The New York Times reports that Transportation Security Agency officials will take over screening of passengers on New York City helicopter tours. The new policy comes on the heels of intelligence suggesting that al Qaeda may utilize such helicopters to carry out terrorist attacks.

What kind of checks were being done by the private helicopter-tour firms that had been responsible for security until now? Michael Renz, the owner and chief executive officer of one of those firms, said, “If someone’s calling us out of the blue, and they want to see Manhattan, and they have some funny-looking name, we check it out.”

“Funny-looking name”? Hm, wonder what he means by that.

This past Sunday, according to the Times article, Renz’s company “flew a group of 14 Muslims, dressed in white robes and skullcaps, from East Brunswick, N.J., to Manhattan and then on to Philadelphia.”

“It was a ‘very unusual request,’ Mr. Renz said, so employees checked the passengers’ names with the F.B.I,” the article says.

But that’s–gasp!–religious profiling. Don’t worry, the TSA officials who will be taking over today won’t be allowed to engage in such nefarious activities. [/sarcasm].

Feel safer?