A 71-year old amputee named Robert Perry, en route to Florida to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary, gets his pants pulled down by a power hungry TSO. Do we really pay this agency $5+/- billion dollars a year to behave like this? It's time to read Erich Fromm.

"I have power, I have power, I have power!" screamed the female TSO.

These are the humans that TSA is fast-tracking to become air marshals — and carry semi-automatic weapons on airplanes.

Pam Zekman reports for CBS 2 in Chicago:  

In Chicago, people like Robert Perry are subjected to exhaustive security checks. He was patted down, his wheel chair was examined and his hands were swabbed, all in public view in a see-through room at the security checkpoint. Perry, 71, is not alone

"It's humiliation," Perry said.

Perry was also taken to a see-through room by a TSA agent when his artificial knee set off the metal detector.

"He yelled at me to get the belt off. 'I told you to get the belt off.' So I took the belt off. He ran his hands down over and pulled the pants down, they went down around my ankle," Perry said.

At that point, Perry was standing in his underwear in public view. He asked to see a supervisor. That made things worse.

"She was yelling 'I have power, I have power, I have power," Perry said. The power to stop him from flying to Florida with his wife that day to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

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Bookmark this one. The Aviation Intelligencer posts news clips under this moniker:

"A video is worth a thousand TSA lies and denials."

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The Washington Times has a new Aviation Security Blog written exclusively by U.S. Federal Air Marshal P. Jeffrey Black and former U.S. Air Marshal Jeffrey Denning.

These two have unique insight into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), its bizarre bureaucratic policies and its even more suspect ideas for the future.

Like their most recent post. In "Want Some Torture With Your Peanuts?" Black and Denning reveal DHS interest in a government-funded, GPS tracking bracelet for each airline passengers to wear from door to destination, one which can stun the wearer on command. 

A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers.

This bracelet would:

• take the place of an airline boarding pass

• contain personal information about the traveler

• be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage

• shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes

So what exactly does it mean when these guys say DHS "has expressed interest" in the "so-called safety bracelet?" Unfortunate for any embarrassed DHS official who might wants to deny the veracity of the claim, Black and Denning have posted a copy of part of the letter on their Washington Times blog. 

According to a letter from DHS official, Paul S. Ruwaldt of the Science and Technology Directorate, office of Research and Development, to the inventor whom he had previously met with, he wrote, “To make it clear, we [the federal government] are interested in…the immobilizing security bracelet, and look forward to receiving a written proposal.” The letterhead, in case you were wondering, came from the DHS office at the William J. Hughes Technical Center at the Atlantic City International Airport, or the Federal Aviation Administration headquarters. 

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In a major blow to Israel's airport security, an Israeli policeman apparently shot and killed himself while guarding a farewell ceremony for French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at the Ben Gurion Airport.

Also in attendance were Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres.

The Ben Guiron International Airport is often referred to as one of the safest airports in the world. It is guarded by both police forces and the military — uniformed and undercover. That one of Israel's own policemen killed himself with his duty weapon in the presence of three world leaders is an unprecedented security breach for the airport. 

From The Jerusalem Post:

After hearing about the shot on their radio earpieces, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) agents immediately went into action, surrounding the prime minister and rushing him into a bullet-proof vehicles. Peres was also escorted to a separate secure vehicle.

Sarkozy's security guards whisked him onboard the plane. In a panic, Sarkozy's wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, rushed up the stairs ahead of her husband.

A spokesman for Peres's security detail said bodyguards had followed an emergency procedure.

The Associated Press reports that the suicidal policeman was on a roof top 100 yards from Sarkozy's plane and that he fell to the ground after shooting himself. A spokesman for the police has not confirmed the suicide.

(photo credit: Reuters/Avi Ohayon/GPO/Handout) 

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Former Red Team Leader and prominent, federal whistleblower Bogdan Dzakovic is testifying today in Washington, D.C. on a panel regarding aviation matters. The Government Accountability Project, GAP, is hosting the panel as part of its Whistleblower Week.

GAP handles Dzakovic's case which alleges that TSA is failing in its duties to safeguard the flying public.

GAP submitted papers this morning, on Dzakovic's behalf, to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) — an office fully embroiled in its own, obstruction of justice and corruption charges trouble. (Last week, FBI agents raided the home and office of OSC chief Scott Bloch in an attempt to prevent Bloch from destroying further evidence from his computer.) In 2003, the Office of Special Counsel praised Dzakovic for his work, noting that the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation had independently verified his allegations, much of which centered on the gross mismanagement of the the undercover Red Team program.

