Peering behind the scanners and pat-downs

Nearly everyone is talking about the TSA and the implementation of the enhanced security measures at airports, but few are talking about the most visible seminal event that served as the catalyst for the current DHS and TSA enhanced security procedures. Enter Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, born on 22 December 1986 in Lagos, Nigeria.

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Abdulmutallab was one of the 279 passengers aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, an Airbus 330 flying from Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands to Detroit, Michigan on Christmas Day in 2009. He initially boarded a KLM flight in Lagos, Nigeria, before transferring to the Northwest Airlines flight in Amsterdam. The events involving Abdulmutallab have resulted in numerous wide reaching and controversial security changes enacted by the TSA and more broadly, by the Department of Homeland Security under the direction of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. These enhancements have the imprimatur of Barack Hussein Obama, who has not only continued the policies of the Bush national security policy, but has dramatically expanded it. What were once incremental violations of our Constitutional rights under the previous administration have been widened and deepened under the pretext of increasing the safety of and security of the American public. At the direction of Napolitano and the Obama "security team," such changes in the name of security are not only limited to air travel, but are to be expanded to include other communal areas such as courthouses and sports stadiums. In the final analysis, however, it is the actions of Abdulmutallab aboard flight 253 that may be looked upon as the watershed event that is behind the new security procedures being implemented and expanded today. Proponents of the purchase and deployment of the body scanners and enhanced pat-downs at airports and other locations use the Abdulmutallab incident as the reason that such intrusive screening procedures are necessary. They claim that we fortunately averted a catastrophic event last Christmas, and assert that these new procedures and equipment will be instrumental in stopping similar types of attacks. Those claims are not completely accurate, yet they continue to serve as the unquestioned and persistent platform being used to deter legitimate criticism. The beauty of it lies in its simplicity, and its ability to convince many reasonable people to forsake some of their rights and liberties in the name of safety and security. Those otherwise concerned with normal life events have little interest, time or even cause to question what is really taking place directly in front of them. Although it is an undisputed fact that there are Islamic terrorists who indeed exist and are intent on causing death and destruction to the West, there are many unanswered and troubling questions, inconsistencies and problems with the circumstances and events involving Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and the actions within our own intelligence agencies in this and other matters. To arrive at the truth behind the DHS actions that seem intent on criminalizing the activities and even the beliefs of patriotic Americans concerned for the preservation of our Constitutional rights, I believe that one logical starting point, particularly in this instance but not to the exclusion of others, would be to completely reexamine the "Abdulmutallab affair." Based on my investigation to date, there are several issues that raise legitimate questions about what we have been told about this event as well as past events. There appears to be a common thread of inconsistency woven into the fabric of what we are to accept as the truth, which could explain the cause and effect relationship behind the politicization of terror. The most blatant and commonly referenced controversy surrounding the alleged attempted bombing of flight 253 broadcast by the media has been the financial fortune made by former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, founder of the Chertoff Group, who has benefitted from the sale of the Rapiscan units to the federal government. Chertoff is not the only financial benefactor as I have previously pointed out in this article published on 14 November, nor does financial gain appear to be the sole factor in the deployment and use of the scanners. It goes much deeper. And the deeper the trail, the darker it gets, both metaphorically and in reality. Indeed, there is something very odd and disconcerting when the layers of this incident are pulled back, court documents are examined, and witness accounts are considered. The official accounts of the activities of Abdulmutallab and others simply don't add up, and within the course of my next few reports, I intend to show you that some of what we have been told is simply not true. I will expose the holes in the official accounts, and further expose the relationship between the "Abdulmutallab affair" and other seemingly unrelated instances that, to this point, have existed just under the radar of public trust.