Security Smorgasbord, vol 4 no 1

TSA Follies, Act The First:

A FBI Counter-Terrorism Special Agent says that the TSA is "tilting at windmills":

TSA has never, (and I invite them to prove me wrong), foiled a terrorist plot or stopped an attack on an airliner. Ever. They crow about weapons found and insinuate that this means they stopped terrorism.  They claim that they can’t comment due to “national security” implications. In fact, if they had foiled a plot, criminal charges would have to be filed. Ever hear of terrorism charges being filed because of something found during a TSA screening? No, because it’s never happened. Trust me, if TSA had ever foiled a terrorist plot, they would buy full-page ads in every newspaper in the United States to prove their importance and increase their budget.

I have a unique position from which to make these statements. For 25 years, as many of readers know, I was an FBI Special Agent, and for many of those years, I was a counter-terrorism specialist. I ran the Los Angeles Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) Al Qaeda squad. I ran the JTTF’s Extra-territorial squad, which responded to terrorism against the United States or its interests throughout the world. I have investigated Al Qaeda cell operations in the United States, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand, just to name a few.

...

I have dealt with TSA since its inception and FAA security prior to that. I have witnessed TSA operate since they became a separate organization in 2002 and seen their reaction to intelligence provided them. I have now watched them operate for a decade, and I have respect for their hard-working employees who are doing a thankless job. But I have come to the conclusion that TSA is one of the worst-run, ineffective and most unnecessarily intrusive agencies in the United States government.

Long, but worth it for the straight talk.  Brutal straight talk.

TSA Follies, Act The Second

The comments here are particularly interesting.  Click on the tab that sorts them in terms of "highest rated" and then start reading.  All of the comments supporting the intrusive TSA search are from commenters in Europe.  All of them.

I said recently that in the 19th Century, everyone in Europe who thought that Europe sucked came here.  It seems that Europe has been breeding for an appreciation of suckiness.

All Your Devices Are Belong To Us

All your devices can be hacked.  All of them:



Avi Rubin is a big gun in computer security.  This is nothing short of horrifying, although putting Pac Man on a voting machine is pretty stylin'.  Another reason for my next car to be a '69 GTO.  Hack that, bitches ...

You watch us, we watch you

Anonymous released a bunch of U.S. Government diplomatic cables.  The ACLU saved one, and then filed a FOIA request for the same cable.  The U.S. Government gave them one that was heavily redacted. So now we know what the U.S. Government thinks is secret.  Yikes.

I'd say that the ACLU just hacked the Fed.Gov ...