They gave us a taste of what TSA highway checkpoints would look like when the media covered the VIPR Teams harassing truck drivers in 2011. Now the TSA is asking for funding to create a Highway "BASE" (Baseline Assessment for Security Enhancement) program to expand their security theater to surface transportation.
TSA's Grip on Internal Travel is Tightening
TSA: All your travel are belong to us?
TSA's Grip on Internal Travel is Tightening
The application for funding from the TSA constitutes a preliminary step toward systematically expanding TSA's authority from airports to highways and almost every other means of public travel. The expansion would erase one of the last remaining differences between the US and a total police state; namely, the ability to travel internally without being under police surveillance. The total police state you experience at airports wants to spill into roads and bus stops, to subways and trains.
TSA: All your travel are belong to us?
TSA wants to conduct on-site transportation related security assessments
Federal Register, Volume 77 Issue 231 (Friday, November 30, 2012)TSA is seeking permission from the Office of Management and Budget to conduct security-related assessments during site visits to approximately 750 owners and operators of highway transportation assets (such as long-haul trucks) as well as 140 public transportation agencies.
Federal TSA highway checkpoints, last year:Title: Highway Baseline Assessment for Security Enhancement (BASE) Program.
Type of Request: New collection.
OMB Control Number: Not yet assigned.
Form(s): Highway Baseline Assessment for Security Enhancement (BASE).
Affected Public: Highway transportation asset owners and operators.
Abstract: TSA's Highway BASE program seeks to establish the current state of security gaps and implemented countermeasures throughout the highway mode of transportation by posing questions to major transportation asset owners and operators. Data and results collected through the Highway BASE program will inform TSA's policy and program initiatives and allow TSA to provide focused resources and tools to enhance the overall security posture within the surface transportation community.
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