HomeLand Security SUCKS!!
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: 06-18-2006
Posts: 839
From: Hillcrest, San Diego, CA
HomeLand Security SUCKS!!
If Home Land Security cant even catch one man they new was coming into the country legally, How can they catch anyone coming in illegally or dangerously??????
Chances missed to catch man with TB
U.S. border agents knew name but let him re-enter
By Lauran Neergaard and Devlin Barrett
ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 31, 2007
WASHINGTON – What if the globe-trotting tuberculosis patient had instead been carrying the next super-flu? That he could drive into the country after his name was put on the no-fly list – and given to U.S. border guards – illustrates just one of the gaps in the system to keep the direst of diseases from crossing borders.
Dr. Martin Cetron
CDC official says tracking passengers is a huge task
The Department of Homeland Security launched a major investigation yesterday into how the Atlanta man with an exceptionally dangerous form of TB was cleared by border agents who were told to stop him.
It was one in a series of missed opportunities to catch a patient seemingly determined to elude health officials during a six-country odyssey, first for his honeymoon and then – finally convinced of the seriousness of his lung infection – to get back home.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked the man to Rome and was in discussion about having Italian officials quarantine him – only to learn he had disregarded CDC warnings not to board a plane, and fled.
“It's regretful that we weren't able to stop that,” Dr. Martin Cetron, the CDC's quarantine chief, said yesterday, explaining that the agency hesitates to invoke heavy-handed quarantine steps.
“We need to rely on people to do the right thing,” Cetron said. “Can we improve our systems? Absolutely. There will be many lessons learned from this.”
The man, whose name was not disclosed, has cooperated fully since re-entering the United States on Friday, and he remains under federally ordered isolation in an Atlanta hospital pending his requested transfer to Denver's National Jewish Hospital, which specializes in respiratory disorders.
But the nation's quarantine laws are so outdated that if the TB traveler challenged that order, “he would probably win in court,” warned Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University who has advised the government's effort to update those laws.
“There is a hole” in the nation's disease-security system,” he added. “The person's instinct to get back to the United States in this case is understandable. But that's exactly what the law's there for, to prevent a person from endangering other people. ... We need to update the entire process.”
The man has a rare but exceptionally dangerous form of TB, a type that international health authorities are desperate to curb because it is untreatable by most medications.
By the time the CDC added his name to the no-fly list, he apparently already was on a plane about to land in Canada, Cetron said.
But the CDC did get word to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol before the man and his wife crossed into the country at Champlain, N.Y., a Homeland Security spokesman told The Associated Press yesterday.
Customs “is reviewing the facts involved with the decision to admit the individuals into the country without isolation,” said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke.
Both Homeland Security's inspector general and internal affairs officials are investigating, reflecting the seriousness of the case, Knocke said. Congress is probing, too: The House Homeland Security Committee has scheduled a June 6 hearing.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the case “shows that something is wrong with the training and supervision of our border agents. We put all this time and effort into identifying those who shouldn't enter our country, but what good is it if it can be brushed aside by a border guard? I shudder to think that this individual could have been a terrorist.”
The good news: The man apparently isn't highly contagious. Also reassuring is that his wife seems TB-free.
But this “extensively drug-resistant” TB, or XDR-TB, is so dangerous that the CDC is working with world governments to track down the roughly 80 passengers who sat close enough to the man on two trans-Atlantic flights to potentially have been exposed, plus 27 crew members.
XDR-TB is neither more contagious nor more virulent than ordinary TB. Once acquired, however, it is very difficult to cure.
Meanwhile, authorities also disclosed that the man was on several flights between various European locales over the course of two weeks this month. Passenger lists for those flights were also being tracked down, they said.
He flew to Paris on May 12 aboard Air France Flight 385, also listed as Delta Air Lines code-share Flight 8517.
He and his bride then took four more flights within Europe, flying from Paris to Athens on May 14; from Athens to Thira Island on May 16; from Mykonos Island to Athens on May 21; and from Athens to Rome on May 21.
On May 24, the man flew from Rome to Prague on Czech Air Flight 0727. From Prague, the couple left for Montreal that day, aboard Czech Air Flight 0104, CDC officials said.
