The Department of Homeland Security will be taking over the task of checking airline passengers against the "no-fly" list. Currently individual airlines do it themselves.
I'm not sure why, but apparently DHS thinks they can do a better job.
Seriously.
Remember, the watch list now contains 44,000 people, not including 75,000 that DHS believe should be pulled aside for additional screening.
But why not let the airlines continue?
DHS sources say the airlines have not been doing the job consistently or effectively.
That's right, apparently airport security has not been detaining nearly enough 4 year old boys, US Senators or men named Robert Johnson(or Bob Johnson.)
Now, I agree that streamlining the process and having one agency in charge of enforcing the no-fly list makes sense on paper, but not when that agency is Homeland Security. They are the ones who created this list that is so bloated as to be functionally useless. Any program they touch turns to shit.
The first time Homeland Security tried this, it was shot down:
The TSA will begin testing the system this fall. Previous attempts by the Department of Homeland Security to take over the function from airlines have failed amid objections from privacy advocates. Chertoff insisted the amount of personal information collected would be minimal and would not infringe privacy.
I feel so much better now. "Gut-Feeling" Chertoff assures us our privacy will be respected. A member of the Bush administration talking about privacy concerns has about as much credibility as... well as much credibility a member of the Bush administration has about anything. Which is to say zero.
DHS says the changes will implement recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission to provide consistent passenger pre-screening against government watch lists. Chertoff said his department was determined to do everything it reasonably could to protect the traveling public from the sort of people involved in the London plot last year.
Translation: It isn't that we want more authority and power. It's not that we want more information on ordinary Americans. The 911 Commision told us to. Forget that the list has made screening ridiculous and impractical. Forget that revising the list might be more useful than collecting information on the whereabouts and travel habits of Americans. The terrorists are coming and you, Bob Johnson, may be one of them.