ABC News reports on “TSA’s Secret Security Center”–except it’s not so “secret” anymore
Am I the only one who read this ABC News report and wondered: “Why the hell am I reading this?”
As travel time for the Christmas holiday begins to reach its peak, there is a secret army of people working behind the scenes to keep travelers safe.
ABC News got an exclusive look inside the Transportation Security Operations Center — the nerve center of the government’s efforts to protect people who are criss-crossing the country, especially those who fly. The location of the facility is top secret, and it’s so sensitive, cameras had never been allowed in before…
…”It’s all about connecting the dots,” TSA Deputy Assistant Director Don Zimmerman told ABC News.
A bank of huge monitors allows the government to track air traffic, everything in the sky from commercial to cargo to general aviation.
“I can discern within seconds which aircraft have federal air marshals onboard, which have the federal flight deck officers, the armed pilots on board,” Zimmerman explained.
With 459 airports to monitor, there is always something going on. And the center’s staff is always trying to keep track of the action…
…Airport personnel across the country communicate with the center using the Domestic Events Network, a secure audio bulletin that alerts the center to rapidly unfolding emergencies.
What exactly did TSA hope to accomplish by allowing ABC News to tour this no-longer-secret “Secret Security Center” other than puffing itself up?
How does this promote and protect our safety?
You know they’ll find a way to blame the public or something, anything other than themselves for their latest folly. They have quite a track record putting public relations above the public interest.
TSA: Treating Secrets Arbitrarily. Thousands Standing Around. Terrible Stupidity Abounds.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
- Ray Robison: Pointing out the obvious to the oblivious
- Ace of Spades HQ
- TSA: I Will Have His Protection « Gabriel Malor
- The TIW Blog » Blog Archive » Out of control government surveillance exposed
- No Runny Eggs » Blog Archive » Why does government continue to insist on leaking secrets to the press?
- c0a1f9567f343f8f4d6a
- Hot Air » Blog Archive » Followup: Razor Blades in Bible
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Categories: Airline Security
Hot Air
» Anticlimax in West Virginia tonight
Hot Air
» Hagee to apologize to CatholicsJawa Report
» Obama General Election Strategy Taking ShapePower Line
» Running Interference for Obama, Part 3protein wisdom
» Guilt by association by association (or, how learned to stop worrying and love the ill-fated Greenwich Village nail bomb)NewsBusters.org
» USA Today Joins CNN, ABC in Inflating Gas Prices on WebsitesThe Sundries Shack
» Be Ready for a Rash of New Einstein QuotesPajamas Media
» Drunkblogging West VirginiaThe Sundries Shack
» Burma: What Do We Do?
They must not be satisfied with the amount of funding they are to receive and are lobbying for more. I certainly have no way of knowing (except through his actions) but I’d guess that Don Zimmerman is a democrap.
We have to remember that this is a political organization trying to polish its image the usual way not an actual organization with an important mission — at the top anyway.
I feel safer for all the smelly feet I’ve been exposed to. I saw an old white lady in a wheel chair getting the up-close-and-personal personal wanding! On a recent trip they got my squeeze bottle of Colgate toothpaste, depriving a would be terrorist of fresh breath no doubt. My PC has been X-rayed to the point that it glows in the dark. large, amorphous people with ill-fitting clothes have sometimes acted as if they has special super-human powers, peering through dirty laundry with discernment and olfactory skill. Actually, they can’t be very special considering they plowed through some shorts I’d recently worn on a pheasant hunting trip that could have doubled for coyote bait. TSA=Totally Sensationalized Agency. I’m sure there are some decent people among them. It’s a good job I guess and frisking old ladies can’t be too tough. It’s the idea, though, that they are somehow keeping us safe? Ironic that we can’t bring a nail clipper onto a plane yet our freaking borders have the equivalent of several 747’s worth of people pouring over them every day. TSA=Totally Screwing All-of-us.
They are trying to make Americans feel safer.
Michelle asked:
Obviously, the TSA was hoping to provide the flying public with an illusion of safety just before the holidays.
My questions are:
1) Who exactly authorized reporters access to this classified center?
2) Who among the TSA’s senior executives have subsequently (or will) gone to work for an airline company?
3) Are senior TSA executives prohibited from owning stock in airline companies and related contractors?
This is the same bunch that gave CAIR a tour of airport security procedures a year or so ago. So this is no surprise.
No surprise here either. It’s a puff piece. No one should think this agency is making us safer. They’re not.
