Big Brother Has Arrived

Today's post is based on the research and subsequent magazine article by Anne Kadet that appeared in the September, 2009 issue "Smart Money". In the article, Ms. Kadet goes through some of the newer steps and technology that the government is looking into to "protect" the traveling American public. While they may be more effective than current travel security measures, a fact yet to be proven, they should send a chill down anyone who is familiar with the Big Brother concept from George Orwell's novel, "1984":

1. The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) employs over 2000 "behavioral detection officers" who case out airport patrons who may appear stressed or scared, the assumption being that scared or stressed out people are more likely to be terrorists. If you act suspicious, they are empowered to take your aside for questioning.
2. New scanning machines let TSA personnel see right through clothes.
3. Other new machines would remotely monitor your pulse, temperature, breathing and facial expressions to reveal signs of "harmful intent".

On the surface, these efforts appear noble and harmless for innocent people. However, consider a few scenarios and facts:

• Ms. Kadet was questioned in an airport recently by a behavioral detection officer after she wrote in a notebook. The potential for abuse and the invasion of privacy without just cause is very high in a program like this. You could be interrogated for just about anything if writing in your own notebook is enough to draw attention. Do we really want undercover government agents watching our every move while in public?
• The scanning machines that see through clothes is likely to lead to a whole new set of YouTube channels consisting of bootlegged scans of attractive or funny passenger profiles. Again, the potential for abuse is high.
• The remote detection of bodily functions and "harmful intent" sounds like a Tom Cruise movie (oh wait, it was a Tom Cruise movie, "Minority Report"). We saw what that kind of freedom-less society leads to when people are monitored and assumed guilty without just cause or a trial.
• According to Ms. Kadet, the TSA has subjected 192,000 travelers/American citizens to secondary screenings at airports but will not release any information on whether these secondary foiled any terrorists plots. Now the claim could be made by the TSA that just having the secondary screenings reduces terrorist activity but it would be nice to know whether our inconvenience and infringement of rights was worthwhile.
• One of the saddest things that she reports on is that the "puffer machines" at airport security stations are being retired because they are breakdown prone and generate too many false alarms. Guess who paid for these expensive, yet worthless, machines? The American taxpayer did and given how new they are but how soon they are being retired for not working properly, looks like another monumental government expense that was wasted. Again, the TSA has not revealed how many bomb threats were averted with these machines.
• The TSA recently told Congress that it will not meets its deadlines for a process to screen cargo laden on passenger flights, its ineffective bureaucracy has spent less than 13% of its budget for bus and train security, and the agency still does not screen all airport workers.
• The final insult, despite all of their efforts, TSA screeners in many tests still do not spot explosives coming through security.

Several steps in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" would help address these issues. The three steps that would vigorously review and rework the Patriot Act would have to address these Big Brother-like activities. Step 34 would hold members of Congress accountable for the entire TSA operation and their failures to detect explosives, screen airport workers, inspect passenger plane cargo shipments, and the deployment of expensive but useless puffer machines that do not work anywhere close to their expectations, possibly removing politicians from their committee posts. Step 30, which calls for the recall of most American troops stationed on foreign soil, might help to solve this problem at its root cause. Remember, Bin Laden struck at us because of our troops stationed on Saudi soil. His actions on 9-11 and elsewhere is the direct cause for this heightened security. Removing non-essential troops based overseas might help defuse the resentment throughout the world of the United States. We know what happened when we had troops stationed all over the place, Big Brother eventually made an appearance.

Anne Kadet is a senior writer and at Smart Money and can be reached at akadet@smartmoney.com