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Government

Congressman Behind TSA Creation Now Calls ‘Whole Thing a Complete Fiasco’

Sep. 12, 2011 6:30pm Buck Sexton

The Transportation Security Administration has mushroomed into a $9 billion, 62,000 person federal bureaucracy, and the politician who helped create the security behemoth gives its performance so far a “D-.”

Rep. John Mica (R. -Fla.) authored the legislation that gave us the TSA ten years ago in response to the 9/11 attacks. He gave Townhall.com an interview last week that left no doubt about his deep disappointment in the engorged bureaucracy and waste caused by his brainchild over the last decade.

Rep. Mica wants the agency as it stands now dismantled. He said the agency should consist of no more than 5,000 personnel, and they should focus on intelligence and monitoring threats. Like many of his fellow citizens, the congressman seems deeply bothered by the endless pat-downs, nail clipper confiscations, and shoe removal efforts.

But what does he think is the biggest problem with what the TSA is doing?

Congressman Mica doesn’t believe these efforts have made us safe, and as he put it, “They’ve failed to actually detect any threat in 10 years.”

Mica was critical not just of the TSA’s record but of its tactics as well. Referring to some of the more well-known episodes in the organization’s history, he lamented that:

“Everything they have done has been reactive. They take shoes off because of [shoe-bomber] Richard Reid, passengers are patted down because of the diaper bomber, and you can’t pack liquids because the British uncovered a plot using liquids…It’s an agency that is always one step out of step.”

The scandals surrounding the TSA have been consistent and widespread over the past 10 years. There have been highly questionable expenses, including one TSA executive who collected $5.4 million salary for 9 months of work.

Even more well-known are the public groping programs known as “enhanced screenings” and allegations of theft (at least some of which have turned out to be true).

Congressman Mica wants the TSA to be privatized, and a report from his committee this past June claimed privatization would save 40% for the taxpayer.

“The whole thing is a complete fiasco,” he concluded.

(h/t townhall.com)

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Comments (129)

LMW
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:32pm
I do not condem the idea, A good idea gone wrong is the word here. Our screening process needed to be updated and people who knew what the hell they were doing should have been hired. Baggage handlers and such was not the best hires For TSA employees. I have been flying over seas for many years and we are the joke of the world. Anybody with 1/2 a brain could beat these idiots any day of the week if desired. They should never never be unionized. There are too many ways to check with out removing clothing and body searches. It is nothing more then our governments way to gain more control over the the American people. TSA is a sham and needs to be elemanated.

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- Tear Em Up
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 9:33pm
  I didn’t read the whole article. Is the TSA a fiasco? Or, is it this administration??
  
  http://traffic.libsyn.com/mikeleeandterrymartin/Number_80_September_10th_2011.mp3
  
  Report this comment
- banjarmon
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 10:06pm
  WOW a congressman sees the LIGHT!!!
  
  Report this comment
- BigDaddyRamFrog
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 10:53pm
  TSA has stopped zero threat! The Israelis have no problems and they don’t x-ray or pat down (molest) their passengers. Massive changes are needed.
  
  Report this comment
- dominke
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 10:58pm
  Our whole administration is a sham job. Of the 300 million people in USA,how many actually fly. The whole country pays for the ones able to fly. Each airport should be in charge of any security without taxpayer dollars.
  
  Report this comment
- FormerLib
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 1:42am
  Well, I just got back from flying to my nephew’s wedding, and I am LIVID. I witnessed an octogenarian woman in a wheelchair forced to stand up and hold her hands above her head (she could barely do it) while she was x-rayed. I watched a TSA employee make a mother with three small children in tow pour out bottles of juice and water, even after the kids drank as much as they could before pouring it out. I watched citizens barked at and herded like cattle. And after removing my shoes, my belt, my wallet, watch, keys, glasses, and anything else I had on me, my own bag was flagged and pulled aside for further search. Why? because I had a can of shaving cream, which even though I demonstrated it was in fact shaving cream, I had to surrender. And the more of this I witnessed, the more furious I became. My own wife was urging me to show caution and lot make waves or draw attention to myself in order to avoid being singled out. IN THE US of A! It was reminiscent of a scene from Schindler’s List. And I realizede I’m angry because the terrorists have won, if this is what we’ve come to. Does anyone in their right mind really think that 80-something woman in the wheelchair was a threat? Or those bottles of juice those kids were drinking? All this, simply because our government won’t admit, let alone address, the real threat- Islamic males between the ages of 18 and 40. And we endure loss of liberty and harrassment on an unprecedented scale and we bow in dhimmitude to Islam.
  