Tracking down the passengers is an enormous task, Cetron said. The CDC has pushed for years for faster access to electronic lists of air passengers to trace their whereabouts in disease emergencies, and hopes to have new regulations in place this year.
At the very least, the saga is one of poor communication. Fulton County, Ga., health department officials say they told the man in mid-May that he had a drug-resistant form of TB and should not travel. The man contacted his hometown newspaper to contradict that, saying he was never told to cancel his flight to Paris for his wedding and honeymoon.
The CDC caught up with him by cell phone in Rome a week and a half later, telling him that updated test results showed he had XDR-TB. Cetron said a CDC official told him not to get on an airplane, that U.S. officials were working on how to get him home.
But the man told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he interpreted that conversation as him being stuck in Italy, and decided to sneak home, flying from Prague to Montreal and then driving to New York, because he feared he would die without treatment in the United States. He had a supply of masks to wear for other passengers' protection, but it is not clear if he donned them.
“I thought to myself: You're nuts. I wasn't going to do that (wait for the CDC to get him home). They told me I had been put on the no-fly list and my passport was flagged,” the man said.
Still, the man didn't violate any laws and faces no charges, the CDC said.
“There's a whole body of public health law that's going to be closely scrutinized and redefined with this case,” said Michael Osterholm, an infectious-disease expert who advises the government. “It's going to be looking back at what do you when you have a noncompliant carrier of some infectious agent that is border-hopping?
Chances missed to catch man with TB
U.S. border agents knew name but let him re-enter
By Lauran Neergaard and Devlin Barrett
ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 31, 2007
WASHINGTON – What if the globe-trotting tuberculosis patient had instead been carrying the next super-flu? That he could drive into the country after his name was put on the no-fly list – and given to U.S. border guards – illustrates just one of the gaps in the system to keep the direst of diseases from crossing borders.
Dr. Martin Cetron
CDC official says tracking passengers is a huge task
The Department of Homeland Security launched a major investigation yesterday into how the Atlanta man with an exceptionally dangerous form of TB was cleared by border agents who were told to stop him.
It was one in a series of missed opportunities to catch a patient seemingly determined to elude health officials during a six-country odyssey, first for his honeymoon and then – finally convinced of the seriousness of his lung infection – to get back home.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked the man to Rome and was in discussion about having Italian officials quarantine him – only to learn he had disregarded CDC warnings not to board a plane, and fled.
“It's regretful that we weren't able to stop that,” Dr. Martin Cetron, the CDC's quarantine chief, said yesterday, explaining that the agency hesitates to invoke heavy-handed quarantine steps.
“We need to rely on people to do the right thing,” Cetron said. “Can we improve our systems? Absolutely. There will be many lessons learned from this.”
The man, whose name was not disclosed, has cooperated fully since re-entering the United States on Friday, and he remains under federally ordered isolation in an Atlanta hospital pending his requested transfer to Denver's National Jewish Hospital, which specializes in respiratory disorders.
But the nation's quarantine laws are so outdated that if the TB traveler challenged that order, “he would probably win in court,” warned Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University who has advised the government's effort to update those laws.
“There is a hole” in the nation's disease-security system,” he added. “The person's instinct to get back to the United States in this case is understandable. But that's exactly what the law's there for, to prevent a person from endangering other people. ... We need to update the entire process.”
The man has a rare but exceptionally dangerous form of TB, a type that international health authorities are desperate to curb because it is untreatable by most medications.
By the time the CDC added his name to the no-fly list, he apparently already was on a plane about to land in Canada, Cetron said.
But the CDC did get word to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol before the man and his wife crossed into the country at Champlain, N.Y., a Homeland Security spokesman told The Associated Press yesterday.
Customs “is reviewing the facts involved with the decision to admit the individuals into the country without isolation,” said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke.
Both Homeland Security's inspector general and internal affairs officials are investigating, reflecting the seriousness of the case, Knocke said. Congress is probing, too: The House Homeland Security Committee has scheduled a June 6 hearing.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the case “shows that something is wrong with the training and supervision of our border agents. We put all this time and effort into identifying those who shouldn't enter our country, but what good is it if it can be brushed aside by a border guard? I shudder to think that this individual could have been a terrorist.”