TSA — Trying to Satisfy All but not happening.
You assume that safety is the goal of the TSA. It’s nothing but security theater. Doing their best to convince you that they’re keeping you safe. This is just getting to meet the performers after the performance. “Good show! I loved you in Hamlet!”
During the height of the air highjackings by terrorists in the 70’s and early 80’s it was common knowledge that American pilots flying for the airlines were armed. Most of them were ex-military and knew how to use deadly force to protect their passengers. The terrorist would take over planes from non American companies and force the pilots to fly to some other destination where the terrorist would be either thrown in jail or hailed as heroes. They hadn’t thought of using the planes as bombs to fly into buildings and such.In the early 90’s American pilots were disarmed because the threat was lower and because of other liberal anti gun policies. On 9/11 had the pilots been armed they would never,NEVER, have turned their cockpits over to the terrorists.
This penchant by the TSA to reveal useful information to those that are always looking for the weak spots is inexcusable. Someone needs to lose their job over this.
MM asked:
Besides the answers above (your tax dollars at work), it might be a message to the bad guys: Don’t try anything because we can see you.
Bigger picture: MM’s decision to “go negative” (reread her post for tone) might be premature. Rightly or wrongly, the hard working people at the TSA are proud of what they do. Happy holidays.
There are no secrets anymore. Somebody is always looking for their 15 minutes of fame and they will sell their soul to get it. “Journalists” are merely the ambassadors from the devil going door to door to get the signature on line so they can go back later and collect. Of course the TSA is just as much to blame for giving a guided tour and in light of the poll showing them ranking right up there with the CIA and IRS as the most despised agencies this might be an attempt to polish that image.
It’s about people not machines idjits. It has been proven in Iraq and it applies in the case of the TSA also.
I’m inclined to go with the “security theater,” “puff piece” assessment. I seriously doubt this super-secret bat cave of big screen TVs (I bet that lady in N.O. is really jealous) have the capabilities that they say the system has. What kinds of tests, scenarios have they run? How frequently do they run them? What information has been gathered from those tests? What improvements were made to the problems found? What is the update/upgrade process? I doubt any of these critical processes are defined, workable, or even documented — but I may be wrong. I’m sure we will all find out the next time the terrorists “stress test” the system.
So to any terrorists out there of unspecified religion(s), nothing to worry about. Just the usual rubbish and hooey out of Washington and the media. Carry on with your inner spiritual struggle. That is all.
lgm #10
Rightly or wrongly?
What?
They can’t afford to be wrong with our lives a stake!
TSA - Totally Seditious Actions
Easy! You take a bunch of people working in low-level jobs, give them a union and a federal employment position and they, like our politicians, become instant experts in everything. More union employees means more union money for lobbyists and special interest groups being funneled back to the “party above the people” politician’s pockets.
This entire scenario is simply a message to show the poor dolt who still believes in being a functional and productive member of society (read: Over-taxed taxpayers) an opportunity to see where their
stolenhard-earned tax dollars are going to work for “the good of the people”.Oh yes, and let us not forget the ability to appoint more friends or cronies into positions of power.
What? You really thought it was about security? LOL
No offense everyone, but what is the security violation here?
All you saw was a few establishing shots of a CTU-like facility, a close-up of a few computer monitors, and a high-level TSA official saying “we have lots of screens and we can tell you which flights have air marshals with the click of a button.”
It can’t be a surprise to terrorists that there is at least some level of communication between different TSA offices and with air traffic controllers. I saw no actual secrets or details delivered–and it’s not clear that the photography inside the command center was sufficiently robust to allow terrorists to glean anything useful. So aside from the political grandstanding by the TSA official and the “ooh, look at me, i’m telling you a secret!!” attitude of the ABC reporter, what is the problem here?
This can’t be a big secret that TSA has some kind of coordination.
P.S. I love the close-up on the “Matrix” screensaver.
The Terminal Stupidity Administration is just another federal bureaucracy obsessed with perpetuating it’s own existence to the exclusion of everything else.
lgm,you managed to get the old lefty spin in there.You didnt get the point.Loose lips sink ships.
#10 lgm said:
Smaller picture: try thinking of it in terms of the hard working people, in your school district, being so proud of the security they have put in place to protect your kids, that they start bringing news cameras in and disclosing the possible “achilles heel” of your lil ones’ daily activities and personal security. That would be horrendous, for obvious reasons, right?
I guess some other people view security in terms of “macro” and “micro,” rightly or wrongly. Happy holidays.
