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Ex-VP no airport VIP
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Ex-VP no airport VIP
Gore searched twice during Wisconsin trip
By KATHERINE M. SKIBA
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: June 13, 2002
Washington - Midwest Express Airlines boasts the "best care in the air," but Air Force II it ain't.
Quotable
You're looking out and seeing Al Gore's unmentionables in his big, carry-on suitcase.
- Mark Graul of Green Bay,
on Al Gore
Private citizen Al Gore learned that last week - not once but twice.
Traveling to Wisconsin, the former vice president was pulled aside for random security screening at Reagan National Airport before boarding the 7:15 p.m. flight to Milwaukee on Friday.
Passengers sharing Flight 406 were startled to hear Gore being told, "Sorry, sir, you have to go through extra screening," and to witness security personnel rifling through his briefcase and suitcase, a witness said.
"You're looking out and seeing Al Gore's unmentionables in his big, carry-on suitcase," said Mark Graul of Green Bay. "You could tell he was thinking, 'This is not happening to me.'
"He did not have a happy look on his face. Basically the whole plane boarded before they got through looking through his stuff.
"He patiently went through it and then took a seat in the front row with, I assume, an aide," Graul said.
Gore was en route to Madison to address the Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention Saturday.
Graul, chief of staff to Rep. Mark Green, House Republican from Green Bay, said a handful of passengers fired up their cell phones before the plane left the gate.
He was one of them. "People were calling friends: 'You're never going to believe what I just saw.' "
What are the chances?
On Saturday afternoon, when Gore was leaving Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport, he was taken aside for some extra scrutiny at a Midwest Express gate before boarding a flight to New York, said Gore spokesman Jano Cabrera, who accompanied him during both checks.
"My understanding is he was randomly selected both times," he said. "And both times he was more than happy, as all Americans are in these troubled times, to cooperate."
Does the ex-veep and almost-commander in chief see any irony in being frisked and wanded like your average passenger from the rear of coach?
Does he crave being Big Kahuna?
From Cabrera:
"Despite the fact that he won more votes than anyone else in the history of America, except for Ronald Reagan, he is more than happy to do his part for airport security.
"As I recall, he shook the hands of all the airport screeners afterward and thanked them for doing the jobs that they're doing and asked them to keep up the good work."
At Midwest Express, based in Oak Creek, Lisa Bailey, director of corporate communications, referred questions to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
TSA spokeswoman Deirdre O'Sullivan stifled her laughter long enough to issue a statement indicating that dignitaries do not merit special treatment.
"The TSA does believe that screening at the gate is an additional level of security that acts as a deterrent to persons who wish to do harm," she added.
Meanwhile, there's been no decision on whether so-called "trusted traveler" cards will be issued to whisk good-intentioned frequent fliers through security, O'Sullivan said.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/jun02/51090.aspAppeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on June 14, 2002
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Gore searched twice during Wisconsin trip
By KATHERINE M. SKIBA
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: June 13, 2002
Washington - Midwest Express Airlines boasts the "best care in the air," but Air Force II it ain't.
Quotable
You're looking out and seeing Al Gore's unmentionables in his big, carry-on suitcase.
- Mark Graul of Green Bay,
on Al Gore
Private citizen Al Gore learned that last week - not once but twice.
Traveling to Wisconsin, the former vice president was pulled aside for random security screening at Reagan National Airport before boarding the 7:15 p.m. flight to Milwaukee on Friday.
Passengers sharing Flight 406 were startled to hear Gore being told, "Sorry, sir, you have to go through extra screening," and to witness security personnel rifling through his briefcase and suitcase, a witness said.
"You're looking out and seeing Al Gore's unmentionables in his big, carry-on suitcase," said Mark Graul of Green Bay. "You could tell he was thinking, 'This is not happening to me.'
"He did not have a happy look on his face. Basically the whole plane boarded before they got through looking through his stuff.
"He patiently went through it and then took a seat in the front row with, I assume, an aide," Graul said.
Gore was en route to Madison to address the Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention Saturday.
Graul, chief of staff to Rep. Mark Green, House Republican from Green Bay, said a handful of passengers fired up their cell phones before the plane left the gate.
He was one of them. "People were calling friends: 'You're never going to believe what I just saw.' "
What are the chances?
On Saturday afternoon, when Gore was leaving Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport, he was taken aside for some extra scrutiny at a Midwest Express gate before boarding a flight to New York, said Gore spokesman Jano Cabrera, who accompanied him during both checks.
"My understanding is he was randomly selected both times," he said. "And both times he was more than happy, as all Americans are in these troubled times, to cooperate."
Does the ex-veep and almost-commander in chief see any irony in being frisked and wanded like your average passenger from the rear of coach?
Does he crave being Big Kahuna?
From Cabrera:
"Despite the fact that he won more votes than anyone else in the history of America, except for Ronald Reagan, he is more than happy to do his part for airport security.
"As I recall, he shook the hands of all the airport screeners afterward and thanked them for doing the jobs that they're doing and asked them to keep up the good work."
