Still handling homeland security with a 9/10 attitude
My column today follows up on yesterday’s post about the Denver/NYC terror bust and the ongoing jihadi threat. The latest? NYC remains on heightened alert. FBI warnings have been expanded from transit systems to hotels and stadiums. In New Haven, bomb dogs have been added to transit patrols. Same at Grand Central Terminal. As many as a dozen have now been linked to the suspected bomb plot. And the NYPost reports on possible NYPD bungling.
They wouldn’t be the first.
***
Still handling homeland security with a 9/10 attitude
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2009
Terror suspect Najibullah Zazi has done us all a favor. But is it enough to rouse a nation in permanent snooze button-mode?
The arrest of Zazi, a Colorado-based Afghan airport shuttle driver whom counter-terrorism officials believe may have been plotting bomb attacks on New York City mass transit trains, raised alerts on rail lines across the country. A joint FBI-Department of Homeland Security assessment issued Monday warned law enforcement agencies about the use of improvised explosive devices against passenger trains overseas. Zazi was allegedly trained in manufacturing liquid explosives with hydrogen peroxide – the same material used in the London subway attacks in 2005. FBI/DHS analysts have recommended random sweeps and patrols at rail stations and terminals as deterrents.
The bust reminded America that while the annual September 11 memorials are over, the jihadi threat looms. Yet, homeland security remains crippled by a 9/10 mentality.
Remember: The New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the New York Police Department a few years ago to try and stop random bag searches. The civil liberties absolutists are against random searches because they constitute “unreasonable” invasions of privacy. They’re against targeted searches because they amount to racial, religious, or ethnic “profiling.” And they’re against across-the-board searches because they lack “individualized suspicion.”
The ACLU homeland security strategy: Do Nothing.
The suit against NYPD’s random bag search policy ultimately failed, but litigation both real and threatened continues to tie the hands of homeland security and law enforcement officials. This summer, a judge cleared the way for a lawsuit against federal and Minneapolis airport officers by the infamous “flying imams.” They are the six Muslim clerics whose suspicious behavior –fanning out in the cabin before take-off, refusing to sit in their assigned seats, requesting seat-belt extenders, which they placed on the floor – led to their removal by a U.S. Airways crew in 2006.
The feds rejected the imams’ attempt to shake down the airline with a discrimination lawsuit. But three years later, law enforcement officers are still battling the flying extortionists. Political correctness remains the handmaiden of terrorism.
Over at the Justice Department, Attorney General Eric Holder is committed to eliminating racial “disparities” in law enforcement. His anti-profiling allies at the ACLU and something called the “Rights Working Group” are working to end Bush administration counterterrorism initiatives “including FBI surveillance and questioning, special registration programs, border stops, immigration enforcement programs and the creation of ‘no fly lists.’” The ACLU and RWG have appealed to the United Nations to intervene through the “U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)” – which they say is empowered to require sovereign governments “to review national, state and local policies and amend or repeal laws deemed to be creating or perpetuating discrimination.”
Now, add anti-gun activism and stubborn union squabbling to the mix. As I reported two weeks ago, the Obama administration has quietly gutted the nation’s most highly-trained post-9/11 counterterrorism rail security team. According to multiple government sources who declined to be identified for fear of retribution, OSSSO’s East Coast and West Coast teams have not worked in a counterterrorism capacity since the summer. Their rifles were put under lock and key after Amtrak vice president for security strategy and special operations Bill Rooney and Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold, who played an instrumental role in creating OSSSO’s predecessor at Amtrak, the Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU), were pushed out by Team Obama.
Amtrak confirmed to me last week that the elite members of the specialized Office of Security Strategy and Special Operations (OSSSO) no longer carry long-arm weapons, which played a vital role in the unit’s show-of-force patrols. Government sources blame anti-gun hostility inside Amtrak for the move. Amtrak also confirmed to me that West Coast members of the rail security unit – most of who come from Special Forces, counter-terrorism, and other military service — have been denied police credentials. According to OSSSO sources on both coasts, the rival Amtrak Police Department, in conjunction with the local police union in California, have stymied the process over labor issues (OSSSO members are non-union).
“Amtrak fully expects to have a resolution in the near future,” I was told by the rail agency’s press office last week. In the meantime, according to a high-ranking homeland security source, Amtrak’s unionized police chief has taken over and makes counter-terrorism deployment decisions based on pay squabbles. The rail agency is still dealing with grievances filed by Amtrak police officers over compensation during the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Says my rail security source: “The deciding factor is overtime, not security.”
Dickering while jihadis plot. Feel safer yet?
