OK..so, TSA is slow and stupid, we all know that. But to me the real question is "who, besides TSA thinks that any terrorist anywhere still believes that they can hijack a plane anymore?" At one time hijacking a plane almost made sense, but now, even if the plane were a chartered flight of nuns on the trip to the holy land, if a terrorist told everyone to be seated and remain calm and that they'd be alright, I suspect even the meekest among us would rise up enmasse and rend any and all wouldbe hijackers limb from limb. The days of hijackers thinking the passengers would shrink back to save themselves is obsolete.
TSA as does most of Homeland Security is a creation to translate fear into obedience and we all know the primary antidote for fear is understanding...and that evidently is on the "no fly" list too.

Remember that the government's recent attempts to update databases at the FBI ended up as an expensive failure, due somewhat to their hiring of contractors to design them a brand-new specially tailored super-duper database. Mr. Moore mentions a few examples of technologies already in existence and in use in the real world which could be used for data problems at TSA and elsewhere; funding for updates should probably come with requirements to design solutions which start with existing technologies, open to actual bidding by competent firms (not Halliburton, KBR, or any of the usual suspects). Substantial customization is to be anticipated, but people have got to get real in their expectations and get it online before it's obsolete.

My personal take on the "No Fly" lists is that they don't WANT to improve it because that would take control of the data out of the hands of partisan policy wonks who have no qualms about using the government's national security instruments to carry out personal vendettas and to harrass political opponents. It's an Excel spreadsheet on Cheney's laptop, and that's the way he wants it.

As mush as you and I and this guy over there would like to think that there is some nefarious plan in place to subject regular Americans to the indencency of being on the "No Fly List", I think the author of this article points out that this may not be the case. If the TSA were actually capable of pulling this off, then why all the mistakes? While some prominent people may have been man handled by the TSA, I bet dollars to donuts, that a whole lot more regular people are harassed on daily basis. Some of it is for sure the tech the government is using. Anyone who been to any government office can attest to still seeing monochrome screens and dot matrix printers. Problem is, government isn't a business. So unlike a corporation who can squeeze and few shareholders or downsize or whatever it takes to become competitive, government has no such luxury. Cuz you know what that means. Higher taxes. Revamping a system decades old with who knows how many different systems would take a massive amount of money and time. Do you want to pay for it? I know I'm willing to throw some money in the pot, but I sincerely doubt most of America would agree.

Somewhere I have a reference for this: incompletence in preparing the procedures. Every name on the list is placed there by an agent of one of three agencies filing a form. The only way for a name to be removed from the list is for that same agent to file another form. But there is no way to get to the agent starting from a name on the TSA list. The agents themselves are probably not required to keep a record of names they submitted either, but I have no confirmation for that.

Quite how they expected this to work is beyond me. Apparently, also beyond them.

The no fly list is just another particle in the massive cultural conditioning experiment. If I were a 'terrorist' and knew that the list existed and that I was likely on it, I'd change my damn name. An FBI flunky related to the no fly list was on CSPAN with Greta this morning, and his mission was to help continue and further the cultural conditoning effort. For example, he said, in response to a question about the budget for his ops, that it is a matter of top secret security and he can't reveal his budget.... or WHAT? WHY THE HELL NOT? How could knowing how much or how little he has to spend on keeping us on pins and needles would possibly damage our "security"? That ain't it. He has to maintain the shroud of secrecy and sobriety so that we will be tamed and made to accept the unconstitutional removal of our Constitution and its protections for us FROM OUR GOVERNMENT. Give me the first and fourth amendments anyday, in return for open borders and REAL defenders at the borders who might be able to spot someone, other than We The People, needing law enforcement's attention. Read Chalmers Johnson, and start to worry and doubt your, well, "their" government, if you don't already.