At Midwest Express, based in Oak Creek, Lisa Bailey, director of corporate communications, referred questions to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
TSA spokeswoman Deirdre O'Sullivan stifled her laughter long enough to issue a statement indicating that dignitaries do not merit special treatment.
"The TSA does believe that screening at the gate is an additional level of security that acts as a deterrent to persons who wish to do harm," she added.
Meanwhile, there's been no decision on whether so-called "trusted traveler" cards will be issued to whisk good-intentioned frequent fliers through security, O'Sullivan said.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/jun02/51090.aspAppeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on June 14, 2002
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Travelers on large privately chartered jets would have to go through the same security screening as other airline passengers under a rule proposed by the Transportation Security Administration.
It would be the first time the government created security requirements for privately chartered planes, which have become more popular since Sept. 11 as passengers try to avoid long lines at airport checkpoints.
On private charters, such as those used by sports teams, an individual or company rents a plane, invites all passengers and does not advertise the flight to the public. Charter operators have said security screening isn't necessary because everyone on a charter flight knows everyone else.
"It was thought it was a like group of people, so why would they hurt each other?" said Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Heather Rosenker. "Since 9-11, it has given us pause."
The security checks would be done by screeners certified by the TSA.
Passengers on public charters, many of which are operated by the major airlines and are open to anyone, already go through the same security checks as other airline travelers.
Under the proposed rule, charter passengers would have to go through metal detectors, and their carry-on luggage would be X-rayed, the same procedures used for commercial airlines.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/world/3475065.htm
ONLINE: Proposed rule, dms.dot.gov, docket number TSA-2002-12394 Transportation Security Administration, www.tsa.dot.gov
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Government expands use of air marshals, but many flights still uncovered
By Jonathan D. Salant, Associated Press, 6/15/2002 06:20
WASHINGTON (AP) When the Bush administration denounced the idea of guns for pilots, it said trained air marshals would be able to handle terrorists on planes.
Trouble is, there are not enough marshals to cover every commercial flight, and some lawmakers say there aren't even enough armed officers to protect passengers on the long-range trips considered most likely to be targeted by terrorists.
The exact number of marshals remains classified, but proponents of arming pilots say there should be guns in the cockpit, no matter what.
Transportation Security Administration chief John Magaw said the marshals, who before Sept. 11 flew only on international flights, are now on domestic routes as well.
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., said he believes there are about a thousand air marshals. That would be considerably more than the pre-Sept. 11 level, believed to be less than 50. But there are 33,000 to 35,000 commercial flights a day to protect, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
''Your chances of having an air marshal on your flight are not as good as winning some of the lotteries,'' said Paul Hudson, executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project, an advocacy group.
The administration's hard line against guns in the cockpits probably dampened prospects for legislation to allow them. Transportation Department officials are still deciding whether to equip pilots and flight attendants with non-lethal weapons like stun guns.
Air marshals, the Transportation Department's soldiers in the war on terrorism, never fly alone and don't identify themselves to anyone but the pilot. They undergo the same kind of firearms training as the Army's Special Forces.
The aviation security bill enacted last fall required marshals to be stationed on the most high-risk flights, including nonstop, cross-country routes like those flown by the four planes that were hijacked Sept. 11.
Despite the effort to recruit and train marshals, however, the number now flying ''doesn't currently meet my idea of what is necessary,'' said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the lawmaker who put that provision into the law.
Even on flights with air marshals aboard, there may not be enough of them to stop a terrorist attack, said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House aviation subcommittee.
''Every scenario we know of has had a minimum of four terrorists,'' Mica said. ''If you had two air marshals against four or more hijackers, I just don't believe the odds are fair.''
Transportation Department spokesman Chet Lunner said that air marshals, combined with other armed federal agents on airplanes, reinforced cockpits and other security measures, have ''raised aviation security to unprecedented levels. We're confident that the system is quite strong and getting stronger every day.''
Would-be air marshals are put through a 14-week training program, including the highest level of firearms training of any federal law enforcement officers, said Tom Quinn, director of the Federal Air Marshal Service. They have to be recertified every three months.
They also are trained not to respond to every disturbance on board, lest terrorists first stage a distraction to identify air marshals on board.
''These marshals are trained not only in the use of weapons, but all the things that build up to that,'' Magaw said. ''They will do whatever they have to do, to the point of giving up their own lives to make sure the cockpit remains secure.''
Advocates of guns for pilots argue they would provide an additional measure of security, no matter how many air marshals are on board.
''Everybody understood from the beginning that there would not be enough air marshals to be on every flight,'' said John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association. ''They're there as much for their deterrence value as they are to be called into action.
''The same theory is part of our rationale for firearms in the cockpit,'' he said. ''Having an unknown number of pilots armed in the cockpit provides another level of deterrence as well as an ability to deal with an actual hijacking attempt.''
On the Net:
Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.dot.gov
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/166/wash/Government_expands_use_of_air_:.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
SSgt Ryan E. Roberts, USMC