The good news: The man apparently isn't highly contagious. Also reassuring is that his wife seems TB-free.
But this “extensively drug-resistant” TB, or XDR-TB, is so dangerous that the CDC is working with world governments to track down the roughly 80 passengers who sat close enough to the man on two trans-Atlantic flights to potentially have been exposed, plus 27 crew members.
XDR-TB is neither more contagious nor more virulent than ordinary TB. Once acquired, however, it is very difficult to cure.
Meanwhile, authorities also disclosed that the man was on several flights between various European locales over the course of two weeks this month. Passenger lists for those flights were also being tracked down, they said.
He flew to Paris on May 12 aboard Air France Flight 385, also listed as Delta Air Lines code-share Flight 8517.
He and his bride then took four more flights within Europe, flying from Paris to Athens on May 14; from Athens to Thira Island on May 16; from Mykonos Island to Athens on May 21; and from Athens to Rome on May 21.
On May 24, the man flew from Rome to Prague on Czech Air Flight 0727. From Prague, the couple left for Montreal that day, aboard Czech Air Flight 0104, CDC officials said.
Tracking down the passengers is an enormous task, Cetron said. The CDC has pushed for years for faster access to electronic lists of air passengers to trace their whereabouts in disease emergencies, and hopes to have new regulations in place this year.
At the very least, the saga is one of poor communication. Fulton County, Ga., health department officials say they told the man in mid-May that he had a drug-resistant form of TB and should not travel. The man contacted his hometown newspaper to contradict that, saying he was never told to cancel his flight to Paris for his wedding and honeymoon.
The CDC caught up with him by cell phone in Rome a week and a half later, telling him that updated test results showed he had XDR-TB. Cetron said a CDC official told him not to get on an airplane, that U.S. officials were working on how to get him home.
But the man told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he interpreted that conversation as him being stuck in Italy, and decided to sneak home, flying from Prague to Montreal and then driving to New York, because he feared he would die without treatment in the United States. He had a supply of masks to wear for other passengers' protection, but it is not clear if he donned them.
“I thought to myself: You're nuts. I wasn't going to do that (wait for the CDC to get him home). They told me I had been put on the no-fly list and my passport was flagged,” the man said.
Still, the man didn't violate any laws and faces no charges, the CDC said.
“There's a whole body of public health law that's going to be closely scrutinized and redefined with this case,” said Michael Osterholm, an infectious-disease expert who advises the government. “It's going to be looking back at what do you when you have a noncompliant carrier of some infectious agent that is border-hopping?
Senior Member
Joined: 07-17-2006
Posts: 6,053
From: Dallas, GA
Well glad they got him in a secure location.
They are also not telling you how he entered the country. Just where. It's farily easy for a US citizen to get back in the country. Granted, they posted to look for him. But was that post at his port of origin?
You'd be suprised how many they catch each day.
You'd be suprised how many they catch each day.
Senior Member
Joined: 05-23-2006
Posts: 1,082
From: Chandler, AZ
Considering how totally "Insecure" our Border with Mexico is, and even to some extent, some areas of our Border with Canada is, I think Homeland Security is pretty much a joke. I really don't think that anyone that wishes us harm would have too hard a job getting in if they really set their mind to it.
Senior Member
Joined: 07-15-2006
Posts: 4,179
From: n/a
The last person in the USA that had that type of TB was locked up in a jail, no way to try to get him to Atlanta, he ran ever time he could, This was about a yr ago.
Now the web states that he is an Atlanta Att. now he really should be fine/ or do jail time if he lives thru this illness, just think of all who he has infected, and they inturn have infected, and so on.
Guess he was right, play stupid I did not know, I missunderstood what they said, I just wanted to get back home so I would not die.
Give self up lighter sentance.
NOTE:On meds right now Please excuess misspellings.
Now the web states that he is an Atlanta Att. now he really should be fine/ or do jail time if he lives thru this illness, just think of all who he has infected, and they inturn have infected, and so on.