  Report this comment
- drattastic
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 1:54am
  Just another perfect example of the government screwing up everything they touch. 62,000 people and 9 billion dollars ,give me a damn break ! How many layers of management is that ? Probably 10% molesting the public and the rest is pure bureaucracy ,an a$$ load of parasites that have attached themselves to our wallets.
  
  Report this comment
- jb.kibs
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 2:18am
  what about this?
  i saw a tsa employee at a gas station one day, i gave him a dirty look. but… lets say…
  
  you are an attendant of a gas station, make them strip before you turn on the pump… they might have a lighter or something, if they do, call the cops and have them arrested for terrorism…
  
  and yes, the employees DO have a F-ing choice. if your boss told you to execute other employees, you are going to do it and think it’s legal for you to? you are high on crack if that’s the case. the TSA employees are in the wrong as much as their executives. ignorance is not an excuse. it’s your job to be observant as a security official…
  
  Report this comment
- NOTALOTTAYITTAYADDA
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 8:29am
  All this crap over fake planes and a bunch of lies.!.
  
  This WAS a great country, the zionist have driven it directly into the ground.
  
  Report this comment
- Shotgun167
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 12:30pm
  Formerlib, it is worse than that. Last flight I was on went through Houghston, TX. I know most people don’t listen to the PA announcements, but I did that once. They were plainly stating that you would be detained if you made “rude” comments to the screeners. I guess they were tired of me telling them that if they fondled my junk, I would have to charge them just like all my other clients.
  
  When the government starts controlling our speech, we’ve lost.
  
  Report this comment
- eddymunster
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 1:07pm
  the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
  
  Report this comment
- MONICNE
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 2:06pm
  The TSA and the Department of Homeland Security need to be phased out.
  
  9/11 brought us together for the first time in years, and then the neoconservatives started spending all our money and making us afraid, and they created new federal departments like TSA to feed the fear. Neocons increased federal employment 33% and increased the Military 20% before 2007.
  
  They cut back on basic revenues for 7 years. Now they say we are broke, that’s the latest scary thing.
  
  TEA
  
  TEA
  
  Report this comment
- MONICNE
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 2:08pm
  By the way, very attractive LOGO on their embroidered seal. Kind of retro looking. Bold, fresh, eh?
  
  TEA
  
  Report this comment
- Ruler4You
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 2:40pm
  A “fiasco?”There, you see? that didn’t take long now did it?
  
  Only a few measly hundred billion dollars and a new bloated unstoppable government bureaucratic ‘enforcement’ agency that will continue to be a disastrous burden for the rest of eternity. It couldn’t have worked out better for the government if they had planned it that way.
  
  Report this comment
- Brainmuffin
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 3:04pm
  Replace the lot with t-ray machines. No need for all the tech that doesn’t work.
  
  Report this comment
fcbs46
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:31pm
Please privatize the TSA.

My nephew (a bomb tech from the Army and many years in the private disposal field) joined the TSA (to be close to his daughter) and told them repeatedly that they were letting through many risks. The highest risks come from the ground personal and they were not listening to an expert in the field that was hired just for this purpose. He had to leave one city because he would not be a part of a gross failure.

Told and told again about failures and the head of the unit would not take action. This simply would not happen in a private organization that was held responsible for such failure.

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- southernloyalty
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 9:34pm
  The only thing bad about privatizing it is that all the jobs would go to illegal immigrants. Come on, you know all business people hire nothing but mexicans cause they’re too cheap to pay Americans. Then, the mexicans would unionize, and like every other private business in America thats unionized, they’d ship all the airport security jobs to China. Then there would be a couple thousand illegal mexicans to add to the unemployment line behind the 62,000 TSA workers you replaced with the mexicans. Either way you go, you can’t win. This place just needs to go ahead and collapse.
  
  Report this comment
- artistskeptic
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 11:39pm
  @southertnloyalty..Isn’t the entire problem caused by the labor unions which insist on massive pay for minimum work??
  
  Report this comment
- TomFerrari
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 9:32am
  Isn’t TSA already union?
  I remember they voted in favor of it recently.
  
  Report this comment
CarolinaGirl
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:29pm
Profile! Profile! Profile! Period!

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- copatriots
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:32pm
  One word says it all. Preach it girlfriend!!!!
  
  Report this comment
- Cheeseydog
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 8:46pm
  The only sure-fire way. PROFILE IS RIGHT. Can you hear us now?
  
  Report this comment
- gr8photoman
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 9:18pm
  In my mind I’m going with Carolina. ;)
  
  Report this comment
- mom_in_WI
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 8:46am
  YES! shout it louder girl!!
  
  Report this comment
- lulu229
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 1:36pm
  exactly!
  
