TSA Suspends, Reinstates Airman Certific

[jjbiv]

From AvWeb :

TSA Groundings Appealed
Two Saudis Suspended, Two Get Certificates Back...
The Transportation Security Administration has suspended the airman certificates of two Saudi Arabian Airlines pilots and restored the flying privileges of two others. The Saudi Press Agency said airline lawyers are appealing the suspensions of Moen Hassan Zarie and Tarek Hassan Jifry under the recently announced rule that allows the TSA to order the FAA to suspend airman certificates if it believes those holding them pose a security threat. The airline was apparently able to convince TSA authorities that Nabil Mohammed Adawi and Khaled Fahd Al-Olayan were not security risks, and their certificates were returned Jan. 22, the Arab News reported last Saturday. Zarie and Jifry continue their battle. The still-suspended pilots appealed to the NTSB's chief administrative judge but, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal, he rejected the appeals because of the way the act creating the TSA is written. The judge said the 2001 Aviation and Transportation Security Act compelled him to assume that the TSA is correct in considering the two pilots security risks. The pilots are taking their case to another NTSB judge but he apparently said there can't be a hearing until the TSA makes public its now-classified evidence against them. That same act allows the TSA to keep the evidence secret for security reasons. We wouldn't even know this much about the case if the pilots hadn't taken their case to the NTSB, which still conducts its proceedings in public.

 

[FL000]

There's a very interesting article on the front page of today's WSJ (you know, that newspaper that smart people read...I found one on the plane) about this very subject. Any American who thinks this good news is sadly mistaken. As much as I want to see the protection of our nation, I am highly concerned about the government's newfound powers which they seem to feel entitled to implement without justification. They could just as easily carry out these revocations against U.S. citizens as they can against foreigners.

Don't ever let the government become stronger than its people.

 

[FL000]

Just found this. The last paragraph should scare any citizen, law-abiding or not. This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about:

From the AJC


[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 2/20/03]

Random inspections of cars set at airport

By MARY LOU PICKEL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The federal government wants Atlanta police to conduct random inspections of cars that approach the terminal at Hartsfield International Airport.

The Transportation Security Administration issued a directive to city police to start checking cars Feb. 8, in response to intelligence information.

"We've got to have this program in place," agency spokesman Robert Johnson said.

Problems with traffic flow have held up inspections at Hartsfield, Johnson said. Airport spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said Hartsfield and the agency are talking about a solution.

Police will use their judgment on which cars to search, Johnson said. "If there's a need to take a look inside a trunk or underneath a vehicle, we're going to do it," he said.

Johnson would not comment on what would happen if police found drugs or contraband instead. "That's not what we're looking for," he said.