Bernie Sanders Just Broke With His Party Over This Trump Policy
Oh, Look Who Donated to Trump's White House Renovation Project
The Press Trips Over Themselves to Defend a Prosecutor, and Trump's Ballroom Project...
Sotomayor's Death Penalty Dissent Does More Harm Than Good
CNN’s Scott Jennings Drops Common Sense Truth Bomb on Geraldo Rivera Over ICE...
Keir Starmer Vows to Protect Britain's Muslim Migrants From the Legitimate Criticisms of...
Jay Jones Isn't Only Problem in His Family, Apparently
President Trump Deploys the Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Caribbean
The New York Knicks Issue Zohran Mamdani a Cease and Desist
This Top Democrat Just Endorsed a Socialist
Kentucky Waste Industry Mogul Promises to 'Take Out the Trash' in Washington DC
Pakistani National Sentenced to 40 Years for Smuggling Cruise Missiles, Warhead
Tennessee Attorney General Files Amicus Brief in US Supreme Court Opposing Birthright Citi...
Airline, Pilot Unions Demand That Democrats Reopen the Federal Government
Michigan Families Face SNAP Delays As Federal Shutdown Hits Day 23
Tipsheet

TSA: Hey, Maybe We Just Shouldn't Screen Travelers At Smaller Airports

In one of the more mind-bogglingly bad ideas that has ever been presented, the TSA apparently proposed not screening travelers at smaller regional airports and instead screening them upon arrival in a bigger city. The idea is that not screening travelers would create a more "efficient" travel experience.

Advertisement

Perhaps unsurprisingly, members of Congress were not on the same page as the TSA and promptly shut down this idea.

But then Congress got wind of the proposal. And now the TSA is backing down after lawmakers denounced the idea as bizarre and even dangerous, especially following terrorist attacks such as the March bombings in Brussels.

“From a security standpoint, it makes no sense,” said Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), who learned months ago that the TSA had refused to place screeners at a regional airport in his district. Instead, the agency suggested, it would screen the passengers after they landed at larger airports and before they boarded connecting flights.

The dispute represents yet another setback for the agency’s troubled efforts to adopt what advocates call a leaner, more “risk-based” security strategy in an era of flat-lined budgets.

Well, yeah. This is a terrible idea. As one congressman pointed out, there's no guarantee that the plane in question would even make it to its destination if passengers were not screened. Further, as we saw in Belgium, it's not just the airplanes that are the targets. There's no reason why a passenger couldn't smuggle a bomb through a small airport, and then detonate it at the security checkpoint at a larger airport--potentially killing far more people than would fit on a puddle jumper. The TSA's idea was an incredibly short-sighted one.

Advertisement

It's even more head-scratching when one considers that the ringleader of the September 11 attack basically used an identical plan to slip through security. Mohammad Atta knew that the security at the small Portland International Jetport would be far less intense than at Boston's airport, and was able to breeze through without getting held up.

The TSA is supposed to protect Americans, but ridiculous proposals like these make it tough to trust them.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement