United Liberty

UPDATE: This afternoon, airline officials confirmed that the in-flight restrictions had been eased to allow a plane’s captain discretion about their enforcement.

For those of you still awaiting flights home from the holidays or with impending business travel in the coming weeks, you may want to read over these security directives distributed by TSA as their “official security rules” in light of the Flight 253 “Underpants Bomber:”

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Transportation Security Administration
Aviation Security Directive
Subject: Security Directive
Number: SD 1544-09-06
Date: December 25, 2009
EXPIRATION: 0200Z on December 30, 2009
This Security Directive (SD) must be implemented immediately. The measures contained in this SD are in addition to all other SDs currently in effect for your operations.
INFORMATION: On December 25, 2009, a terrorist attack was attempted against a flight traveling to the United States. TSA has identified security measures to be implemented by airports, aircraft operators, and foreign air carriers to mitigate potential threats to flights.
APPLICABILITY: THIS SD APPLIES TO AIRCRAFT OPERATORS THAT CARRY OUT A SECURITY PROGRAM REGULATED UNDER 49 CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS (CFR)1544.101(a).
ACTIONS REQUIRED: If you conduct scheduled and/or public charter flight operations under a Full Program under 49 CFR 1544.101(a) departing from any foreign location to the United States (including its territories and possessions), you must immediately implement all measures in this SD for each such flight.

 

1. BOARDING GATE

If you’ve watched the news in the past few days, you’ve likely heard about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the man that tried to bring down a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Christmas day.

One of the details now emerging is that the father of the suspect warned United States officials about his son six months ago:

A close family source said that the father left his hometown of Katsina, in northern Nigeria, to speak with security agencies on Saturday.

Family members said the father had become uncomfortable and concerned about his son’s fanatical religious views in recent months. They said, as a result, he reported his son’s activities to the U.S. Embassy and Nigerian security agencies six months ago.

The father was reportedly devastated to hear the reports about his son’s arrest and alleged role in trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airplane.

A close friend said the father was shocked to learn that his son was even allowed to travel to the U.S. after he had reported him to U.S. authorities, the paper reported.

Today DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told Jake Tapper on This Week that “everything went according to clockwork” in reaction to the attempted attack. Well, yes, the actions of private citizens kept this terrorist from killing a plane full of people. However, this man would have never have been allowed on a flight to the United States if security officials had been doing their job.

The ACLU is defending us “rightwing extremists” (emphasis mine):

Over at The Liberty Papers, Stephen Gordon has the story of what seems to be a report from the Department of Homeland Security entitled, Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Environment Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment, that targets some conservatives and most libertarians.

The report says (emphasis mine):

Contributor Jason Pye recently reported on the government report emanating from Missouri which labeled supporters of Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr as possible domestic terrorist suspects.  Because of the immense public outcry, the report has been rescinded and apologies issued.

From John Tate, Executive Director of the Campaign for Liberty-

Dear Friend of Liberty,

Although it sometimes seems that freedom is shrinking everywhere we turn, the fact is a powerful grassroots stand can still stop Big Government bureaucrats in their tracks.

It is natural, in an age of bailouts and government intervention, to denounce the actions being taken “for our own good” by the President and Congress, and write at length about what we shouldn’t be doing. It is my view that people look entirely too much to the government in general and the President in particular to solve problems and fix things. However, with the prevelance of that mindset, I would like to submit some ideas, for a change of pace, about what positive things a new President of the United States could and should do, given how little power under the Constitution the President has to make bold changes in policy. We can call this “what I would do if I were the new President”.