Dzakovic, who worked for FAA before 9/11 and has worked for the TSA since, alleges in today's filing that TSA has not fixed any of the glaring, bureaucratic problems that failed to prevent the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Dzakovic outlined these failures in a lengthy, government report. 

Dzakovic's lawyer, Tom Devine, told New Jersey's The Star-Ledger:

"Not only was [Bogdan Dzakovic's] report ignored, but Bogdan became persona non grata for any work related to airline security," Devine said.

In papers submitted to the Government Accountability Project, Dzakovic wrote that "the gist of my report…is that all these technological 'layers' of security that FAA espoused can be fairly easily circumvented by would-be attackers; and that TSA is basically doing the exact same thing as the FAA before it.

"But rather than learn from the past, hold people accountable and fix the bureaucratic problems which contributed to the ease with which the terrorist(s) succeeded on 9/11, TSA plunged the roller coaster of security to new depths," he wrote.

Ron Marisco's article on the subject can be read here.  

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Of the 450,000 names on the terrorist watch list, 22,500 of these people — deemed too dangerous to fly — are believed to be in the United States. Audrey Hudson reports for The Washington Times:

Since last year, the Homeland Security Department has received nearly 24,000 requests to be removed from the terrorist watch list now estimated to contain 450,000 names — 5 percent or 22,500 are thought to be in the United States.

Some individuals use aliases or fake passports that can generate multiple records, and officials think it creates twice the number of actual persons on the watch list.

Others, like Sr. Ted Kennedy, who have been put on the list in error, are being removed.

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UPDATE:10:20 a.m. PST: Inside Kevin Brown's bag, "federal agents found two bottles filled with nitro-methane, a highly explosive liquid," according to Orlando news station WESH-2. And according to an affidavit, Brown told the FBI he wanted to build pipe bombs like he built in Iraq. The FBI has not yet determined if Brown ever served in Iraq. But soldiers don't build pipe bombs, insurgents do. 

Who is Kevin Brown and what was he doing with what appears to be a pipe bomb in the making at Orlando International Airport yesterday?

Federal behavioral specialists spotted Kevin Brown acting suspiciously around noon in the ticketing area.

A search of his luggage revealed two galvanized pipes, end caps, two small containers carrying BBs, batteries, two containers with an unknown liquid, and bomb making literature, according to an FBI statement.

Brown, a Jamaican national, planned to board a flight to Jamaica. It wasn't immediately what the FBI charged him with. A voicemail for an FBI spokesman was full.

This morning, U.S. attorneys asked a federal judge for more time to prepare for Brown's hearing, originally scheduled for Thursday.

CNN reports that Brown has been living in the U.S. with a valid green card. He is currently being held by federal authorities without bond. 

TSA agents spotted the man acting suspiciously and put him under surveillance, according to the TSA's largely unreliable blog.

This is not the first time Orlando Airport has been in the aviation security news. In September 2007, a large group of Middle Eastern passengers set off mechanical alarms and alerted a canine unit after their personal items allegedly tested positive for SEMTEX explosives. TSA confirmed the incident with me in an interview, but would not confirm the explosive material. The passengers were later cleared to fly.

In March 2007, two Comair airline employees at the Orlando Airport were arrested after using their airport security badges to smuggle weapons and drugs onto a passenger flight headed for San Juan, Puerto Rico. The weapons and drugs amounted to 13 guns, an assault rifle and 8 pounds of marijuana transported in a carry-on duffel bag. As a result of this security gap being exposed, the TSA is now running a pilot program, out of Logan Airport in Boston, to screen all airport employees. 

(photo credit: Associated Press) 

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A man carrying two backpacks scaled a perimeter fence at London's Heathrow Airport earlier today, "sprinted onto the runway" and ran towards a plane triggering a major security alert. He was tackled by airport police and arrested. Agence France-Presse has more:

"A man ran towards an Emirates flight," a police spokeswoman told AFP, as television pictures showed police vehicles scrambling to deal with the situation. "He has been removed. We believe he was acting alone." 

And from the BBC: 

Up to 20 emergency services vehicles were reported to have been sent to the scene. The rucksack was recovered and explosives officers called in as a precaution.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: "A man was arrested and is currently in custody. A bag has been recovered." 

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