A program that allows airports to replace government screeners with private screeners is being brought to a standstill, just a month after the Transportation Security Administration said it was “neutral” on the program.
TSA chief John Pistole said Friday he has decided not to expand the program beyond the current 16 airports, saying he does not see any advantage to it…
The push to “opt out” gained attention in December amid the fury over the TSA’s enhanced pat downs, which some travelers called intrusive. “If airports chose this route, we are going to work with them to do it,” a TSA spokesman said in late December.
But on Friday, the TSA denied an application by Springfield-Branson Airport in Missouri to privatize its checkpoint workforce, and in a statement, Pistole indicated other applications likewise will be denied…
He said airports that currently use contractor screening will continue to be allowed to.
Pistole said he has been reviewing TSA policies with the goal of helping the agency “evolve into a more agile, high-performance organization.”
I wonder how he intends to increase agility? Dance lessons? Dodgeball practice?
I wonder if a certain government union had anything to do with this?
Government voluntarily giving up power? Not in our lifetime
Oh Noes!
They can’t opt out.
Where will the WHO get to run human radiation tolerance experiment on the TSA staff who get irradiated.
I wonder how long it will take before people get pissed off enough at our government to throw off the shackles of stupidity that we are currently suffering under, and I also wonder if our government will try to do what Egypt did and shut down the free communication.
You didn’t really think the government was going to give up it’s power to private contractors, did you? They have us under their boot, the pressure hasn’t even begun yet.
If it served their needs, count on it!
Imagine healthcare run by the government.
#7 We have universal healthcare and, although there is always room for improvement, the last thing we need is our right-wing government trying to get rid of it and land us with what you seem to want – healthcare for the middle class and the rich only.
I don’t know what planet you live on.
What I imagine is a government that denies treatment for some reason, and threatens jail or other sanctions should the ill try to obtain treatment outside their home country. Or forced treatment in cheaper regions, like India, to save the people’s money.
You don’t want the government to feed, clothe, or treat you – the People’s Revolution in Red China is a perfect example why.
This story is actually rather surprising, given the push to privatize the military and security overall. The USA spends twice as much on mercenaries and private contractors as the next country does on their entire military.
Maybe airport security should be a government function, but more tightly regulated by law. Personally, I don’t relish the same situation that developed in the military happening in the USA, where ‘private contractors’ operate in a murky area where no military or civilian laws apply to them, or where the laws are applied to the benefit of their company, rather than that of those they are supposed to serve. Privatization of basic security is taking us in that direction, and it is much scarier than anything that the government, with it’s checks and balances, can lead us to.
Bound to happen. An ex-military colonel I know has been predicting that if too many airports decided to go private, there would be a deadly incident at one of them to prove private security was not doing the job.
“…evolve into a more agile, high-performance organization.”
Sounds like the usual BS that accompanies layoffs.
#7 You don’t have to imagine anything.
It’s called Medicare and it’s been working rather well for our seniors. Just ask any elderly person who can go to their doctor without having to work full time to pay for it.