Foreign Policy Mag: Homeland Security Hasn't Made Us Safer

Well said.

Living in the United States and having gone through Airport Security myself... I personally don't feel safer. This article is well written and does outline frivolous spending in places the money could be more smartly used. A million dollars at Poynette? Really?

DUH! ...and the 19 9/11 hijackers were known to American intelligence officials before 9/11. Harken back to 9/11 for a moment. Within a couple hours of the attack every American media outlet had pictures and full details of nearly all of the hijackers. If our govt agencies did their job protecting us, they wouldn't need to treat law abiding American grandmas like criminals. In fact if they allowed law abiding American citizens to carry guns on domestic flights there will never be another successful hijacking or air incident again. The problem with terrorists is if you lock down the airlines then they'll use a train next or park an old SUV bought off Craigslist loaded with gas can bombs in the middle of Times Square. The key is to kill the terrorists where ever they are and you can't be politically correct and appease Nancy Pelosi while taking care of business.

This article does read as a little bit biased, but is nevertheless true. I think it is important that the American people actually be able to see the facts & figures behind the DHS & TSA. As I work for the local city here (approximately 9,000 people in the city and possibly 50,000 people in the county), I have seen that we have a DHS representative here who does plan for attacks. Granted, part of his job too involves emergency response to several other natural threats and we are within 75 miles of 4 nuclear facilities, but I guess I was still surprised to see the money coming in for it. Better foresight is what we need...not hindsight.

I am 71, have a metal knee so get patted down every time. Recently in Orlando, I had 3 TSA agents (one a supervisor) tell me they knew their procedures were a waste of time. This after patting me down, going completely through two carry ons because I had $2,000 on me. Also checked for bomb making materials. I am a commercial pilot also. TSA is a joke. This agency needs to be disbanded completely and start profiling. Forget political correctness when it comes to security of this country.

Just part of a note I received answering a question on TSA;

Part of our problem is that the TSA seems to come up with a new technology every year, costing taxpayers billions of dollars with seemingly little improvement in security. Recent reports have shown that since its founding in 2001, the TSA has spent roughly $8 billion on new technologies alone. The agency is also asking for more than $1.3 billion for airport screening technologies in the next year. We must develop new technologies to keep abreast of new threats, but we must not deploy these technologies before we fully understand how they can be integrated with what we already have in place. We do not need to spend millions on equipment that does not work in the real world, just as the TSA did with "puffer" machines several years ago.