIG Report on the TSA's GA Security Programs.

I'd go a step further, and say that the programs that the TSA has been proposing (and trying to implement) are losing propositions. One person who responded to my blog last week wrote that the attacks of 9/11 inflicted damage on us. Since that time, the damage we've suffered has been largely self-inflicted, in the form of lost rights, huge bills and reduced mobility.

The last thing that GA needs is a sweepingly restrictive access program designed to combat threats that the Inspector General has found to be "hypothetical."

He did not say that the threat was non-existent. But one has to ask, what are the threats associated with  a plan like the TSA's airport ID card security program that will target overwhelmingly American citizens trying to go about their daily business with no known or suspected connection to any kind of illegal activity whatsoever?

And while we're at it, we might want to ask, just how many of our rights are we willing to give up in the name of fear before we say, "Enough is enough." 

Robert Goyer

Comments

[Graeme Conlyn]

We in the Aviation Industry must continue to keep up the pressure on any punitive action being suggested or hinted at by the personnel who are employed by the TSA or any part thereof. Life is becoming more and more impossible for all those folks around the world who have any interest in International General Aviation. Graeme Conlyn - graeme@ccas.co.za

[John B Patson]

I could not agree more. I have spoken to many international travellers who will go tens of thousands of miles out of their way to avoid landing in the US because of hostile, aggressive "security" people. It is also one of the reasons why European and other firms are less willing to set up US operations than elsewhere. The sooner some sense is bought to the security debate the better. One last stone in the pond: I do not think it was any co-incidence that the World Trade Centre hi-jackers all left from Boston. It is a city which for years gave active support to IRA terrorists and I am sure they would have expected a sympathetic ride if they had been caught there before their evil plans came into play.

[Harry Leonard]

Amen! I for one believe we have remained silent while way too many rights and freedoms have been taken away by folks who have little if any connection to reality.