Its Thanksgiving week, and the busiest travel days of the year are upon our roads and air system. The noise caused by TSA enforcement of their arbitrary rules and possible protests are all over the news.
The jokes are rampant. The agents have gone from being recognized as protectors to attackers of American freedom. It is a tough time to be a Transportation Security Agent right now. The mandate is simple and difficult. Stop all potential attacks on our air travel system. The lawyers in our Congress have made the process even more difficult, with rules against about profiling. I know it might be possible that Grandma is carrying concealed weapons, and the baby might have explosives secreted in the diapers.
TSA is an agency designed to do one thing. Make us think we are secure so we aren't afraid. Its generally been more about the theater. Many Americans don't yet fear TSA, but they should. A cross word or frustrated action could keep you from your destination. Heck, it could put you on the "don't fly" list and really cramp what you want to do. The IRS takes your money. TSA can take away your freedom to travel the country.
The next logical step for TSA is easy to see.
Permission slips.
Yep, the kind of permission slips you used to get from mom to miss school, or from the doctor to let you go back to work. I remember the discussion in school years ago of how residents of the U.S.S.R. had to get government permission to travel from one part of their country to another. Its really one small step for TSA to make that a reality in our country.
If it seems far fetched to you, lets walk through the argument. Chances are, unless you are a business traveler, you buy your tickets well in advance. At the moment you buy, your name and destination are sent to TSA (heck it might happen now). There's probably two weeks for someone in the bureaucracy to determine where you might be going. There's already a program requiring your full name to buy tickets. Its one small step to include a "purpose" line on your online ticket buying effort.
I can see the next step in the TSA system working like this.
You decide you want to go somewhere. You log onto the TSA web site (not your "friendly" airline) and request permission to travel to your destination. Since your full name, full address, social security number, phone number and photo have already been logged into the system thru the "Secure Traveler Program" you are allowed to proceed. The TSA site presents you with possible carrier choices for your flight and times. When you make your purchase, you are asked the same kind of questions you would when entering a foreign country. Those responses are logged and added to your profile. You receive a tenative approval to buy your ticket, provided you pass a background check.
When you enter foreign countries now, you are generally asked what your purpose is, where you will be staying, for how long, and when you plan to return. In the name of safety for other air travelers, isn't it plausible to do the same type of questioning for continental travel? Of course government agents, elected officials, transportation workers would all be exempt as many are now from these rules.
Now you finally have received your official approval to fly, and arrive at your departure airport. You are asked the same questions at the airport by the TSA officer you were when you booked the flight. The officer has your answers on his Ipad, along with all of your profile from the TSA database. That profile contains ALL your aviation travel history. At this moment depending on what you say in the next 60 seconds, you get approval to board or not.
Last minute flyers may be out of luck or given a much more stringent questionaire to prove the need to travel.
Sound far fetched? The patdowns and scans of today were absolutely unimaginable just 15 years ago.
In the future, TSA may well be not just the organization that annoys and gropes you. They will be the agency that decides to allow you to get on the plane. You're now free to move about the country--once TSA says so.
They are pretty much that now.
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