Amtrak expands random security sweeps
"WASHINGTON - Rail passengers from coast to coast will be subject to random security checks and may have their luggage scanned for explosives beginning this fall, according to Amtrak officials.
Six months after it set up counterterrorism teams to screen passengers at busy East Coast stations, the rail company is expanding its security sweeps across the country with a new team of special agents in California.
"We want to show we're playing defense" against would-be terrorists, says Amtrak security chief Bill Rooney. "Our focus is counterterrorism. We're thinking along the lines of a Madrid or a London."
Rail bombings in those cities in 2004 and 2005 together killed hundreds of passengers and sparked fears in the United States that terrorists will strike the nation's largely unsecured rail system.
In February, Amtrak announced it would assemble highly trained mobile security teams to start screening passengers and their carry-on bags as part of a new push to deter anyone intent on bombing a train.
Those searches are being done along routes from Washington, D.C., to Boston; Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pa.; and in Chicago. The new West Coast routes will have agents checking passengers from San Diego to San Jose. More teams may be added within the next year.
How the sweeps are conducted: Teams of counterterrorism agents swoop into rail stations unannounced and randomly select passengers to place their bags on a table to be swabbed for explosives before they board their train. If there's a positive readout, the passengers' bags are opened and searched by hand.
While that's going on, undercover agents dressed as everything from businessmen to homeless people to hip-hoppers scan the crowds in waiting areas, on platforms and in train cars.
Other agents decked in full combat gear and carrying semiautomatic guns patrol the platforms. Some work with bomb-sniffing dogs.
John Reinstein, of the American Civil Liberties Union's Boston chapter, says that although he generally opposes security searches, he doesn't see a major problem with Amtrak's strategy "if it's done in a way that doesn't involve significant intrusion and is genuinely random."
Citing security reasons, officials won't say how passengers are selected. The checks are voluntary, but anyone who declines will be given a refund and required to leave the station.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke says there is nothing to suggest an imminent threat to the country or to mass transit.
Security experts and members of Congress applaud the effort, though some criticize Amtrak for taking too long to get it set up.
"Let me congratulate them for being aware" of the threat, says Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, chairman of a House Homeland Security subcommittee on transportation security. "(But) this has to be the new standard for Amtrak.""
SOURCE
This shouldn't piss me off...I know that...but it really kind of does.
First of all, the very idea that any Amtrak station anywhere is comparable to London or Madrid is laughable. Overall the European rail system gets gold stars...the U.S. rail system is pathetic. Most of this is the fault of the government for not investing more in rail travel {the recent $15 billion approved by Congress aside, there is no excuse for the lack of governmental concern for the poor state of public transportation {compared to other nations} that are prevalent in this country}, but really, compared to the international mess we've got ourselves in at this point in time, rail travel is almost a non-issue. It just pisses me off that it hasn't been a bigger issue in the past. Overall, however, that the U.S. rail system is in such poorer condition than the European system makes it less likely {not completely unlikely of course, but less likely} to be a target...and provides less of a reason for one to get their panties into a twist. I know if I was planning to make any kind of political impact, in any manner...Amtrak would not make the short list.
Next, semi-automatic guns and full combat gear?! Why the hell is that necessary? The drug/bomb dogs have been stopping in at the Cleveland Amtrak station for YEARS and they've never had a war gun or riot gear...because they don't need to. Sounds to me like someone is on a power trip.
Also, there is no such thing as random...unless a computer is picking passengers to be checked by ticket number, whatever their method is {*cough* racial profiling! *cough*} won't be random.
Finally...voluntary but you have to leave if you don't do it? That's about as voluntary as the trip to PA I'm making tomorrow to visit my grandmother so that my father won't bitch at me throughout our entire 2 week vacation. There's no autonomous consent in either case and neither is ethical. One is worse than the other, however, but I'll let you figure out which one wins.
