So I'm sitting on an airplane (Port Security here- big time)

[TomInTib]

This is a repost of a post of mine from February. It is more timely now than it was then.

We were flying from San Francisco to Las Vegas this past summer and I strike up a conversation with this really buttoned-down guy sitting next to me.
He was so 'pub looking I thought I might as well entertain myself.
Turned out to be a pretty nice guy and he asked me what I did for a living so I told him.
I asked him the same.
Turns out he was with a SF/Reno based firm that makes the most kick-butt CT Scanner on the market for cargo containers. These things are so powerful they require their own power grid and can produce a crystal-clear 3-D image of the entire contents of the container. And quick, too.

So I ask him if they can keep up with the demand because of all the attention on Port Security.

He tells me that all of their business is overseas, primarily Middle East and Asia.
Says they cannot give them away in the US.

After I picked my jaw up off the seat-back tray he said that a few weeks earlier they had finally been granted an audience with DHS and figured they were really close to knocking it out of the park.

They went to DC, made their pitch and this is what they were told:

"What you have to understand here is it is not DHS' goal to promote security. The goal is to keep the American people as aware of the Threat as efficiently as possible."

This guy was still pissed off,incredulous.

Life-long Republican, too.

I asked him why he did not go public with it and he said that during all the shouting that followed the DHS' response that he had threatened exactly that.

He was told that he would be arrested if he did.

I wish I still had his card.

[borlis]

1. I remember reading this before.

Is this the 2nd time you are posting this? I remember it being very troubling and discussing it with my sister.

[TomInTib]

5. As I stated in my post, this is from February and happened in '05

But as I was listening to the latest blather on my teevee, I felt that maybe I should post it again.

[borlis]

6. Sorry, I read through quickly. n/t

[IChing]

13. I sold my stock in this company

which had this stuff a long time ago.

Osis is the parent company and read what their company rapiscan can do at this link.

http://www.rapiscan.com/

[MadMaddie]

2. Tom I remember this post and I still am amazed.....

the technology is here and this administration will do nothing because it wasn't their buddies that owned the company....

How do we get this information out to the public?


I am watching news now and they are saying that the Administration is tallking about makeing the liquid ban permanent.....we should be looking at who is profitting from this proposed ban....

They are fucking pathetic.....

[TomInTib]

10. I just don't know

Oh, Hell, nobody's around.

And I have had way too much fun tonight.

Later, MM,

Tom

[ReadTomPaine]

3. The Department of Fear. n/t

[GeorgeGist]

4. I remember reading this...

K and R.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

7. I remember that post as well. This guy should be jumping up

and down to get his product out.

[eridani]

8. Did some googling on CT scanners

Nothing turned up in SF or Reno, though the actual company could be anywhere in the world. Actually trying to contact this guy might be worth it if you could remember any little detail that might lead to a successful google search.

[LSK]

9. I remember you posted this during the Dubai ports fiasco

[TomInTib]

12. And DPW has those ports.

I am assuming that you know that is the case.

[LSK]

14. yeah, I saw that posted here last week

Apparently they are trying to unload them thou. Nice to see our security treated like a baseball card.

[Protagoras]

11. Well worth the repost

scary that its so same. KR

[TomInTib]

15. Yeah, I was thinking about that when all of this stuff went down...

so I searched for that old post using the DU search thing.

Nothing

Found it on 'dogpile'

[tbyg52]

16. This reminds me

of a conversation I had with a rep of a voting maching company, when our county was considering which to buy. His had a very nice built in paper trail, at the same price as others without. He said his company would do well, that both sides (D & R) wanted a paper trail because neither trusted the other. I had my doubts about this statement at the time, but hoped he was right. Well, now we know......

[Junkdrawer]

17. Worrying about nail clippers in your luggage got old...

so now we can worry about perfume and toothpaste. And all without DHS having to buy any expensive equipment.

See. You don't have to buy big, scary equipment to scare the shit out of people.

[Zech Marquis]

18. figures

if DHS is merely supposed to "keep the American people informed" of potential threats (instead of preventing them), :wtf: do we even HAVE a DHS for?! :argh:

[Eric J in MN]

20. to scare people into thinking they need Republicans

...to protect them.

[HughBeaumont]

19. The lunatics are running the asylum.

And we're all locked in the giant padded cell known as North America until January 2009.

Get out and vote D in November so we can get the militaristic oligarch scaremongers OUT of our office sooner than that.

[rman]

21. not surprising but still amazing

[MadHound]

22. I wish that somebody like that would have the cojones

To go ahead and make public exactly what's going on in this country. Sometimes you've got to put the common good ahead of your own welfare.

[dave123williams]

23. Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, Calif.

Is probably where your guy works:

"A faster bag and cargo scanner that uses CT scans and sophisticated X-rays to check shipments more efficiently than today's systems. From Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, Calif., the technology can inspect an entire port container in under six minutes. It also has potential for speeding up airport security lines and reducing the need for security agents at airports."

http://cob.compassbank.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view§ionid=&id=320&Itemid=33

:)

[babylonsister]

24. I remember this also!

I'd love to see the link if it's still up!