Americans are not happy with the status quo relative to air travel safety

There are several articles in today’s New York Times that deal with the state of American anxiety concerning air travel safety.  The first one is entitled Obama Seeks to Reassure U.S. After Bombing Attempt and seems to indicate that the President’s normal use of charm and calm composure to quell fears is not going to work this time.  This is too serious and was potentially devestating to families. Someone somewhere did not do their job.  The system broke.

The guy was a known individual on the terror watch list and his father warned U.S. officials that he was a danger.  We still let him onto a plane and into the country.  This time, snake charmers’ powers are not going to be enough to calm America.  The people want real answers to what could have been a huge tragedy.  It is time for the spin nonsense to stop.  How did this happen?  That is the question that we need to get answered.

In another story entitled U.S. Struggles Anew to Ensure Safety as Gaps Are Revealed  we read about other aspects of this state of affairs.  It ain’t comforting.

In a story entitled Rules Are Topsy-Turvy After Terror Attempt  we read about the inconsistencies and various levels of compliance to rules in air travel.  Not a warm and fuzzy story.

In another story we find out how truly mercantile we are as a people. One of the heroes of the incident sold a cell phone picture of the suspected terrorist for quite a bit of money to the media.  That story is entitled Passenger Hailed as Hero Quickly Finds Spotlight Can Have a Harsh Glow . I don’t feel good about this.

And in an Op Ed piece by Clark Ervin entitled After Eight Years, Terrorists Still Fly we get a view that is closer to the man in the street than the others.  Wow!  He has a point. What kind of system do we have?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel comfortable.

CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)