Guess he was right, play stupid I did not know, I missunderstood what they said, I just wanted to get back home so I would not die.
Give self up lighter sentance.
NOTE:On meds right now Please excuess misspellings.
Platinum Member
Joined: 05-09-2006
Posts: 6,805
From: "Upland" Mesa, Arizona
JimZ...I agree with you. BUT,
we brought this on ourselves. OUR national security concerns are dictated by not "hurting" an individuals feelings. We SHOULD have more detailed procedures, much like Israel, if it is to be effective. Ours is done mostly as a deterrent, not as an apprehesion action. ......an image, visability if you will.
I air travel a lot...and cross many international borders. I'm discusted by the effectiveness of our system. Taking a "Swiss Army" type knife, with a 1" blade, from a 61 year old lady and allowing a 4" bladed pocket knife (and a butane pocket lighter) through by a 63 year old man, is not the best of directed security.
Now, I have no objection to the national security issue. I just believe it should be performed professionally and conducted effectively.
Karen.....if I was a passenger and contracted the disease he would be MY TARGET (maybe in a couple of ways
) for a law suit. Comes down to liability and he sure accepted it, by circumventing the warnings (hhrcrafty you want to start a class action
).
we brought this on ourselves. OUR national security concerns are dictated by not "hurting" an individuals feelings. We SHOULD have more detailed procedures, much like Israel, if it is to be effective. Ours is done mostly as a deterrent, not as an apprehesion action. ......an image, visability if you will.
I air travel a lot...and cross many international borders. I'm discusted by the effectiveness of our system. Taking a "Swiss Army" type knife, with a 1" blade, from a 61 year old lady and allowing a 4" bladed pocket knife (and a butane pocket lighter) through by a 63 year old man, is not the best of directed security.
Now, I have no objection to the national security issue. I just believe it should be performed professionally and conducted effectively.
Karen.....if I was a passenger and contracted the disease he would be MY TARGET (maybe in a couple of ways
) for a law suit. Comes down to liability and he sure accepted it, by circumventing the warnings (hhrcrafty you want to start a class action ).
Senior Member
Joined: 09-06-2006
Posts: 1,222
From: St. Louis, MO
Homeland Security (especially around airports) still seems to be a problem...
Last summer my fiance and myself had a rental convertible here in St. Louis for a weekend.
It was a beautiful night so we decided to go for a drive over by St. Louis' International Airport.
We ended up driving down a gravel road to watch the airplanes land. Surprisingly the end of the road was within 100 yards from the end of the runway. We were so close to the planes coming in for a landing, we could feel the heat from the engines as they buzzed over less than 100 feet or so.
I told my fiance that we were probably in a secured area and we should probably leave but a couple airport police cars drove by us and shined their flood lights on us then drove away!!! Not a word said...
After about an hour of watching these planes land and even taking some cool photos we turned around and left. As we drove away, I noticed this sign posted by the road we were on...
And still amazed that all they did was shine a spotlight on us and drive off... Good thing I wasn't a terrorist...
Senior Member
Joined: 08-17-2006
Posts: 1,851
From: Ottawa, Ontario
While I'm not in the US, we do the same thing. There is a ring road around the international airport here.
Watching the passenger and cargo planes land and take off is so popular here that the airport authority actually made a spot for people to park to watch the planes.
The easterly approaches of both runways are easily accessible, with one right over a public road (the planes are about 40 to 50 feet overhead at that point).
There are electronic devices within the fenced area that I have yet to figure out what they are..likely intrusion detectors of some sort.
There are regular patrols by the police, airport authorities, and a group known as the airport watch. I have yet to see them bother anyone.
Watching the passenger and cargo planes land and take off is so popular here that the airport authority actually made a spot for people to park to watch the planes.
The easterly approaches of both runways are easily accessible, with one right over a public road (the planes are about 40 to 50 feet overhead at that point).
There are electronic devices within the fenced area that I have yet to figure out what they are..likely intrusion detectors of some sort.
There are regular patrols by the police, airport authorities, and a group known as the airport watch. I have yet to see them bother anyone.
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