When is our president and Congress going to realize that the TSA is a joke and it needs to be completely revamped as a security organization? How many reports of inadequate screener training, poor or nonexistent screening leading to prohibited items taken aboard flights and left for weeks without anyone noticing, inadequate background checks on pilot trainees, nonexistent intelligence integration with other security divisions within the DHS, etc...? It's pathetic that the U.S. gives its citizens the pretense of safety when in fact we are really no safer when we travel after 9/11 than before. Dumb luck and providence are the only things the TSA has going for it.

Years ago, prior to 9/11, I owned a small video store and sold lots of $20 phone cards to arab-nation flight students conducting military flight training at Ft Rucker, AL.

One time a group of them brought in someone new who was supposedly from Florida and not associated with the military flight students. He rented "Die Hard with a Vengeance 2" with Bruce Willis which depicts a terrorist attack on skyscrapers. He never brought it back and I never saw him again...

But then I'm kind of paranoid. I could swear I saw Osama bin Laden once while flying for the Army in the southern Sinai in 1980. Tall guy on the beach was walking along the shore escorted by two other big guys (all in full traditional dress unlike other beachgoers). The two escort guys gave me the dirtiest look I ever got from any arab....most are quite friendly, at least back then. I guess my traditional arab greeting to them was typical of all al Qaeda thinking that condemns Americans, just because we are Americans.

Maybe someone should look at the State Dept. which seems to be on a mission to give as may visas as possible to Middle East people without any background checks.

Correction. I was in the Sinai in 1990! Senility at such a "young" age.

State Dept. (you actually mean US Embassies, but what's one generalization among a dozen others) cannot issue visas to Middle Easterners without explicit approval of the Dept. of Homeland Security. In fact, DHL has staff assigned to various embassies specifically to second guess Visa Officers. This has been the case since mid-2003.

1) The Pres will never "realize" it as you conventionally think.
The TSA is a joke - we all know it.
The DHS is lack of a better word - impotent.

2)You're not paranoid, just very observant. A good thing.

3)Don't dilley with words, one is a s good as the next when describing incompetence. Sate Dept = Embassy = incompetence

WHEN IN DOUBT, KICK THEM OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

boanerges,

Its not the president and congress that need to realize it, they already know, it’s the public that needs to. And that includes you, you think it’s the screeners, its not, IT’S THE MANAGEMENT and management is all retired USSS, and to anybody in the business
(TSA, FAMS, DHS), retired USSS has a very negative connotation. (incompetent)

I'm always in doubt. What's wrong with only training Americans in America? Is that so hard? These guys HAVE to be incompetent because they don't seem to grasp the simplicity of it. The truth is, Americans want NO alien pilots, PERIOD. Honesty is always best.

It should be illegal for ANY flight school to train any foreign nationls to fly. And any flight school that is caught training any foreign nationals to fly should be forced to shutter its doors and everyone who works there should lose their job. PERIOD. Are these flight schools so greedy that they don't care that they might be training future terrorists?

Conclusion: terrorists are not supremely intelligent, they don't have to be the powers that be are superbly stupid!

I think that if/when accusations are substantiated and U.S. flight schools (along with other organizations that profit off of non immigrant circumstances)are found guilty of unlawful business practices AND pay substantial penalties, infractions such as these will cease.

Until the TS(DSWP)A, totally stupid democrat social welfare program a..... program was not created to make flying a pain for 50 year old bald white guys and 80 year old grandmothers I will consider them and congress stupid, stupid, stupid. From a frequent flyer that gets screened too often. Frankly, I'd rather drive.

I knew we were in trouble when then Secretary of Transportation Leon Mineta stated there would be no racial profiling of passengers--maybe he didn't notice the ethnicity of the 911 hijackers and others who have attacked our embasies etc.? Also, how stupid to post on its website that SkyMarshalls would be 35 or under, wow that makes it easier to spot them, along with having to wear a sportcoat & tie and stay only in designated hotels. Basically, Washington is out of touch, including the Commander in Chief.

Interesting opinions from the earlier posters. But I couldn't disagree with how useless the screening is... but couldn't disagree more with flight school restrictions. Why? Simple, no one will ever hijack an airliner again. Why? Because the game has changed. Before 9-ll, a passenger who played along had a good chance of surviving a hijacking. Now, every hijacker will be assumed to be a suicidal terrorist, not planning to land the plane. As to training anybody who wants flight training... two points, one can learn to fly a plane into a building by playing with MS FlightSim 2004. It's quite accurate, as I can personally attest since it helped me to learn to fly on instruments. I wish I had it when I was first learning to fly by sight. Second point, one can learn to fly airplanes in ANY country... the bad guys can train at home if they can afford it. Why do the come to the US to learn? Because our flight training schools are CHEAPER! So, we should be encouraging folks to train here... since it helps our economy, bringing $$$ back home. Finally, anybody sick of long stupid lines and the threat of useless strip searches should follow my example and learn to fly. No lines, fly from a small airport near home to a small airport close to my final destination, and a rental car reserved and waiting. Happy landings...

In the mid-80's there were many, many Middles Eastern male students enrolled in aerospace engineering, and aeronautical departments of large private universities such as Saint Louis University, Embry-Riddle, Purdue and flight schools in Oklahoma. There were students from Oman, Iran, Saudi Arabia (many sponsored by Saudi Arabian Airlines), Eygpt, Malaysia, etc. Gee, I wonder where they all are now.

Brian Ross cites the case of a Canadian Citizen of Iranian origin who happened to be getting "Illegal" Flight Training in the USA. He is

This is an extreme case of Racial / ethnic paronia. By this definition all Black Americans are actually Aliens; i.e. citizens of Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo or Sudan. Asian Americans too are actually aliens; Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos or Burmese. Latino Americans are collectively all "Chincanos" of various denominations.

There are two (2) ways our skies can be made totally safe:
1. No Foreigners to get Flight Training in the USA. No Exceptions.
2. Only White racially pure Amerians can undergo training in the USA. Americans of other racial origins should go back to the countries where their ancestros came from.
2.

If this Iranian were planning to fly an airplane into some high rise building he would be receiving first-class training in his own country. Why would he risk capture in north America? After all, the Iranian government isn't exactly pro America. However, the same government together with the U.S. was instrumental in overthrowing the Talibans and Al-qaeda in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda is a fierce enemy of Iran and its people. So, the notion of Iran having anything to do with 9/11 is complete nonsense unless, of course, you believe Fox News to be a credible source of information.
Still, my American cousins, Not every dark- faced person from the East - Iranian, Arab or whatever - with an interest in flying has suicidal tendencies.

In our country,Nepal We have very low per capita income (poorest country) and we donot should have aim to be a pilot who coming from low status althouh some high income status people would send to learn there but we are having to learn in dream only which never comes true.But if anybody could do for like us student then we will be very much glad