#15 outlander said:
I think you left out the word, what is the “possible” security violation here.
I don’t know the answer now, outlander, but I’ll be sure to let you know if and when Al Qaeda does.
Must be the place where they finger the terrorists grandmothers and nuns.
While many of the security systems in place can and will prevent damage, many are designed to simply mitigate damage.
Some are simply Shark Repellent.
To explain. During World War II, pilots in the Pacific were given ’shark repellent’ to be used in case they were shot down in the ocean.
The ’shark repellent’ did not repel sharks. Later testing confirmed that sharks, while not drawn to it, actually liked it. Those providing the ’shark repellent’ were well aware of its’ shortcomings.
The purpose of providing the ’shark repellent’ was simple. Thinking they were protected, pilots remained calmer in the water and did not freak out and thrash about (further attracting the sharks) when a shark was sighted. Thus, the issuing of a non-working ’shark repellent’ offered a false sense of security, prevented panic and probably saved many lives.
Many of our security precautions are put in place with the same reasoning. Basically, anticipating that a public provided with a false sense of security will not freak out and attract sharks.
One of the problems with this whole ABC story is the fact that it won’t take CAIR (or some other group) very long to get a “plant” into that there super-secret security facility. Did you see any hijab wearing ladies in there? Nope? Well we can’t have that now can we? Everybody I’m sure remembers the picture of the hijab TSA lady frisking the Catholic nun right? If we are finding them at the CIA and the FBI then surely the TSA can’t be all that hard to sign up for right? And I’m sure we’ll need some Arabic speaking controllers in there just in case the next hijackers talk over the microphone right? Stupid infidels.
…for Al Queda
Well, I wouldn’t have done it, but I don’t think that much was given away.
At this time of year, I’ll try to think positively, and that the TSA brass were trying to re-assure the public that all is under control.
(Needless showing off, of course, is another possibility. So is the thought that they are trying to get money for a less-cramped center. However, in the spirit of Christmas….)
Even pre 9/11 the authorities would never have thought to give the media access to the NYC disaster management
HQ…
too bad it was INSIDE the trade center which had already been attacked once before.
Somewhere in a cave in Pakistan, much laughter & knee slapping is taking place.
I don’t know how these Keystone Kops have managed to keep us attack-free for six years.
26, At first the enemy was a bit surprised at our reaction to 9/11. I mean that we got pissed enough to do more than shoot a few cruise missiles at an aspirin factory, that gave them pause…
As for now, they are just sitting on their hands… they don’t want to influence an election now do they.
Let’s see how safe we are AFTER the election.
I am inclined to agree. If they wanted to give away secrets, they would have invited the NYT.
Reminder to lgm & other pooh poohers, TSA has employed a number of muslims. Given a recent pole indicating that 25% of US muslims out of a very large number of US muslims between the age of 18-29 felt that suicide attacks were justified sometimes, we should be on a little sharper footing these days. A sharper footing doesn’t involve bending over & grabbing ankles.
You probably never heard the term OPSEC (Operations Security), which those of us who have been associated with the Military are very familiar. Letting the enemy know about this facility its location and its capability is the same of some knuckle head from Naval Operations showing the idiots of the disloyal MSM where all our nuclear submarines are exactly located, their patrol patterns, and the capability of their Trident ballistic missiles with a list of their preloaded targets. We could also allow the MSM tell everyone when our convoys in Iraq or Afghanistan will leave a particular location, their route, the make-up of the vehicles in the convoy, and their defense capabilities. Either way you look at it the old WWII adage of “Lose Lips Sink Ships” applies in this war just as much as it did over 60 years ago. TSA basically giving away the farm is enough to get people killed in the not to distant future by possible showing a material weakness not matter how small for the enemy to exploit.
lgm and others.
1) OT here: Which holidays am I supposed to have happily?
Back on topic….the only people who feel safer by the “revelations” of what TSA is watching are those who don’t fly. Anybody who has flown more than once in the past 6 years, knows the whole thing is simply an employment program.
TSA:
Totally
Surely
Abhorrent
Awww, come on. They keep good records… remember 9/11?, it only took a few hours to know who did it… just cross reference the multiple drivers licences against the passenger list & bingo! A surefire list of people who should NOT HAVE BEEN HERE.
Maybe I’m missing something here. Everyone is all torqued off because ABC did an article on the TSA Security Center?
