The long arm of the TSA

[n2doc]

By The Denver Post Editorial Board


Americans have come to know and tolerate the presence of the Transportation Security Administration at airports.

While it doesn't make the pat-downs and full-body scans any less intrusive, we've accepted the security gauntlet — even the routine of taking off belts and shoes — as an unavoidable part of air travel.

But wait, as they say on infomercials, there's more.

An increasing number of roving TSA teams in recent years has been quietly expanding the agency's reach with patrols of train terminals, highway weigh stations and other venues.

And while it's true that Congress passed legislation in 2007 allowing TSA security squads jurisdiction over "any mode of transportation at any location within the United States" — a remarkably broad mandate — we think there ought to be a fuller public discussion about the proliferation of these squads.

Without such a debate, there's a real possibility that the TSA presence will continue to grow outside the confines of airports and this nation will end up with a far more ubiquitous security agency than anyone dreamed back in 2001.

more

http://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci_23831551/long-arm-tsa

[MineralMan]

1. There was a TSA guy checking passengers on

a riverboat in Nashville I got on once. Funny thing was that it was a private party, but ladies had to open their purses for him.

They occasionally check the tourist riverboats on the Mississippi River here in Saint Paul, too. There's a DHS office in St. Paul, and they have a boat that I see occasionally on the river. I had one DHS guy come up one time when I was fishing on a public dock in the Mississippi, but I think he was just on a break. He wanted to know how my luck was going and whether I ate the catfish I caught in the River. While he was there, I caught a 25-lb channel cat and he carried my big net down to the lower level of the dock for me while I walked the catfish down the dock so I could net it. I told him that I didn't eat the fish as I was releasing it back into the river.

Nice guy.

[leftstreet]

2. '$100 million annual budget' - privatizers are chomping at the bit

And that's just for the special events VIPR teams! Like they use at the Democratic and Republican conventions

Anti-union propaganda article
yawn

[iemitsu]

3. Another agency to add to the police state

apparatus that increasingly controls our lives.
We need the debate about the expanding role of the TSA and we need to discuss the expediency of spending money (that we need for other things) on another police force.
Perhaps if our money was being used to provide jobs and rebuild infrastructure we wouldn't need the extra police.

[spin]

4. If the TSA can monitory any mode of transportation anywhere then we can expect roadblocks ...

to eventually be set up on major highways during rush hour.

The main job of the TSA is to harass and bother innocent citizens and make travel a miserable experience.

[Dawson Leery]

5. +1,000,000,000,000