Sign the petition today! Which one you say? Why, the one to have Spellchek replace both the FBI and CIA to handle the nation’s security. Why? Because with Spellchek in charge, the Boston Marathon bombings would have never taken place. You wouldn’t see headlines such as this.
Spelling mistake allowed Boston bomber to re-enter US
Read more: Spelling mistake allowed Boston bomber to re-enter US | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/spelling-mistake-allowed-boston-bomber-to-re-enter-us/#ixzz2x9KQ0opv
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U.S. authorities failed to detain Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who would later become one of the two Boston Marathon bombers, when he entered the country in 2012, because of a spelling mistake in a security database, a Congressional report has found.
Isn’t it a bit ironic that it was those now evil Russkies who tipped us off to Tsarnaev? http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/russia-warned-u-s-about-tsarnaev-spelling-issue-let-him-n60836
So we can just chalk up our lax security to a lack of algorithms programmed into our name recognition system which would have picked up on this anyway? Simply by adding an extra ‘Y’ into Tsarnaev’s name, our entire system was defeated? What is wrong here?
The same reason I quit my job as a TSA screener years ago. I realized that the TSA was just for show and not about real security. The object was to make ordinary Americans ‘feel good’ about security and keep flying. In other words, it was an economical reason. Dollars trump security. You can find examples of this littered throughout government policy documents citing not inhibiting the free flow of passengers and goods as the primary objective. Oh, all the while keeping the country safe.
Here’s some Congressional testimony illustrating this – http://www.dhs.gov/news/2013/09/26/written-testimony-cbp-and-ice-house-homeland-security-subcommittee-border-and. A key issue is how we collect data, biographic as opposed to biometric.
As you know, many countries use biographic data, which is essentially text data that is commonly included on a data page of a traveler’s passport, such as name, date of birth, document information, and country of citizenship. A biographic system is an entry/exit system that matches the information on an individual’s passport or other travel document when he or she arrives to and departs the country. By contrast, a biometric system matches data of a biometric or physical component from a person that is unique to an individual (i.e., fingerprints, a facial image, or iris scan) collected when a foreign national enters and leaves the United States.
Matching physical data from a person eliminates missing an extra ‘Y’ in someone’s name. All the intelligence in the world is useless if it can’t be utilized.
So we can blame a typo for the Boston Marathon bombings if we wish. We can also dump further billions into revamping our security directives, policies and procedures. Maybe create some new agencies. That’s just money down the rabbit hole. Call it the intelligence-industrial complex if you will. Much like the infamous military-industrial complex, it highlights the cozy partnership between government and industry and the vast fortunes to be made by throwing money at problems created by the government to begin with.
Or take it a step further if you will and blame it on we the people. We aren’t holding our politicians feet to the fire and demanding real security. Why? We don’t want to be inconvenienced. It’s an intolerable cost. The price? In Boston, 5 deaths and 280 injured. The dollar cost? Likely incalculable and still accumulating as the intelligence-industrial complex keeps profiting.
