Permanent Security Theatre on the Washington Metro

[marmar]

via MassTransitMag:



Random Bag Searches are Here to Stay at WMATA

By Kytja Weir, Examiner Staff Writer
The Washington Examiner


Metro riders should get used to the possibility of having their bags scanned for explosives when they enter the transit system, according to the agencys new chief executive officer.

Richard Sarles said Tuesday that the agencys random bag- searching policy is here to stay. He defended the searches that he used when running NJ Transit, arguing that they help to disrupt terrorists plans.

Its not as much about detection as its about deterrence, he said in an interview on WTOP radio.

His comments dont bode well for the riders and civil liberties groups that have been fighting the policy since it started in December. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.masstransitmag.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=3&id=13582

[GoneOffShore]

1. Cross one more mode of transport off the list.

Security kabuki and Thieves Standing Around.

[stockholmer]

2. They who would trade liberty for security soon have none and deserve neither.

USA 'creating vast domestic snooping machine' (Washington Post)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5graUiAuywtFKlWMW-1otvaFf3A_g?docId=CNG.35fe9afbf5c0253f885080ba82e9784c.781

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/monitoring-america/?hpid=topnews

The months-long investigation, based on nearly 100 interviews and 1,000 documents, found that:
* Technologies and techniques honed for use on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have migrated into the hands of law enforcement agencies in America.
* The FBI is building a database with the names and certain personal information, such as employment history, of thousands of U.S. citizens and residents whom a local police officer or a fellow citizen believed to be acting suspiciously. It is accessible to an increasing number of local law enforcement and military criminal investigators, increasing concerns that it could somehow end up in the public domain.