Aviation Security

9/11, Aviation Security

TSA did not pre-screen thousands of aliens for flight training despite post-9/11 law

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Kip Hawley ought to be fired; his alleging there are “layers of airline security” is a sick joke. Six years after 9/11, the Transportation Security Administration remains the poster program for fraud, waste, and abuse.

Atta's temporary airman certificate

Watch the video (click on the image)

Read ABC News’ full report (including the TSA’s internal communications).

And see this report, yesterday, by USA Today:

Frightening findings

In addition, the TSA has been the subject of reports of mismanagement and there have been accusations of wasteful spending — at best. For example, a report from that same Inspector General’s office in 2005 found that a private firm used to hire screeners for the TSA had estimated its fee at $104 million but was paid $741 million, including a $1.7 million bill for the use of a Colorado ski resort for recruiting. An earlier report from the same office criticized TSA’s spending and stated TSA “distributed about $1.5 million in individual cash awards to 88 executives during 2003, making its average award more than any other agency’s average award to executives.”

But perhaps the most frightening findings concern the Federal Air Marshal Service, which expanded dramatically after 9/11, from just 33 marshals to thousands. In recent years, however, government sources say those numbers have been shrinking again; one marshal told me, “Everyone thinks there are enough air marshals on the planes, and there are not.” I also spoke to TSA insiders who have expressed concerns that suspicious individuals continue to conduct “probes” onboard U.S. commercial aircraft. One such incident, involving 13 Middle Eastern men acting suspiciously onboard a Northwest Airlines domestic flight in 2004, was serious enough to generate a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General.

There are other aviation security issues that require immediate focus as well. They include:

* Procedures for securing airport property and perimeters

* Hiring and screening of airport employees

* Inspecting and handling of air cargo (including air cargo transported on passenger aircraft)

* Security procedures for civil airports and civil aircraft

Aviation Security, Debra Burlingame, Mike Huckabee, REAL ID

Congressman tells DHS that consular ID cards should not be used to board airplanes

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The primary function of Mexico’s many consulates in the United States is to provide illegal aliens with consular ID cards as a means to circumvent our passport requirements for foreign visitors. Those cards are not attached to a secure database and if an applicant has no birth certificate, they can present a letter from virtually anyone attesting to the fact the applicant was born in Mexico as “proof” of citizenship there. Yet most consular ID cards (known as Matricula ID cards) are cheaply purchased on street corners around our nation.

It gets worse. Our Department of Homeland Security says a consular ID card is sufficient photo ID to board an airplane.

In 2003, then Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee:

…went to Mexico … to urge the Mexican government to open a consulate in Arkansas. He leased the consulate state office space for $1 per year (obligating Arkansans to subsidize the rest of the costs of nearly $600 a month). And he put together a sweetheart deal for Mexico to enjoy a permanent facility in Little Rock without having to pay rent for three years.

Elton Gallegly of Simi Valley is a member of the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee and chairman of the 1995 Congressional Task Force on Immigration Reform. He wrote this morning in a commentary that:

Consular cards are issued by foreign governments to their nationals in the United States. There is no attempt to determine whether the person obtaining the card is legally in the United States and, in fact, the only people who need these cards are illegal immigrants, criminals and terrorists. No one denies this fact.

In testimony before a congressional committee, FBI Director Robert Mueller said the FBI had identified a route through Brazil that illegal immigrants from al-Qaida nations use to obtain false identities — including assuming Hispanic surnames — before heading for Mexico and the U.S. border. While no one in the intelligence community will say publicly whether or not any terrorists have been captured along our southern border, all warn it is a serious loophole in our Homeland Security net.

It is clear terrorists have the means and the motive to come here, obtain a consular card and use it to kill Americans.

Consular cards are easily obtained with no proof of true identity and are easily forged. Debra Burlingame, sister of the pilot of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11, made that point when she presented consular cards to members of the House Homeland Security Committee with their names, addresses and photos.

Representative Bennie Thompson's Matricula ID card

Congressman Gallegly continued:

REAL ID regulations will make America much safer by taking from terrorists a key piece of their arsenal — the ability to move freely and anonymously about the United States.

When it’s implemented.

In the meantime, we don’t have to wait until REAL ID is in place to close other security loopholes. With that in mind, I’ve once again asked Secretary Chertoff to eliminate consular cards from the list of acceptable forms of identification used to board airplanes. It’s just common sense, and the time is now.

In the following YouTube video, you’ll hear that Governor Huckabee dodges when asked about his providing Mexico a place to pass out their phony consular ID cards:

I wonder if Mexico issued Governor Mike Huckabee a consular ID as a souvenir.

Michael Huckabee's Matricula ID card