WHO CAN BE TRUSTED?

I found this intriguing article at www.tsa-screeners.com In the recent weeks, with the media attention about DEEPTHROAT and the Nixon administration, I figured something like this would give a boost to some overworked and underpayed friends of mine who are sometimes targets of the media. The media, in fact should point their investigations not toward the front line workers, but the ones who are "directing traffic" behind the scenes, locally and nationally! The supervisors, managers and above are the ineptness that directs their subordinates to do things that they normally would not do.
Keep up the good work guys!


It is dispiriting to say the least to witness the unexpected and mysterious departure of Clark Kent Ervin from his position as Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security. But it is yet another episode in the chronicle that will be revisited time and again as increasing numbers of people come to realize that bureaucratic corruption is a significant threat to freedom in the early 21st Century.

It is very tempting to conclude that yet again, only sycophants are valued inside federal agencies. Someone who very properly criticized the TSA for its self-indulgent partying and excessive bonus awards does not fall comfortably into that category.
When worms and the tide turn…

One plaintiff in a suit against TSA is hopeful that January 7, 2005 will be a signal date in the calendar of United States justice. Others with a similar interest are watching. This and subsequent actions may at last begin to turn the tide.

On January 7, 2005, at 400PM in the United States District Court, Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division, the Honorable Judge Sharp will be hearing Oral Arguments in the case of Michael Ferrill against TSA, concerning Discrimination of Older Workers, Disabled Veterans, Harassment's and Intimidation in the work place, and targeted terminations of females, blacks, and employees over the age of 40.

Once the oral arguments are heard, then the next step is jury selection and a trial against TSA concerning its alleged abuse of power, the unlawful terminations of thousands of American workers, and thousands of EEOC complaints that have been covered up and kept hidden from the American people.

The case will become case law, No.3:03CV0234AS, potentially opening the flood gates for hundreds of lawsuits against the agency.

This case may be the Case Law that is pivotal to hundreds of other cases across the nation, and many attorneys are reportedly awaiting the outcome of this case before themselves filing in Federal Court, referencing the hundreds of Discrimination, and EEOC complaints against the Transportation Security Administration.

Plaintiff Michael Ferrill would like “ the truth told for the first time about the thousands of American workers who have lost their jobs, their homes, and yes even their families, and why even today another 9-11 will take place sometime in the future because of TSA practices and abuse of their workers”.

The ‘Forgotten Army’ Still Has A Voice…

This commentary has no direct bearing and offers no opinion on Mr. Ferrill’s case. But it is inspired by the consistency of the innumerable stories passed on by the screener community.

Approximately 22,000 contract screeners lost their jobs during 2002 and 2003 as a result of federalization and the incompetent recruitment process; to be followed by thousands more as malicious vindictive managers continued to orchestrate the termination of many honest and patriotic screeners who had thought they were helping their country but found themselves working in a corrupt system. An extraordinary number of these, as in the case of Mr. Ferrill, have a distinguished military service record, and a good percentage of them were humble enough to accept screener positions despite their prior years of experience having held officer rank and the command of other Americans.

Ask those former contract screeners and the former TSA screeners about their experience of corruption from early 2002 to the present time and you will hear a catalogue of abuse, leading to denial of accountability, wiretaps, telephone interference through to surveillance, computer ‘mishaps’ and more.

Some expert observers have ventured to suggest that private security contractors have been operating to undermine legitimate claims filed against TSA, and that this may have subverted the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission [EEOC] processes. We are told that private vendors who are willing to ignore ethics offer a useful escape route for public servants who want to use dirty tricks against individuals. It is evident that hundreds if not thousands, of potential claimants have backed away through fear of the consequences of facing up to federal agencies that cultivate a reprisal culture.

