Dave Davies of the Philadelphia Daily News has this story on a college physics students HERE.  Nick George was detained last August in Philadelphia for several hours because he had arabic flash cards and his passport had been stamped in the Sudan, Egypt and Jordan.  He backpaced in the Sudan and Egypt and attended a semester of college in Jordan.  You see, Nick George is studying arabic and actually hopes to use this knowledge to assist our government.

George readily admits that he probably warranted a second look and didn’t object initially.  It was when he was detained, handcuffed for several hours and questioned snidely by both local law enforcement as well as the FBI that it became a bit intrusive.  After several hours, it was determined he wasn’t a “threat”, given a ticket for the next day and moved along without further explanation.

Read the story.  Look at this man’s photo. 

I think you’ll find that it stretcheds credulity (a word that I’m beginning to think is beyond the TSA’s vocabulary) that this person would require detainment for several hours after the initial “second look”.  Frankly, it points to a bias in the TSA (and law enforcement in general) that reflects ignorance and borderline racism.  But, then, we already kind of knew that, didn’t we.  See these posts HERE and HERE. 

Once again, we have strong evidence of a problem with the TSA in general and in Philadelphia in particular.  What concerns me greatest is the obvious appearance of ineptitude in actually guarding against terrorist acts.  These reactions on the part of the TSA showcase a group of people who are acting as if they are actors in a TV drama rather than as real world, professional security officers.  I cannot fathom why we, US citizens, might find this acceptable anymore as it does put us at greater risk every day.

Filed under: security by ajax