Analyst's note: Ten years after 9/11, anyone can walk into one of 19,000 general aviation airports in the United States and fly off in an airplane .... this includes those who have their name on our terror list. U.S. national security .... my foot.
"A recent New York Times article was extremely disturbing. The report was entitled: "27 Deemed to Be Threats Held Aviation Licenses". This news article was based on a report (pdf document) issued by the Inspector General (Internal Affairs) that has oversight responsibility for the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).
[....] Yet the magnitude of the incompetence of the FAA is nothing short of insane - just consider this excerpt from the New York Times news report:
The new report, by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, found that the F.A.A. had Social Security numbers of only about 750,000 people out of the 1.3 million names in its Airmen Registry, and that among those for whom it had numbers, more than 15,000 of them did not match the Social Security database for name, sex or date of birth. By law, the F.A.A. cannot require a Social Security number, the report noted, and as a result, “T.S.A. may not identify U.S. citizens who have provided false biographic information to receive an airman certificate.”
Not all of the discrepancies represent a potential security threat; the report said that more extensive study over the past few years found that 8,000 of the license holders were dead.
The report offers no details about the 27 individuals whose certificates were canceled, but does indicate the poor state of federal records, almost a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks. An initial computer scan found about 29,000 certificates that matched names on the government’ Terrorist Screening Database, but further study found that 28,500 of the matches were invalid; 506 were turned over for closer scrutiny, yielding the 27 names.
The point is that the charade of national security touted by our "leaders" does not in any way match the abysmal reality of the situation."
[.....] At present it is estimated by the administration that more than 230 American cities are infested by members of the Mexican drug cartels. Still more cities are infested by other transnational gangs from Latin America, Russia, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and other parts of the world. Why on earth would politicians, who are supposed to look out for the best interests of our nation and our citizens, be so willing to ignore the immigration laws, especially now as we wage a "War on Terror" and a "War on Drugs", as opposed to enforcing those laws specifically designed to protect us?
Finally, aliens who evade the inspections process by running our nation's borders also do not create a record of their entry into our country, making it easier for them to make false claims to United States citizenship and enable aliens, who may be fugitives from justice in our country or others, to enter the United States without making their presence known.
A country without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!"
