My response to my AOPA Manager.
As an Airport Support Network volunteer, I get mail from the ASN Manager from time to time. I got mail on this that re-iterated what the AOPA site has been saying, "It can't happen to your airport. Meigs was a 'special case'". Here is my reply to the ASN Manager. (PLEASE NOTE: My views are MY OWN, not AOPA's NOR the ASN's).
>The question now in most of the ASN corps mind is, \ufffdCan this happen at my
>airport?\ufffd
>
> The answer is, NO!
I must respectfully disagree. This can, in fact, happen to ANY airport.
Of the many threats to our civil liberties, none is greater than the Office of Homeland Security. All any TSA or OHS bureaucrat has to do is declare the airport a "permanent terror threat" and all the laws on the books become instantly null and void. Don't think the FAA would tolerate that? Think again. We can all lose our pilot licenses without any formal charges, hearings, discussion of evidence, due process, etc. on the word of the OHS/TSA alone as of January this year.
I don't expect the terrorist tactics employed by Mayor Daley to be repeated, but if anyone holds that any airport cannot be closed arbitrarily then they are deluding themselves. The powers of the Office of Homeland Security are as limitless as they are un-Constitutional. But in this age of irrational fear, few are willing to say so or even think about the implications of the establishment of this jack-booted organization.
I understand that officially stating "it could happen here" could lead to even more anxiety in an already over-stressed aviation community. But, by insisting that "it can't happen here" a larger disservice is being done to the aviation community in general, and the general aviation community in particular.
It can happen here and my not unreasonable fear is that someday it will.
Best regards,
Mike Moffitt
ASN Volunteer for C62.
bcnu,
Mikem
Osama bin Laden's brother could fly in US airspace 9/15/01, but I had to wait for FBI and CIA background checks, 'nuff said?
