I've mentioned before that I have an idea for a satirical novel about Homeland Security, but the facts keep getting in the way. They are more ridiculous than anything I could invent, and the latest news adds to the list:
The 95% failure rate of the TSA in discovering hidden weapons and explosives.
The failure of TSA to be aware that 73 of their staff had terrorist connections. Apparently this happened because the TSA didn't get the complete list of such people from Homeland Security.
After fifteen years and the expenditure of $430 million, Homeland Security has failed to establish communications systems that would allow the more than twenty agencies within the Department to communicate on the same channel.
In fact, the Inspector General's investigation showed that in a test, multiple users from U. S. Customs and Border Protection were not aware that a Department of Homeland Security common channel existed. A radio user from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was aware there was such a channel, but didn't know how to access it.
As for our alert friends at TSA, the location visited by the Inspector General didn't have the common channel programmed on any of its radios. As reported by NPR, "the (TSA) manager interviewed said transportation security officers didn't need to communicate with other Homeland Security components by radio, and used phones or visited in person."
You couldn't make it up. Unfortunately.