  Report this comment
progressiveslayer
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:27pm
The government created the tsa and once a government department is started it never dies it just gets bigger,we’re stuck with this anti- constitutional beast forever.

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- ProbIemSoIver
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:40pm
  RON PAUL would immediately eliminate this worthless entity. These people would get no benefits, and would have to get in line to find a job again. It suits them, considering most are uneducated thugs, overpaid, and over “entitled”.
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:40pm
  Not only is it a Gov agency it’s aslo now a Union. How do you break that combo?
  
  Report this comment
- therealconservative
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 8:57pm
  Ron Paul would allow Iran to have a nuke, illeagal’s to have citizenship, gut our military, free pot to all and anything else the liberal want.
  
  Report this comment
- zman173rd
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 11:35pm
  What the Goverment hath created only the Government can take away. Hold on…?
  
  Report this comment
- libertytreecaretaker
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 11:45pm
  Ron Paul is half conservative and half nut job! I think the nut job parts going to keep him a thousand feet from the White House!
  
  Report this comment
- jb.kibs
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 2:20am
  you think anyone is going to stop iran from getting a nuke? how stupid are you? you can’t deinvent the nuke..
  
  Report this comment
- jb.kibs
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 2:22am
  the KKK, Black Panthers and other racist groups have called for the extermination of others… you going to arrest them all for murder?
  that is exactly the situation of Iran… free speech when it suits your needs, eh? wink wink nudge nudge
  
  Report this comment
henryKnox
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:22pm
Yes, we must use the next republican majority after 2012 to privatize the TSA and right many other wrongs that have perpetuated over the last 60 years or so. Eliminate the dept of edu, dept of energy and about 100 other useless depts in DC.

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- chazman
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 8:28pm
  Hey Monk! Ya pull a Ronald Reagan on ‘em!!!
  
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- 100 Million Patriots Standing
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 6:36am
  Including tossing the UN out…. …
  and eliminating the lobby industry – including making it illegal for the interference, bribery and manipulation of congress and any elected official – by groups such as CRF-Council on Foreign Relations, Bilderberg, Aspen Institute, Tri-Lateral Commission, Club of Rome, Committee of 300, Unions, Media, and…….anyone….including both sides of the isle.
  
  Report this comment
BowHuntingTexas
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:20pm
Rep. Mica, please re-read and memorize the 4th Amendment. You know? The one about unreasonable search and seizure.

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copatriots
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:20pm
I can hardly wait for the gubbermint to be in charge of healthcare. I’m sure that will go off swimmingly.

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- spirited
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:49pm
  Yes,
  
  ;$^>swimmingly
  
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- Aloneonahill
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 8:23pm
  It will be difficult to swim in the tsunami of government run healthcare. Can only hope SCOTUS will wash our hands of it.
  
  Report this comment
biohazard23
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:17pm
Let the airlines pay for privatized security. If people don’t like Airline A’s security checks, then they will give their business to Airline B. Let the market sort it out and keep the govt out of it altogether.

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- Mtroom
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 4:05am
  No matter how you look at it…it’s still the tax payer paying it….you think the airlines are just gonna foot the bill for security?.Doubt it,they will just charge more.Which in turn eliminates smaller companies and would limit choice Plus it would probably lead to more bail outs.I feel it’s better off to fix the TSA…This guy made it happen….Fix it….Again, no responsibility …Just passing the problem off…And we pay for it no matter what….Try this at your job…Bet ya don’t have it very long..This guys just as bad as the rest of them
  
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NEAF
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:15pm
Really? btw, is cheaper and effective with sniffing dogs.

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wood911
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:14pm
My protest has been to stop flying. Complaining loud and long will probably eventually get TSA backed off but you cut the money strings and only fly in an extreme emergency and the airlines will get tit shut down in a hurry. You have to hit them where it hurts. BTW, they need to privatize air traffic while they are doing it.

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- jnobfan
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:23pm
  I have cut back myself. Whats weird (or is it) that last weekend we flew to DCA from PBI for a football game and I was pulled out of line both ways for scanner and patdown. Both airports were extremely vacant of passengers so maybe they were bored. More likely all Miami Hurricane fans like me are on some kind of list.
  
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- NeoFan
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 11:58pm
  I have only taken one trip since the Nazi’s took power and it was enough to slam the door on air travel for me.
  I am hoping for the demise of the airlines because the never even put up a fight. Union members all.
  
  Report this comment
Banter
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:14pm
Fine Mica, so you now realize that no govt program goes away, they morph into money sucking monsters and destroyers of liberty.

So quit whining and just fix it.

