VIPR teams which count TSO’s among their ranks, conduct searches and
screenings at train stations, subways, ferry terminals and every other mass
transit location around the country. In fact, as the Los Angeles Times
has detailed, VIPR teams conducted 9,300 unannounced checkpoints and other
search operations in the last year alone. The very thought of federal employees
with zero law enforcement training roaming across our nation’s transportation
infrastructure with the hope of randomly thwarting a domestic terrorist attack
makes about as much sense as EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s Environmental
Justice tour.
In order to help rein in the TSA I introduced H.R. 3608, the Stop TSA’s Reach
in Policy Act aka the STRIP Act. This bill will simply overturn the TSA’s
administrative decision by prohibiting any TSA employee who has not received
federal law enforcement training from using the title “officer,” wearing a
police like uniform or a metal police badge. At its most basic level the STRIP
Act is about truth in advertising.
As TSO’s continue to expand their presence beyond our nation’s airports and
onto our highways, every American citizen has the right to know that they are
not dealing with actual federal law enforcement officers. Had one Virginia woman
known this days before Thanksgiving she may have been able to escape being
forcibly raped by a TSO who approached her in a parking lot in full uniform
while flashing his badge.
Will the STRIP Act solve every problem facing the TSA? Absolutely not. The
STRIP Act seeks to expand upon the work of my colleagues by chipping away at an
unnoticed yet powerful overreach of our federal government. If Congress cannot
swiftly overturn something as simple as this administrative decision there will
be little hope that we can take steps to truly rein in the TSA on larger issues
of concern.
Furthermore, if Congress fails to act do not be surprised if the TSA gives
the Transportation Security Officers another administrative makeover in the future. Only this time it won’t be
a new uniform. It will be the power to make arrests as some TSO’s are already
publicly calling for.
If TSO’s are truly our nation’s last line of defense in stopping an act of
terrorism, then the TSA should immediately end the practice of placing hiring
notices for available TSO positions on pizza boxes and at discount gas stations
as they have done in our nation’s capital.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/02/29/the-tsa-is-coming-to-a-highway-near-you/
EU Parliament urged to reject agreement with the US to hand over passenger data.
The key issue appears to be that the details of the current agreement violate existing European rights and rules -- including the fact that the US will retain this data forever (contrary to some claims that it would just be held for 15 years -- which was already problematic). Apparently, the agreement goes so far as to give US law enforcement a direct login to European computer systems, so they can sift through reservation data at will. Basically, this is yet another case of US law enforcement (TSA) overreaching in what it wants to be able to spy on, and just assuming that everyone will go along with it, despite a lack of clear reason for why. Now, what remains is whether or not EU officials will give in.
http://www.edri.org/issues/privacy/pnr
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120229/04254917913/eu-parliament-urged-to-reject-agreement-with-us-to-hand-over-passenger-data.shtml
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