Who Is Going To Protect Us From Him?

Almost all of us have gone through the annoying and tedious security routine at US airports. Take off your shoes, your jacket, your watch; don’t carry liquids (say goodbye to that bottle of vintage cognac in your carry on); pirouette like a ballerina while the guy with the wand scans you all over. We put up with it because hey! It keeps us safe. Does it? As the following true story proves, even the best security is no match for bureaucracy and procedures.

According to Customs and Border Protection interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Times, a Mexican national infected with a highly contagious form of tuberculosis crossed the US border 76 times and took multiple domestic flights in the last year. Now here’s the kicker. The Customs and Border Protection agency was warned by health officials on April 16 that the frequent traveler was infected, but it took the Homeland Security officials more than six weeks to issue a May 31 alert to warn its own border inspectors. Must go through the system, you know.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is a highly contagious illness and also resistant to the two most commonly used drugs to treat TB. It is the same dangerous strain of tuberculosis that concerned health officials when Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old Atlanta lawyer, slipped into the US from Europe via a flight to Canada. A physician with the CDC says that they usually only notify flights that are eight hours or longer that passengers could have potentially been infected. But other physicians say the disease can be transmitted within minutes - especially in persons with lowered immunity - and recommend anyone coming in contact with this contagious illness seek medical attention.

Don’t you just love this? I am presumed guilty, until proved innocent, of carrying a bomb in my shoe; but a guy who was probably coughing all over the place just strolls though.