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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:13pm
Get rid of the whole thing and start over with private security forces backed up by professional law enforcement at the airports. The TSA is nothing more than a band of mercenary thugs and thieves who have too much authority across the board.

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PATTY HENRY
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:12pm
I hope all Tea Party people are thinking LOCALLY too…these RINOS need to be replaced with PATRIOTS. 75% of us have had enough. THANKS for GLENN BECK and SARAH PALIN and a very few others…we have this ONE election to save the USA. IF you think it will keep rollin’ on without
Patriots…but RINOS and LIBERALS you are nuts. We all have to think LOCALLY…and contribute and fight nationally. GOD BLESS THE USA.

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DProffitt
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:12pm
Not bad only took him 10 years to admit it was a mistake…apparenlty he was groped on his last fight.

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Jenny Lind
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:08pm
Really? This is called day late, dollar short. Unintended consequences, get’s us every time. Would that those powers that be would think before they screw everthing up. I can only shake my head in awe of the stupidity.

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Tusker
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:05pm
Get rid of it all together! What a waste of money! Not to mention the humiliation the fliers have to go throught to board a freak’n plane!

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- HKS
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:14pm
  Total overkill, screening is a necessary thing in these times but this is ridicules. Metal detectors and scanners are enough.
  
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The-Monk
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:57pm
I guess Rep. John Mica finally got on a regular flight at a regular airport and got the new “regular TSA treatment”.

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- Dug2Dark
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:05pm
  Hey that’s not funny, I’ve just flown & my **** stiill hurts from the search….
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:45pm
  @Dug2Dark
  I guess they took a pica up Mica also. Ouch!
  
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- The-Monk
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:47pm
  @Dug2Dark
  I hear that will make you “regular” for a week ar two.
  
  Report this comment
momprayn
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:50pm
Who is this guy? A RINO? What in the world — even us peon Consvs. know better. It ALWAYS, ALWAYS ends up like that. His constiuents giving him a hard time lately? This should be another outrageous agency that the Tea Party/Consvs. should complain about very loudly. The best way is the Israeli way. Note their success. Yes, I know – can’t do that — that’s not “PC”. Brilliant.

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- Rowgue
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 7:01pm
  Republican does not equal conservative. The biggest reason we are in the mess we’re in is because people associate an ideology with one party or the other and then blindly vote for that party’s candidates.
  
  If they weren’t allowed to list party affiliation on a ballot we would avoid all of that and people simply wouldn’t vote because they’re too clueles without the D or R telling them who the right candidate is, or we would have ended up with far more qualified candidates just out of pure chance from idiots voting randomly instead of for a letter.
  
  Report this comment
Libby Tarian
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:50pm
We need Four years of Ron Paul, he would have to fight Repubs and Dems his whole term. But, It would be like a cool Aloe Vera compress on a raging sunburn. Stop the madness for four years and then the regulators could vote in someone else.

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- Aloneonahill
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 8:30pm
  Would much rather see RP as Sec Of Treasury to pursue elimination of the fed. As of now he is only taking votes away from the demise of the progs. If he can’t win he will only be detrimental to the greater cause of eliminating the socialist agenda.
  
  Report this comment
- therealconservative
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 9:04pm
  Yes, we need 4 more yrs of illeagal’s streaming over ther boarder, sucking up to Iran, giving pot to everyone, a hollowed out military. Let’s vote for Paul.
  
  Report this comment
- Highland
  Posted on September 13, 2011 at 8:18am
  Ron Paul doesn’t see Muslim extremists as a threat. Yeah, I guess he’d dismantle TSA – and all other forms of security. TSA needs to go, but let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
  
  Report this comment
South Philly Boy
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:48pm
Time to CUT it DOWN to small SIZE

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RedinLouisville
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:45pm
He should be the first one fired.

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- Elena2010
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:54pm
  Woo-hoo! Go Cards!
  
  Sorry — got off topic when I saw your moniker and avatar. A&S ’79.
  
  Back on topic: TSA is a sorry excuse for its name.
  
  Report this comment
- Rowgue
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:54pm
  He doesn’t work for the TSA he’s a house representative. If people want him fired they can easily do so.
  
  Report this comment
Dug2Dark
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:41pm
The Tsa is privatized. They fondle my privates every time I try to board a plane.

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joan k
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:40pm
What did he expect when the government gets involved? Another bureaocracy and people that work for it making themselves look like they are doing something even when it isn’t something important. That describes a government job for you.

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This_Individual
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:35pm
I’ll drink to that!

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Chuck Stein
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:34pm
TSA privatization — sounds like a good plank to a Republican platform.

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- Quagmir
  Posted on September 12, 2011 at 6:41pm
  I think he just had to fly commercial a few times and it woke him up.
  
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