| Doom and gloom on airport security... |
 Security at U.S. airports is no better under federal control than it was before the Sept. 11 attacks, a key House member says two government reports will conclude.
| Lemme see here... We went from contractors to civil servants, non-union to unionized. Anybody surprised? |
The Government Accountability Office -- the investigative arm of Congress -- and the Homeland Security Department's inspector general are expected to soon release their findings on the performance of Transportation Security Administration screeners. "A lot of people will be shocked at the billions of dollars we've spent and the results they're going to see, which confirm previous examinations of the Soviet-style screening system we've put in place," Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., told The Associated Press on Friday. Mica chairs the House aviation subcommittee and was briefed on the reports.
| I don't know that I'd go so far as to call the system "Soviet-style." We had a system with weaknesses, so in the wake of 9-11 we threw the whole thing away and replaced it with another system with weaknesses. |
The TSA won't comment on the specifics of the reports until they are released, spokesman Mark Hatfield Jr. said.
| I wonder if that'd be Mark O. Hatfield, Jr.? Anybody see a problem here? |
But, he said: "When the political posturing is over, rational people will see that American screeners today are the best we have ever had and that they are limited only by current technology and security procedures that are significantly influenced by privacy demands."
| We could have had incremental improvements, but we went for a shiny new system. Now we can improve it incrementally. |
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