"Ahead of the line; Logan puts lessons from 9/11 to work, moving to forefront of airport security" by Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | August 29, 2010
It has been nearly a decade since Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked two planes that took off from Logan International Airport and flew them into the World Trade Center. Now, Logan is viewed as one of the safest airports in the country — a distinction that can be both a blessing and a curse.
Related: The 9/11 hijackers are alive
What?
It was the first US airport to test an Israeli technique for identifying suspicious passengers, the first to arm its police with submachine guns, and the only one to train all its front-line employees to identify suspicious behavior.
That makes one wonder how the alleged terrorists that never appeared on any passenger manifests got through the screening on 9-11, doesn't it?
Even the fishermen digging for clams on the airport’s shores and the workers in the terminal shops have been enlisted to watch for security threats.
Because of efforts like these, Transportation Security Administration administrator John Pistole recently called Logan “one of the best, most secure airports in the country.’’
Then the next crop of patsies best not be run through there.
The security at Logan — and across the nation — has evolved dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. Before then, the bulk of security at US airports was provided by metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs, security lines were manned by private contractors, and checked bags were loaded onto planes without being scanned for explosives. Today, with the US government in charge of security checkpoints, passengers have to remove their shoes and are sometimes subjected to pat-downs and X-rays that reveal their naked bodies, and all checked luggage — and cargo traveling on passenger planes — is now screened.
And CUI BONO?
Related: Who Thinks Up Terror Attacks?
Logan, which was heavily scrutinized after 9/11, has gone above and beyond what is required by the government....
Nothing was heavily scrutinized after 9/11 -- at least, not by the government or MSM.
In addition to the 1,100 TSA workers at Logan, several hundred employees are dedicated solely to security at the airport. And Massport said it considers all 14,000 airport workers to be part of its security team, with everyone from gate agents to bus drivers to janitors trained by the State Police to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior as part of its Logan Watch program....
Be a good Nazi.
In March, the airport sparked privacy concerns after it installed full-body scanners that show naked images of passengers’ bodies — the first airport to be a part of this year’s widespread rollout of the machines. This month, Logan was blasted again after it became one of the first two airports to use an enhanced pat-down in which agents slide the palms of their hands along passengers’ bodies, including their groins.
Really looking for a punch in the mouth, huh?
Both measures were rolled out in the aftermath of a Nigerian man’s attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit using explosives concealed in his underwear.
The underwear guy?
Related: Mossad orchestrated Christmas Day bomb plot
Mossad linked to "Crotch Bomber"
Well, they ARE ISRAELI FIRMS in charge of security!
The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has weighed in on the enhanced security measures, criticizing the “seemingly constant erosion of privacy’’ that may not actually be doing anything to prevent a terrorist attack.
“There are reports that terrorists already have methods that can get around these measures, such as implanting explosives in people’s bodies,’’ said local ACLU spokesman Christopher Ott. “We really question the assumption that we can all be safe if we just give up enough privacy.’’
Passengers have lashed out about the invasion of privacy, too. All told, the TSA receives about 100 calls per month from Logan passengers, ranging from complaints about full-body scanners to inquiries about items missing from their checked luggage.
Yeah, never mind the radiation those things are pumping into you.
Logan officials acknowledge that some of the security measures are intrusive, but they say it’s a necessary step as security techniques — and terrorist threats — evolve....
Have you had enough yet?
Travelers have gotten used to the heightened security.
Like a frog slowly boiled.
Kendall Romine is one of those passengers. Romine, an 18-year-old Stanford University soccer player, got an enhanced pat-down from a female TSA agent at Logan last week because her foot is in a cast with metal parts. While the experience was “awkward’’ and “very uncomfortable,’’ she said, she knows it’s all in the name of safety.
“It seems a little extreme, but I understand why they’re going through such measures,’’ Romine said.
Do you? Do you really?
Still, not everyone is convinced that all these extra layers of security make the airport safer. Security specialist Bruce Schneier said Logan’s efforts are merely “security theater’’ that simply prevent terrorists from doing something they have already done.
How much doe$ a ticket co$t?
“The car ride to the airport is still, by far, the most dangerous part of the trip,’’ Schneier said. “Exactly two things have made us safer since 9/11: reinforcing the cockpit door and passengers realizing they have to fight back. Everything else has been a complete waste of money.’’
Over LIES, Americans!
But airport security measures continue to increase. By the end of the year, 450 full-body scanners are expected to be in place across the country, and 500 more are on the books for next year....
Somewhere I ju$t heard a ca$h regi$ter go cha-CHING!
And Logan, which this fall is adding hundreds of closed-circuit TV cameras to increase surveillance in terminals, checkpoints, and baggage handling areas, plans to continue to push to be a leader in airport security.
That might be good. Keep it in mind for later.
“It happened here. Two of our airplanes were hijacked, many of our citizens were killed,’’ said Thomas Kinton, Massport president. “It’s an ownership of an event, if you will, that was life-changing.’’
Yes, Logan will ALWAYS be STAINED by that Sept. 11 FAILURE!