The appalling record of avoidance of accountability by those who are supposed to be stewards of the systems of redress, clearly demonstrated by the constantly changing points of reference and persistent failure to respond to inquiries, on a wide scale shows that there was never any intention to observe civil rights. There is a price to pay for that. Regrettably the traveling public who have been conned by the façade of aviation security will probably pay the ultimate price. The audience must get the message: The best screeners – those willing to object and perhaps to blow the whistle when your protection has been and is deliberately or recklessly compromised – have already left the theater.

Under The Freedom of Information Act, those former employees brave and strong enough to persevere have learned of the forgeries and false documentation that make up their TSA employment files. In many instances, especially in the case of those who were ’processed’ during the infamous NCS Pearson/TSA recruitment saga, no files are to be found, but then that is if you believe what officialdom is telling you.

Time to redefine ‘Corruption’ in government?

The following web based six-part definition seems to be so suited to the TSA that the Congress would be more than justified to seek legislation in order to bring public servants into a very visible frame of accountability. In some states, the law is very much stronger when it comes to the Unlawful Influence of Public Servants. The obtaining of a pecuniary advantage or interest is no longer satisfactory as the main measure of corruption in public service. That is out of date.

Public servants have circumnavigated legal limitations and their abuse of power has brought its own form of advantage, at the cost of individuals and of the nation. The legislative doctrine should now begin to address all issues thrown up by the fuller definition:

From: http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?stage=1&word=corruption

The noun "corruption" has 6 senses in WordNet.

Corruptness, corruption -- (lack of integrity or honesty (especially susceptibility to bribery); use of a position of trust for dishonest gain)
Putrescence, putridness, rottenness, corruption -- (in a state of progressive putrefaction)
Corruption -- (decay of matter (as by rot or oxidation))
Corruption, degeneracy, depravity -- (moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles; "the luxury and corruption among the upper classes"; "moral degeneracy followed intellectual degeneration"; "its brothels; its opium parlors; its depravity")
Corruption, subversion -- (destroying someone's (or some group's) honesty or loyalty; undermining moral integrity; "corruption of a minor"; "the big city's subversion of rural innocence")
Corruption -- (inducement (as of a public official) by improper means (as bribery) to violate duty (as by committing a felony); "he was held on charges of corruption and racketeering")
Will the FBI investigate the Transportation Security Administration in 2005?
Probably not, if we connect the dots after reading into Clark Kent Ervin’s demise as Inspector General. But it should. Here is what the FBI FAQs have to offer:

“Does the FBI investigate graft and corruption in local government and in state and local police departments?

Yes. The FBI uses applicable federal laws, including the Hobbs Act, to investigate violations by public officials in federal, state, and local governments. A public official is any person elected, appointed, employed, or otherwise has a duty to maintain honest and faithful public service. Most violations occur when the official asks, demands, solicits, accepts, receives, or agrees to receive something of value in return for influence in the performance of an official act. The categories of public corruption investigated by the FBI include legislative, judicial, regulatory, contractual, and law enforcement.”

Note the reference to ‘local’ and ‘state’ agencies. Also the sentence - “Most violations occur when the official…..” The implication here is that the Department of Justice and the FBI may not have moved with the times. They are blinkered, deliberately or otherwise, from the goings on in federal agencies.

If not the FBI, who’re we gonna call?

February 2005; the TSA will have been in existence three years; and we have no more assurance of a safe and secure commercial aviation system than we did on September 10, 2001. There is no sign of a champion of real change; and it is sad to recognize that only when history judges this period will the truth be acknowledged. Those screeners’ voices should reverberate through the years ahead to highlight this shameful record.

Osama Bin laden in a recent audio broadcast said "We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.”

That certainly seems to be the management culture in TSA doesn’t it?

David Forbes President, BoydForbes Inc. Aviation, Logistics & Govt. Security Analysts

Source: David Forbes (12/31/04). Reposted with permission. David Forbes is the president and COO of Boyd Forbes. Mr. Forbes has a distinguished background in a wide range of security and threat-prevention activities within the aviation and logistics industries.