WASHINGTON, 5 September — As Sept. 11 approaches, many are wondering if they are safer flying. Not according to Wayne Madsen, head of the Virginia-based Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Madsen says John Magaw, head of the newly-formed Transportation Security Administration, was fired by the Bush administration "because of his incompetence, and because he hired so many of his cronies." Magaw previously headed up the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, BATF, and worked at the Secret Service.
"The only thing they seem to have accomplished at airport security checks is to harass people who are not a threat," Madsen told Arab News.
The result, Madsen says, is that US airplanes are no safer than they were on Sept. 11.
"The problem is that they’re too busy shaking down Al Gore at National Airport in Milwaukee, to do anything about the real threats."
Madsen blames this "huge incompetence" on bureaucracy, and says the incompetence has filtered down to the security systems at the airport.
"I’m concerned about the people who are responsible for hiring the sky marshals. We don’t know anything about the backgrounds of the people they are hiring. In the rush to hire sky marshals, Magaw and his group of cronies did not really examine the background of these people. I mean, did they apply to become police and failed their polygraph tests? Who knows?"
He also is concerned about the airport security screeners. "If you’re going to get rid of the illegal hamburgers flippers from El Salvador, that’s one thing; but what about the Americans who replaced them? What’s their education level like; did they even graduate from high school? We don’t have any standards set in place for hiring these people."
Madsen slams what he calls an over-emphasis on technology to screen passengers.
"We’ve seen the new facial recognition screens which have already shown many false alerts. NASA is looking at something that will monitor people’s brain waves at the airport and see if they are nervous. But what about those people who are just nervous about flying — how will they be screened out?"
The problem with Sept. 11, according to Madsen, is that US intelligence over-relied on electronic means of surveillance and did not use "good old intelligence work."
"We need to have people infiltrate, and know what these organizations are planning. And just as importantly, we cannot ignore what we hear from foreign intelligence agencies, as well as gather it from our own people. And, also importantly, we must be able to get it to the top quickly, and not have it get buried as it did Sept. 11."
Madsen says it also important to watch the luggage handlers, the screeners, the maintenance men and the food handlers at airports, everyone at the airport.
Madsen also says that racial profiling on airlines is futile. "We know there are some terrorist camps in Albania, Bosnia and Macedonia, and in those parts of the Balkans there are many Muslims who could have been affiliated with Al-Qaeda that have blond hair and blue eyes — so to rely on appearances is also a foolish thing. There are also Muslims in Indonesia who are Asian in appearance, and not Arab.
But he says he would he fly on Sept. 11. "I don’t think anything is going to happen on Sept. 11. People should just do what they normally do. Except here in Washington — where we’ll probably have traffic problems because of presidential motorcades going to the Pentagon, but I think that is the only disruption we’ll see."