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.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Latest Addition to the Super Bowl Counterterrorism Squad: Hot Dog Vendors
February 3, 2012 07:53 PM by Doug Powers
45 Comments
Obama heads to Disney World to push looser visa policies
January 17, 2012 01:14 PM by Michelle Malkin
95 Comments
Eric Holder to Testify Before House Committee About Fast & Furious
October 29, 2011 06:27 PM by Doug Powers
57 CommentsA few more words about Koward Krugman Update: Take two!
September 12, 2011 12:53 AM by Michelle Malkin
74 Comments
Video flashback: A ride to the Top of the World
September 11, 2011 06:51 PM by Michelle Malkin
17 Comments
9/11 flashback: James Woods and the hijacker dry run; Update: What happened on AA Flight 34 today? Just “some unruly passengers?”; three men
September 11, 2011 03:24 PM by Michelle Malkin
39 CommentsTen years on at the 9-11 7-11
September 11, 2011 06:36 AM by see-dubya
44 Comments
All the wrong 9/11 lessons
September 9, 2011 09:02 AM by Michelle Malkin
160 Comments
Categories: 9/11,Homeland Security
Riehl World View
» Whitney Houston: If I should stay I would only be in your wayPatterico
» Rick Santorum and the two playbooksGateway Pundit
» Barack The BenevolentRiehl World View
» Romney's Blood Is Blue, Not ConservativePundit & Pundette
» King Barack vs. the Nonconformists
Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither. – Ben Franklin
Umm…Michelle, in that link, it appears that it is New Haven, not New Hampshire, that has added bomb dogs.
See Dowdifying Ben Franklin.
Am I the only one who got really paranoid about rail/subway travel after the Zazi-crew’s arrest and the Al Qaeda video named “The West and the Dark Tunnel“. I know there’s some concern that Germany would be a target with their elections in a week or so. What an awful time to get complacent about security in favor of political correctness!
These Leftist twits of the B. Hussein Obama Administration do have themselves in a quandary: They WANT to concentrate their police powers on any and all Conservative activities, political leaders, writers , TV and radio commentators and CLAIM they are fighting terrorism. Yet if they screw around too much and one of President B. Hussein Obama’s aggrieved mohammedans does set off a terrorist incident they fear the public will become enraged.
As time passes and more and more Professionals in the FBI, Justice and the CIA retire and are replaced with political hacks of the Left it will be less and less likely we will stop such plots. Attorney General Eric Holder is doing his part. But then if such a Man Made Disaster were to occur before an election perhaps President B. Hussein Obama would be forced to cancel the election and declare Martial Law. Lacking his wished for Civilian Security Service he could deputize the New Black Panther Party, Nation of Islam’s Fruit of Islam and MS-13.
What was that we were taught in school: It can’t happen here? Will someone please give Speaker Pelosi a tissue? We frighten her to tears.
granite: those are extra special dogs with REALLY LONG noses. New England isn’t really all that big anyway
zero and the rest of the cowards in this sham administration will let terrorists attack and will do nothing. when a country is leaderless, it can expect no protection, and criminal groups such as the aclu will dictate what citizens can do, or better yet not do. the aclu is for protecting terrorists not law abiders.
Obama and his buddies would love another 9/11. It would be a great excuse to declare an “emergency” to “protect us”, of course, and unsurp all of our liberties and freedoms. It’s a classic strategy that has worked many times before in world history.
It is like I said the other day,
Between the Union sqaubles at Amtrak and the Obama administration China Tires trade tariff (on behalf of the union)I think the picture is becoming clearer by the day who is really running the country.
There is also this story from Foxnews.com:
I bet the Jihadi’s are loving this.
These ass clowns could not give one damn about the security of this country. case to point if they can sell out our friends to Russia they will not give it a second thought selling us out. It is hatred of our country, pure and simple, that drives these people.
He will only agree it’s hateful if it’s also deemed racist…
They only care about their own hides.
That and the votes that keep them in power so they can have Hennessey and gold taps.
And thus the genius of the Second Amendment and the Founders views:
A free people ought not only to be armed but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well digested plan is requisite: And their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories, as tend to render them independent on others, for essential, particularly for military supplies. –
George Washington’s First State of the Union Speech
as opposed to:
‘Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA – ordinary citizens don’t need guns, as their having guns doesn’t serve the State.’’
— Heinrich Himmler
We ARE our own best Homeland Security
anonymous knuckdragger?
I feel as safe as I always have.
Was the arrest of Zazi, the Afghani, the result of EIT, or police work?
Long arm weapons as a ‘show of force’. How effective is this in Iraq and Afghanistan? Lots of long arm weapons, among other weapons, that seem to have no affect on the terrorists there. The terrorists will do what the terrorist have done, and will do, despite our effective, or ineffective, efforts.
Not saying we should not do what we can to protect ourselves. It is about the ‘how’ and ‘what’ we do. Commercial planes are highjacked and flown into buildings and part of the response is to have police on the ground with automatic weapons. A ‘show’, absolutely. Effective, you tell me.