Dennis Treece, director of corporate security for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan, imagines a “checkpoint of the future,’’ developed in part by Logan’s Center of Excellence, the airport’s program for testing new security technology. In this futuristic checkpoint, passengers will simply be scanned as they walk down a corridor, with no machines or humans invading their privacy.
Yup, you WON'T FEEL a THING as your insides cook.
Also see: Tools of Tyranny: Airport Screening
Treece said his dream is, “You walk from the curb to the airplane and you don’t take anything off and you don’t put anything down.’’
One man's dream is society's nightmare.
"At Logan, new device keeps eye on everything" by Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff | May 3, 2010
Logan Airport has added another piece of equipment to existing security measures that include full-body scanners and explosives detection units. In a post-9/11 world, the Department of Homeland Security is working with institutions such as MIT to develop tools to improve security at the nation’s airports....
Dennis Treece, Massport’s director of corporate security, pointed to an escalator at the end of the terminal and said: “Standing upon that walkway 150 meters away, you can see anything on me that is a centimeter-and-a-half wide. And the next version is going to be twice as powerful.’’
This unit is in test phase, but plans are underway for a second-generation camera that can provide even higher resolution in a smaller device, which could lead to “video analytic’’ cameras capable of automatically detecting items left unattended or suspicious activity.
John M. Fortune, program manager for the Department of Homeland Security’s Infrastructure Geophysical Division, said this is “research development that is not in its final form yet. It’s a prototype. We really want to push the security envelope.’’
Yeah, this government is just looking out for you.
That's what all the lies are for.
Time to check your luggage:
"In theft at Logan, questions of security; Cameras lacking, victim’s kin says" by Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | May 6, 2010
Logan Airport has just installed a state-of-the art surveillance system at Terminal A that allows security officials to blend feeds from multiple cameras into one image. It is part of an enhanced security system beefed up since 9/11 to counter any terrorist threats. Hundreds of cameras are trained around the sprawling airport.
But in a small area of Terminal E, where Maria Fatima Sardinha lost her purse, there is no such coverage, according to State Police.
“I think that’s ridiculous,’’ said Teresa Constante, Sardinha’s 29-year-old daughter. “You would think there would be cameras everywhere. That sounds crazy to me. Everywhere you go there are cameras and in an airport there are not cameras everywhere? It doesn’t make sense at me at all.’’
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan Airport, was criticized for having porous security, including not enough closed-circuit cameras, according to a 2002 Globe report....
The Sardinha family runs dozens of Dunkin’ Donuts around Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, and New Hampshire....
That's why this made the paper!
Dunkin' Donuts is also a sponsor of the Red Sox.
After a while you get sick of the self-serving agenda-pushing, no?
"Logan pushes to use new scanners; Seeks to be 1st in US; imaging less invasive" by Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff / July 17, 2010
Logan International Airport is vying to become the first facility to use a less-invasive version of the full-body scanners that have been installed at hundreds of security checkpoints around the country this year. (Full article: 421 words)
This article is available in our archives:
Oh, well. It's not like you are really missing anything.
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Related: Lawsuit challenges airport full-body scanners
Customs agent allegedly stole astronaut’s form
You are cleared for takeoff, readers:
At Logan Airport, tweeting is taking off
Yeah, it is important to remember those cell phone calls that the government claims came in on 9/11 could not have been made back then.
Also see: Nantucket airport’s scary stuff, for some
More scary stuff:
"Hotel worker details threat to plane" by Associated Press | August 21, 2010
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Workers at a California hotel that received an anonymous phone threat to a New York-bound flight said yesterday that the caller ranted in a thick accent as others were heard shouting anti-America curses in the background....
Sorry, wrong number.
The caller ranted in broken English that American Airlines Flight 24 was going to be hijacked while voices in the background yelled “[expletive] America’’ and “Allah is God,’’ said Justin Martin, a shuttle driver at the Hampton Inn in Alameda.
The hotel workers called police, leading to the grounding of the flight with 163 passengers and 11 crew members on board. The FBI later determined the threat was not credible.
The clerk initially thought the callers were kids playing a prank, but Martin said he looked up the flight on the Internet and saw the plane was still on the ground after its original 7:30 a.m. departure was delayed.
Well, SOMEBODY anyway.
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Also see: 2 families settle suit over Buffalo plane crash
Related: What Really Happened to Flight 3407?
Pilot sentenced in drug-masking scheme
Related:
And what do you have in that bag, doc?
Item in noted scientist’s bag closes airport
Related:
"Any plea deal, particularly one that allows Abdulmutallab to get out of prison at some point, could force the Obama administration back into a debate about whether terrorism cases should be handled at military tribunals, where the rules of evidence are more favorable to the government and defendants have fewer rights....
As we keep innocent men at Gitmo forever?
And notice the lack of MSM concern regarding AmeriKan Justice as opposed to those designated enemies it constantly flogs.
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Plea deal?
PLEA DEAL?
Can you say COVER-UP, America?
