No fly ninnies

Robert Johnson is on the government’s No Fly List.\nHe was convicted of plotting to blow up a movie theater and a Hindu temple in Toronto. He served a 12-year prison sentence before he was deported to Trinidad.\nFor the multitude of Robert Johnsons that reside in the United States and elsewhere, this means that they are now subjected to searches and interrogations – sometimes for hours – every time they decide to fly on an airplane. That includes a Robert Johnson who says that the military identity card which can get him on any base in the country is not enough to get him on an airplane smoothly. \nAfter the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the government’s No Fly List of people who are banned from air travel jumped from 16 names to 44,000, plus an additional 75,000 names of people who require “additional security screening.” \nA well-intentioned measure, but the absurdities that occur as a result of this mysterious list are many. \nOne might expect Transportation Security Administration officials to exercise a bit of common sense when screening airline passengers for possible terrorists. The number of infants being kept from boarding planes due to the misfortune of having names similar to those of people on the No Fly List indicates otherwise.\nWho knew al-Qaeda is recruiting the diaper-wearing demographic?\nPlenty of dead people appear on the list too. Despite the fact that the list was compiled after 9/11, as of 2006, 14 out of the 19 hijackers were still included on it. I thought most people didn’t stay in the suicide bombing career sector after their first day on the job. \nAn FBI agent by the name of Captain Obvious also decided to include Osama bin Laden on the list, twice – once with an O and once with a U. \nDignitaries and leaders of foreign nations appear on the list as well. The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, appeared on the list three times, with three different spellings. \nThe latest man to get on the wrong side of the Department of Homeland Security is Shahid Malik, a member of British Parliament who also happens to be Muslim. He’s been detained by Department of Homeland Security officials twice while in the United States.\nIronically, the first time was at JFK Airport in New York after being a keynote speaker at an event organized by the DHS and FBI with the aim of combatting extremism and terrorism.\nThis time it was at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C., flying back after a series of talks on targeting terrorism. \nAs massive as the list is, it leaves off people who pose a greater threat than the President of Bolivia. David Belfield carried out an assassination in Maryland on the orders of Ayatollah Khomeini. He’s still allowed to fly. \nI fly on airplanes at least once a year. I’m all for tight security. \nBut it’s obvious that placing dead people on lists, stopping infants and harassing world leaders is inefficient – it wastes resources and detracts focus from tackling legitimate threats to national security.