From ToKind

A failure of Intelligence

December 29, 2009

Last summer we flew to Oklahoma for a wedding. Tulsa was the destination. I hate air travel and have for years. We flew to Spain a few summers ago and the flying was not an experience I would care to repeat. We also pay a premium because we fly out of a low-volume airport. El Paso to Tulsa. Double-whammy.

First of all, when I purchased the tickets on line, I took care to choose flights with a minimal layover. Since I am a smoker, it is unnerving to make trips out of and back into the airport through security because I need a smoke. Personal problem, not complaining. So I try to minimize the layover. The tickets that I got were not the ones I though I had purchased. The layovers were double those I had chosen.

Flying out of El Paso, our outbound flight had been canceled. It was supposed to depart at 8:20. When we got to the airport at 7:15 no one bothered to tell us this. We got checked in and got all the way up to our gate, and in fact spend 45 minutes sitting up there before we realized that something was wrong. There were no flight agents in the area, nor at any of the gates. I walked half way back down the concourse to look at the flight schedule and could not find our flight at all. Then I looked closely at out tickets. 14:20.

Since there was no one to ask, I picked up the phone on the wall and asked about our flight. The person on the other end told me I would have to come down stairs to my airline check-in counter and ask. As it turned out, our flight had been canceled at 3:00 in the morning (probably under-booked) and we were going to have to wait around until 14:20. No one told us a thing. I asked the flight check-in lady and she changed the subject. She was one of the two people standing there who had checked us in earlier.

In addition to the canceled flight, we would have a 3:40 layover in DFW. We were going to miss the rehearsal for the wedding, and likely the dinner afterward.

We made it, and everything else went fine. The wedding was splendid and we enjoyed time with our family.

Now for the return flight. We got the the airport in Tulsa 1:45 early. We checked in the rental car and made for the gate. There were 40 or 50 people standing there with luggage, and two agents behind the counter. After we had been there for about 25 minutes, another agent came out to chastise us for not being there at least 3 hours before our domestic flight. Three hours? So we were supposed to wait around for three hours before our flight so that the airline does not have to hire enough staff to take care of us?

We finally got through check-in. Plenty of time to get through security and to our gate. I carry a cell phone, laptop, keys, etc. I also carry a lighter, and know that if I clean everything else off I am able to get it through security. The in-briefing was different this time. We were told that we must remove belts and any non-gold jewelry, and declare any medical devices before we get to the trays.

After the x-ray scan of our stuff, where the metal detectors usually are, there was a large glass and steel booth -- like a huge cylindrical fish tank. There were two red foot prints on the floor in the center, about shoulder width. The agent was mearing a headset with microphone. Gloria was submitting to the hand held metal detector as I considered what these people were going to do to me when they spotted my lighter. She was told to step into the booth, place her feet on the marks and raise her hands in the air. This was a millimeter wave full-body scanner. Two body length perpendicular bars scanned a half circle around her, then back. The agent asked her to step back out of the booth. She told her to remove the contents of her right front pocket. It was her driver's license. After examining the card, then agent asked her to proceed.

At this point I was pretty sure that we were not going to make the flight, and that I was going to spend the next hour trying to talk my way out of some sort of charges for attempting to bring a prohibited device aboard an airplane. I stepped forward to be examined. I stepped into the booth and was scanned.

"You may proceed sir" was all I got. Gloria is a good listener. On the way up the concourse I explained the millimeter wave scanner and her undisclosed nudity to the people upstairs during her scan. I referred to the lighter in my pocket, in case she had forgotten about it. I explained that I will be driving, riding a train, riding on a boat, a bus, anything but flying from this day on --until this insane theater is over.

Judging from the effectiveness of our security services (and Congress) I would guess that it is unlikely to be over in my life time.

On December 25th, 2009, a passenger who should never have been allowed through airport security tried to set off a crude bomb on an airliner flying into Detroit. I understand that FBI authorities had been advised by this man's own father that he was becoming increasingly radical and might pose a threat to the public. His Visa was not revoked. He was not placed on the so-called no fly list. He boarded the flight without a passport.

Thank god he didn't have a Bic and a cigar!

At this point you really need to ask yourself a fundamental question: Who is this government and it's homeland security and it's intelligence services working for? You? Me?

I think not.