Every passenger who flies in American skies now is being checked against a list of people who pose a terrorism risk, Transportation Security Administration head John S. Pistole said Tuesday.

 The announcement that 197 air carriers, including 127 that fly internationally, are participating in the screening program brings the TSA into compliance with a key recommendation of the federal commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Pistole said that the TSA is working to refine controversial new pat-down procedures implemented in November. He said his agency wanted to determine whether "less intrusive" methods could be used with confidence that would-be terrorists could be caught.

 "Pending that outcome, we're not planning to change anything," he said.

READ THE FULL STORY AT WASHINGTONPOST.COM

What’s the deal here? More than NINE YEARS (!) after 9-11, 2001, the TSA now proudly announces that it is checking all passengers flying through and to the US against watch lists? Duh?

Would it be, ah, radical to suggest that either this should have been done before going to intrusive and possibility un-Constitutional searches at airports? Or, that the searches themselves are a kind of cover-up (theater) to take attention away from the fact that the Federal government and the TSA are not doing their job?

Here’s a excerpt from a meeting at the TSA, (or maybe it was just a couple of guys talking in the hallway) three months ago:

“Okay, so we know we are a failure in just about every other aspect of airline security, so let’s put pressure on innocent civilians, by the millions, who merely want to do their business or get to grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving.”

“Great idea! That way, the dopes will see what we are doing, when they can’t see all the other parts that are failing. And, fearful flyers and slow thinking newspaper columnists will praise us for doing everything we  can, even though we actually aren’t. Everyone signed on to the plan?”

The TerryReport has been saying for years that everything needs to be done prior to anyone boarding an aircraft or entering the screening area. The failures of 9-11, 2001 mainly came long before the terrorists got on planes, but the emphasis, in part to put on a good show for the public, has been on final screening. This doesn’t mean that you need no screening, or no care, at airports, but it does mean that stepping up screening to the ultimate level of intrusiveness is not only likely useless, but a sign of failure as well.

Those who have so eagerly endorsed the possibly un-Constitutional screening measures, like Ruth Marcus in the WashPost and Frank Rich in the NY Times, among dozens of others, are lazily falling for a con game. Problem is, when the game is over, we all lose. To its ultimate conclusion, we lose all rights as citizens.

Doug Terry, 12.2.10