Umm, they didn’t say where it was located, did they? So whats the beef? Its still a super-seekrit facility, but now you’ve seen that they have cool big-screen TVs and lots of guys sitting at computers.
OOOOOOOOOO, everything is gonna fall apart now.
Get a clue and get torqued off about something important, like maybe how TSA does its job, not where it does its job.
Oh, almost forgot the best part.
The TSA Security Center is located in Herndon, VA.
Not exactly a seekrit, been talked about since at least 2003 when they started building it.
The main problem with TSA is that putting them in charge of airport security across the USA was a political move, as was making all those super-intelligent, hard-working TSA employees wanding nuns and 60+ year-olds. Bush took the easy road - for political hay. If they were contractors, they would be better managed, better trained and more responsive to threats.
Slightly OT:
Yesterday I flew home to Florida for Christmas. As we waited to depart from John Wayne in Orange County, CA there was a passenger verbally abusing a flight attendant. He wanted a seat right next to the door so he could make his connecting flight in Atlanta. (a difficult proposition the best of days) She was about to have him removed, when someone talked him down and we left.
The moment we touched down and slowed a bit in Atlanta he was on his feet at the mid-plane door. He would not sit, so the flight attendant threatened to halt the aircraft unless he sat.
He never sat, yet the aircraft taxied on in. I do not know if he was ultimately arrested, but as I got off I had a brief look at him. HE COULD HAVE BEEN ISLAMIC RAGE BOY’S BROTHER.
I know we are talking about an incident the TSA was not directly involved in, but I have questions. Why was he not removed at John Wayne? Why did the plane taxi on in at Atlanta? Why were there no police to welcome him to Atlanta?
I was in seat 1C, and he was back in coach, so even craning my head around I could not see the perp…I mean upset passenger. When I did finally see him, I realized that I would likely have insisted on his removal in CA. What was he really doing? He was causing a problem before we even left. Dry run? Testing the limits?
Just thought you guys might want to know abut this, since the topic is traveller safety, sort of.
Merry Christmas, eveyone!!!
Steve
What a coincidence! Isn’t it fascinating that this puff piece came out the same week as an AP-Ipsos poll showing the TSA is the second LEAST liked government agency (above only FEMA and tied with the IRS)? A little PR going on right now, is there?
#34 rworks said:
So instead of worrying about lots of smaller things (like TSA conducting media tours inside the nerve center of the government’s efforts to protect people, or the fact that now that everyone who reads ABC News knows what it is and where it exists, Al Qaeda can now start working on how to go about disabling it) we should only be worrying about bigger things?
Thank rworks, I feel so much better now.
Perky, perky, perky!…….you wrote:
“On December 22nd, 2007 at 10:18 pm, Perk said:
The main problem with TSA is that putting them in charge of airport security across the USA was a political move, as was making all those super-intelligent, hard-working TSA employees wanding nuns and 60+ year-olds. Bush took the easy road - for political hay. If they were contractors, they would be better managed, better trained and more responsive to threats.”
….may I remind you that the TSA screeners were that allowed those box cutters on 9/11 were Govt employees….? Oh wait a minute!!!!!…they were a private COMPANY tasked to prevent those box cutters to get on board the planes. Gee!!!! I am getting confused here. Oh, I almost forgot, you wrote, “as was making all those super-intelligent, hard-working TSA employees wanding nuns and 60+ year-olds…”…are you aware of the fact that many, many, many of those screeners that wand the kids, nuns, and 60+ year old ladies are hard combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan..?..of course, you didn’t know that, since you and MM had made it fashionable to BITC* TSA and ALL people working there!!!!!..since when is MM or any other security “expert” define what is the screening protocol? Does that include/exclude the elderly, the young, the cute, ugly,…who? Liberals are always demanding a perfect war….when they are not in charge!!!. TSA will NEVER be a secure 100% organization. It has never existed, nor it will….but one thing for certain is that JACK AS*ES like YOU will always complain instead of being thankful that your flight does not disintegrate in mid-flight!!!……INGRATE!!!
Yes, Happy Hanukkah, Christmas, or winter solstice, or whatever makes you feel safe while you fly in your jet…..
Rio
Semper Fi!
(all mispellings are intentional or accidental)
TSA: Those Stupid A$$es…
“ProudGulfWarVet65 said:
TSA: Those Stupid A$$es…”
……….I am pretty sure some of the Gulf War Vets working for TSA are ALSO stupid A$$es….like you….
Rio
Semper Fi!
