Homeland Insecurity

Employee Goes Extra Mile for Boss With Bomb Threat

To:      My SecretaryFrom: MeDate:  TodayRe:      You Not Calling in Bomb Threats on My Behalf As you know, I habitually run late for everything, especially air travel.  It has come to my attention that other people's assistants…


TSA Targets Snow-Globe Terrorism Threat

As I have argued before, the absence of hijackings since 9/11 is almost certainly not due to the unenhanced security provided by the Transportation Security Administration, which daily protects our nation’s planes from the threat of oversized nail clippers, undeclared…



45-Day Sentence for 6-Year-Old Caught With Camping Utensil

Hardened Delaware criminal and recent Cub Scout recruit Zachary Christie faces 45 days in reform school for bringing a camping utensil to school.  School officials decided that the utensil, which combines knife, fork and spoon, violated the district’s “zero-tolerance” policy….



Mock School Robbery Leads to Actual School Lockdown

A high school in Montrose, Michigan, offers what sounds like a pretty cool class in forensic science.  Over the past several years the class has included a surprise event in which people portraying masked gunmen stage a mock robbery, and the…


Terrorist Watch List No Obstacle to Bomb-Buyers, Says GAO

The New York Times reported recently on a Government Accountability Office study finding that people whose names appear on the ginormous and ever-expanding "terrorist watch list" have had little trouble buying guns and explosives.  The GAO found that those on…



Mule Drivers Must Have Biometric ID, Says TSA

The Transportation Security Administration, taking a break from its critical shoe-removal and water-bottle-disposal duties, has told the mule-skinners at Hugh Moore Park that they must comply with strict post-9/11 security measures by applying for high-tech biometric Transportation Worker Identification Credentials….


Canadian Asks for Politeness, Gets Pepper Spray

Canadian asks U.S. border guard to say “please,” Canadian gets faceful of pepper spray.  It’s a fairly simple equation. I think this is in the USA PATRIOT Act, actually. The man conceded he had made the request for politeness “repeatedly,” but opined…