I'm just glad that after the beginning of August I'll be done with Amtrak for awhile. They have SO many issues, I could go on and on...and they just keep adding to them.
Six months after it set up counterterrorism teams to screen passengers at busy East Coast stations, the rail company is expanding its security sweeps across the country with a new team of special agents in California.
"We want to show we're playing defense" against would-be terrorists, says Amtrak security chief Bill Rooney. "Our focus is counterterrorism. We're thinking along the lines of a Madrid or a London."
Rail bombings in those cities in 2004 and 2005 together killed hundreds of passengers and sparked fears in the United States that terrorists will strike the nation's largely unsecured rail system.
In February, Amtrak announced it would assemble highly trained mobile security teams to start screening passengers and their carry-on bags as part of a new push to deter anyone intent on bombing a train.
Those searches are being done along routes from Washington, D.C., to Boston; Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pa.; and in Chicago. The new West Coast routes will have agents checking passengers from San Diego to San Jose. More teams may be added within the next year.
How the sweeps are conducted: Teams of counterterrorism agents swoop into rail stations unannounced and randomly select passengers to place their bags on a table to be swabbed for explosives before they board their train. If there's a positive readout, the passengers' bags are opened and searched by hand.
While that's going on, undercover agents dressed as everything from businessmen to homeless people to hip-hoppers scan the crowds in waiting areas, on platforms and in train cars.
Other agents decked in full combat gear and carrying semiautomatic guns patrol the platforms. Some work with bomb-sniffing dogs.
John Reinstein, of the American Civil Liberties Union's Boston chapter, says that although he generally opposes security searches, he doesn't see a major problem with Amtrak's strategy "if it's done in a way that doesn't involve significant intrusion and is genuinely random."
Citing security reasons, officials won't say how passengers are selected. The checks are voluntary, but anyone who declines will be given a refund and required to leave the station.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke says there is nothing to suggest an imminent threat to the country or to mass transit.
Security experts and members of Congress applaud the effort, though some criticize Amtrak for taking too long to get it set up.
"Let me congratulate them for being aware" of the threat, says Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, chairman of a House Homeland Security subcommittee on transportation security. "(But) this has to be the new standard for Amtrak.""
SOURCE
This shouldn't piss me off...I know that...but it really kind of does.
First of all, the very idea that any Amtrak station anywhere is comparable to London or Madrid is laughable. Overall the European rail system gets gold stars...the U.S. rail system is pathetic. Most of this is the fault of the government for not investing more in rail travel {the recent $15 billion approved by Congress aside, there is no excuse for the lack of governmental concern for the poor state of public transportation {compared to other nations} that are prevalent in this country}, but really, compared to the international mess we've got ourselves in at this point in time, rail travel is almost a non-issue. It just pisses me off that it hasn't been a bigger issue in the past. Overall, however, that the U.S. rail system is in such poorer condition than the European system makes it less likely {not completely unlikely of course, but less likely} to be a target...and provides less of a reason for one to get their panties into a twist. I know if I was planning to make any kind of political impact, in any manner...Amtrak would not make the short list.
Next, semi-automatic guns and full combat gear?! Why the hell is that necessary? The drug/bomb dogs have been stopping in at the Cleveland Amtrak station for YEARS and they've never had a war gun or riot gear...because they don't need to. Sounds to me like someone is on a power trip.
Also, there is no such thing as random...unless a computer is picking passengers to be checked by ticket number, whatever their method is {*cough* racial profiling! *cough*} won't be random.
Finally...voluntary but you have to leave if you don't do it? That's about as voluntary as the trip to PA I'm making tomorrow to visit my grandmother so that my father won't bitch at me throughout our entire 2 week vacation. There's no autonomous consent in either case and neither is ethical. One is worse than the other, however, but I'll let you figure out which one wins.
I'm just glad that after the beginning of August I'll be done with Amtrak for awhile. They have SO many issues, I could go on and on...and they just keep adding to them.