If they start letting guys through just because they are in uniform, next thing terrorists will dress in uniform just to get past screening. Better safe than sorry. I welcome the extra security.
I have a son in a wheelchair and it bugs me that they don’t check out the chair. Seems like a good place for explosives.
#40, Pixel_Dust_1776 said:
Are many, many, many of these veterans as puzzled as Michelle, and others, as to why TSA is giving personal media tours through the nerve center of the government’s efforts to protect people who are criss-crossing the country, especially those who fly…to ABC News and Lyle Lovett?
If I were a terrorist, I certainly wouldn’t have to worry about intelligence gathering to plan an attack in the U.S.. My organization would only need to sit down and watch the MSM give us all the info we could possibly need. Sneaking my people and bomb making material into the country certainly wouldn’t be by plane; a wide open border provides the way. If there is another 9/11 it won’t be by plane. It would be found that the terrorists came across the border, and every politician will be screaming, “I wanted a closed border, but no-one else did.” TSA gives everyone a “good feeling” about security, which is what Washington wants. No security, just “good feelings”.
As I recall, box cutters, pocket knives, finger-nail clippers, etc. were not banned from flights until after 9-11. So your rant doesn’t make much sense, Pixel_Dust. Besides, tests conducted last year showed that TSA (government) screeners missed more than 60% of banned items while screeners working for a private company missed only 20%. And the funny thing is, they tested the private company twice as often as the TSA screeners. You can read about it here:
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20071018/1a_lede18_dom.art.htm
Here’s a chilling excerpt from the article:
I just noticed that this came from a classified report–another case of the MSM revealing TSA secrets. I don’t know which is worse, TSA doing a bad job, or the MSM letting terrorists know that they are doing a bad job.
Whatever. I was referring to the bureaucrats, not the screeners. Now have a merry Christmas, and then GFY. I have to assume you’re either a pinko or a RuPaul or Huck supporter. But I repeat myself…
How could an “expert” be stunned by the failure rate? Don’t the “experts” actually fly and see the level of “deep thought” and carefulness that goes into screening passengers and bags? I mean, they are so busy taking away a 4 oz empty bottle labeled shampoo (bottle was too big - supposed to be no bigger than 3.4 oz) that of course they would miss real stuff.
Last year flying from Denver, after going through the x-ray screening machine, my digital camera set off the “sniffing” machine. So what did the idiots do? - they sent the camera back through the x-ray machine and sent me on my way. Gee that made me feel safe.
Whether anybody wants to admit it or not, a person trained in ANY martial arts, doesn’t need box cutters, scissors, or any other “dangerous” items to put lots of passengers down. In fact, if you fly at all, you realize there are plenty of “weapons” all ready on board.
LGM,, you said to have happy holidays, which holiday are you referring too? Fourth of July? Memorial Day? Veteran’s Day? Labor Day? Halloween? Thanksgiving? Christmas? Yom Kipper? Bastille Day? May Day? Easter? Could you be more specific and I may ask you which Holiday did President Grant proclaim on December 25?
From my observations, I’d guess that lgm celebrates May Day. And probably Cinco de Mayo. Gets them paid for at Thanksgiving and Christmas, perhaps.
Still, to you, lgm and everyone here, God bless, hope y’all have a great Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2008. And let us pray that true conservatism prevails in the coming year.
Back at you ProudGulfWarVet65#50. Our prayer here also.
Obviously NEITHER TSA (not individuals, but the organization as a federally ‘professionlized’ agency) nor ABC is a proponent of a secure United States of America.
If something is Top Secret, then the leak of its existence is a federal freaking offense, and someone should hang for it. I mean hang in its true meaning.
I have no use for traitors whether they are puffing up a piece or playing politics.
Marshall Russ said (#13):
Reread my post. “Rightly or wrongly” refers to whether the people at TSA should be proud of their work. Both nutroots and wingnuts blogs have posters going nuts over tiny slights, as though staying angry and offensive at all times is the secret of life.
Why not give them the benefit of the doubt, take a deep breath and enjoy the holidays.
I wake up happy everyday, that being said, lgm, you enjoy the season as well.
ABC=Always Been Corruptible
I vote for “Terrible Stupidity Abounds.” If you go to TSA’s website, the first person you see is Michael Chertoff. TSA even has an “Office of Civil Rights and Liberties” and it boasts that IT actually helps protect our security:
Maybe Muslim terrorists’ security but definitely not ours: “Terrible Stupidity Abounds.”
If you think those stories are bad, you need to read this.