Yep, the pissing contest between the Amtrack police and the OSSO is ridiculous. The two can compliment one another. This is old news and the hubris that exists between the FBI, ATF, and any other law enforcement agency is also ridiculous.
We should continue to do what is effective, and we should keep our law enforcement egos in check.
Hey!!
As a New Hampshire boy, I resemble that remark!
For those Gentiles who would like to know about Sukkot…
…just in case you’re, like, not into being smoted, or smited or “whatever”.
I think we all agree that The Usurper and his cronies would welcome another 9/11, so they can establish an emergency-for-life government. When that time comes, perhaps we will at last be desperate enough to give our lives to save our liberties. It will come to that.
LOL, PSRK
the day will come when we will all enjoy Sukkot (as I have for years)
L’shanah tovah.
“Is that a bomb in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”
May we share a glass of yayin in the future Long Shabbat, spacey….
Jihadist: ” I smoted, but I didn’t inhale.”
Also nice to see Glenn Beck thinking Yom Kippur will be a “yom tov” to fast and repent for our country.
Great minds and alla that, eh?
Imagine the irony of a bomb attack on the UN taking out Ahmadinnerjacket and Khaddafi, (and no one else, of course).
Rogue, you are one of the better posters here.
Careful, though, BHO may want YOU hung in the White House.
I guess it’ll take ANOTHER 3,000 fatalities to get Duh Ones attention.
He not only has a pre 9/11 mentality, he has a pre 12/7/1941 mentality.
Bibi will declare that day a national day of feasting in Israel if the Hamas dude is included in the little “Smoke-Out”.
***
No football team ever won a game by staying on defense. No baseball team ever won a game by having their batters strike out every inning instead of trying to hit the ball.
***
President Bush got it right–go on offense–hunt them down and kill them. Or wait for the inevitable nuke to go off in one of our cities.
***
The one thing that can help is to start using explosive sniffing dogs at all points where backpacks, luggage, and people enter trains and subways. I have seen these dogs in action smelling out minuscule amounts of drugs and explosives–they are really good. It bothers me not to see the dogs at the airport security checkpoint entry line.
***
The guards can shoot the perp with a pistol as well as with a rifle–or the hound can bite him. Just keep them off the train.
***
John Bibb
***
Living in the PSRK: I always liked the “smiting” part. I still cheer when the Red Sea closes in on Pharaohs Army.
Of course GOD will be in BIG trouble with PETA when “This same plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and whatever animals may be in those camps”.
PETA got some ‘splaning to do. I guess they will have to call on Gaia for salvation
But when President B. Hussein enters Washington or Jerusalem on a white donkey all problems will be solved, Mohammad be praised.
I just found it so interesting that the jihadist who was arrested had driven to NY from Colorado and then flown home, leaving a message on his e-mail saying the “wedding cake is ready”. So…he transported stuff that he couldn’t get on an airplane, left it somewhere in NY, then flew home and told his comrades in NY that things were in place. I believe there will be some explosions in NY in the near future.
thanks, psrk.
And then the people of New York can all hold hands, those who still have hands, sing “Give Peace a Chance”, apologize to the world for driving their SUVs, eating too much, keeping their homes too cool or too warm “and then just expect[ing] that other countries are going to say OK,”
Then they and the Obaminations can blame Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. It could well be a win win for the Left.
Rahm Emmanuel
“Never let a serious crisis go to waste,”
Thanks.
You mean like an ornament on the Holiday (can’t say Christmas)tree?
I’m not so concerned with a “show of force” as much as a “lack of force” when required. How about giving us a “show of concern” for our safety? Deport any radical, non-citizen Muslims now. Use the broad definition- it is not a violation of the first amendment- they can still freely voice their opinions from their country of origin. Inciting violence in someone else’s country is sedition.
You are SPOT.ON!
The husband and I leave for Portland(OR)
next week so I can walk the marathon.
I like flying even less now.
Thanks, SpeakEasy – most of us would love to see this administration show even miniscule concern for Americans.
Actually I feel we have gone rediculous on the security. Especially at the airports. The majority of it is simply show with no real substance and seems an excuse for the politicians in case something happens. I feel that if a terrorist wanted, he could get just about any weapon or bomb on a plane with little difficulty. While at the same thime my rights and liberities are constantly under attack by my own government. Remember, we have a clause against inappropriate search and seizue. We need to leave the average citizen alone and concentrate on the people of Islam. If they are going to be kind to the extremist, then they need to be branded with them.
Think Billie Holliday’s song about “Strange Fruit”?
Michelle, you are paving the way for random, profiled searches of conservatives. And with the coming outlawing of certain forms of personal property, these random, profiled searches will devastate the conservative community. You stand in direct opposition to the parable of the wheat and the tares and are compounding the dangerous world we live in by sanctioning your own government to ever-increasing control over our lives. Bleh.