Showing posts with label US policies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US policies. Show all posts

Saturday, April 21, 2007

US Policy: Airpot Security

US Policy: Airport Security
by IDARNG Loki

You walk in, you get your ticket, and you head for the security line. It’s there where I hear, and have given, complaints about having to be halted and searched before going onto our flight. In reality you have been watched, since the moment you entered the airport property, by an arsenal of surveillance devices, censors, and security personnel. With the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, the US Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, or ATSA, which amends and enhances Section 449 of Title 49 of the US Code.

Now I am all for keeping everyone secure, but I would feel better knowing our security is based off statistics. It’s a known fact that a government basic responsibility is to “provide new Guards for their future security.” What aggravates me is when I see little blue haired ladies and even members of the Armed Forces being searched! What threat do they pose?

Not to be insensitive or “intolerant”, but last time I checked it wasn’t a US Army Guard that rammed a plane into the side of buildings. Soldiers are defenders of this country. They give up so much to keep us safe and yet they are still searched.

It’s not just soldiers I think should be exempt if you will from these security parameters. I also believe certain “sub-cultures” such as the elderly should not have to be searched. I have yet to hear about an arthritic riddled woman take over a plane and hold it hostage.

Now what would I do to fix this little problem. I personally believe that profiling works. Many people call profiling racist because it can targets certain cultures or groups, but it’s based on statistical fact. How can you call something offensive when it’s true? Here in Idaho middle-aged white men are likely to be behind the crimes, in parts of Los Angeles the crime may be perpetrated by young Hispanics, while in the Harlem young Black men commit many crimes, cause a majority of our crimes. It’s all a matter of statistics of the crimes.

Even before 9/11 befell us the Airports kept a passenger manifest; in this only name and address information was kept, but afterwards the ATSA stated that the Under Secretary could include any information he/she deemed necessary. Due to the rising threat of radical Islamic terrorism I believe that ethnicity should be included when registering for your flight. Through my military experiences I know that our government has the specific profile and modus operandi for terrorist cells.

Our government feels the need to give us this false sense of security by meddling in political correctness when it should combat the real threat using statistical analysis and modern technology.

The Illegal Immigration Issue

I wrote this during college and before the injustice done to our border agents.

My thoughts on Illegal Immigration
by IDARNG Loki

This topic is a touchy one with many people, but though our attention is constantly being taken to international affairs such as the Middle East, I believe, we should keep our attention on our own domestic issues.

I should first give my definition when I use the word “illegals”, which I say is any citizen of another country who is residing within the US illegal, not just Hispanics like some have stereotyped the phrase. I am one who is against giving amnesty to illegal immigrants because I am not one to reward those who break the law. Why should any illegal immigrant get amnesty when others have waited to get into this country legally?

We need to amend Section 1 of the 14th Amendment so it rids the part that says anyone born on US is a citizen. This is a key battle in the immigration issue. Someone born in America should only become a citizen if their parents are citizens! Otherwise it allows illegal alien mothers to come over, run to the nearest hospital, and give birth to a new burden of the state.

14th Amendment, Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law, which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

We need to send National Guard forces to the border, not just as a support unit, but also as an active unit who can arrest and deport the illegal. Engineer units could build a good border fence and build a trench that would stop illegals from even reaching the fence, plus make tunneling impossible without detection. Use Unmanned Ariel Vehicles (UAVs), sniper teams, radar units, and scouts as surveillance along the border. UAVs would be able to survey the parts of the border that are harder to traverse by foot or vehicle. Sniper teams, as a none combative role, have the ability to track illegals while radar units have the capacity to track even the slightest movements all along the Mexico border. The MPs can become the border patrollers who have training in law enforcement and procedures. Send our Tactical Human Intelligence Teams (THT) assets across the borders to collect intelligence and counter the illegals crossing by using GPS devices. We need to close down the border because you can’t heal a wound unless you stop the bleeding.

To combat the illegals already in the US the best strategy is to give power to the State and Local law enforcement because local authorities have a better understanding of their city and where the illegals are living. The feds should give the state some kind of grant depending on certain factors such as location and perceived number of illegals. The locals can easily round up the illegals since they deal with them every day. The State and Local enforcer’s grant should increase with their successes.

Once apprehended the illegals, whether on the border or in the country, biometrics should be taken. If the illegal has been living in the US and is caught then all of their financial assets should be frozen. The costs to send them back to their country should be taken thence from their accounts, plus any taxes they have not paid should also be paid. Their employers should be fined; the severity of the fine should depend of several factors such as knowledge of employee status and number of illegals working for him.

Medicaid/Medicare, school assistance, and welfare programs should be off-limits to anyone who cannot prove citizenship, to a point. I don’t like the welfare program, but I’d rather help an American than an illegal. Plus you take away the incentives you take away their reason to come across.

As I said earlier, “you can’t heal a wound if you don’t stop the bleeding.” Now I’m all for immigration into this country because my family came across the ocean too and I think that everyone should have a chance to have the freedoms we have here in America. What I am against though is illegal immigrants coming over leeching off the system while not contributing anything.

I am also irritated by the state of our prison systems. Illegals have increased crime, especially in larger metropolises. Now I’m not saying illegals are the only one’s who commit crimes, but if we were to deport them then it would ease up on our prisons. We also know that terrorists have partnered with the gang known as the MS13 to help bring terrorists cross the border.

I hope one day this issue will be fixed, but with partisan politics in play in our Congress I doubt it will happen anytime soon. Remember though immigration is great thing, but it is a double edged sword when we allow the illegals to throw away the law book then try and hide behind it. As I said in the first weeks of class during our political party assignment, “We're not closing the door, just locking the windows."

NOTE: 1 out of 10 of all illegal immigrants that cross the US-Mexican border are not Hispanic