Your tax dollars smoking crack

[unixronin]

Bruce Schneier reports that the TSA has come up with, and is field-testing at Orlando Airport, what may well be their stupidest idea yet.

I've already written about this idea, back when Steven Brill first started talking about it:

[...] And even worse, the system lets terrorists test the system beforehand.  Imagine you're in a terrorist cell.  Twelve of you apply for the card, but only four of you get it.  Those four not only have a card that lets them go through the easy line at security checkpoints; they also know that they're not on any terrorist watch lists.  Which four do you think will be going on the mission?  By "pre-approving" trust, you're building a system that is easier to exploit.

Nothing in this program is different from what I wrote about last year.  According to their website:

Your Membership will be continuously reviewed by TSA's ongoing Security Threat Assessment Process.  If your security status changes, your Membership will be immediately deactivated and you will receive a notification email of your status change as well as a refund of the unused portion of your annual enrollment fee.

Think about it.  For $80 a year, any potential terrorist can be automatically notified if the Department of Homeland Security is on to him.  Such a deal.

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Enough to make you weep, innit?

I have a personal theory that way back when DHS was first founded, some Secretary of Somethingorother inadvertently switched the jackets on the "Friends" and "Enemies" folders, possibly because he or she can't read big words with that many letters in them, and DHS has never yet figured it out.