Blogcritics Comments on If you are a scuba diver, your records have been turned over to the F.B.I.

Comment by SFC SKI

Sat, 5 Feb 2005 01:07:15 EST

No, Steve, it is because when you need the info, it is there. The idea that there will be a team of people doing nothing but rooting out the details of every SCUBA certified person on that list is absurd. Case in point, hundreds of documents were removed from the house of a person arrested in connection to terror in 1991. Most of the documents were not really analyzed until 1996. Unfortunately, the documents had details regarding the bombing of the WTC, scheduled for 1992/1993. All because the FBI did not have enough analysts to devote a team to that one suspects effects. It is not like this person was the only person brought in by the FBI in that year, either. If you read the trials of the FBI, as with a lot of other national agencies, it is that while priorities, challenges, and focuses change on a near daily basis, manpower remains a constant, and you do what you have with what you have. Very few FBI agents have the MAytag repairman lifestyle of waiting until their specific case comes up, they have plenty of work every day, at least that's what I have read. ]]>

Comment by Steve S

Sat, 5 Feb 2005 00:57:31 EST

I don't worry about this database, unless a lot of manpower is put on it, it will just be a big electronic dump like a lot of other databases. Then why do it? Sounds like just more government waste, if it's not going to be efficient. If it's put to use, and you make a good point with the pilots license analogy, then where should it stop? Should people with an interest in rock climbing, bridge diving, sky divers, etc. all be given to databases? I want to be safe, I think we should find some way that the FBI can know if someone like Mohammed Atta is getting trained to fly here, but how much do we give of ourselves to government databases to accomplish that? ]]>

Comment by SFC SKI

Sat, 5 Feb 2005 00:51:44 EST

Yeah, that's a rational response. Point is, when you have a threat who has used available means to strike a vulnerable target, you have to look not only at the vulnerabilites and how to minimize them, you have to at the threats capabilites, and the means and resources he might use to strike. We knew about carbombs, and we knew about mines, but until the USS Cole, no one had taken the carbomb idea to sea, do you get my point? You have to be forward thinking and "game" out all the strategies involved, then put measures in place to counteract them. Let's examine my completely uninformed positon using the example in the post. You have a waterborne threat, you can counteract that by: a) not let anyone boat or swim or dive b) confiscate all SCUBA related equipment c) look at SCUBA certified people, bounce that list off of other lists, and see if there are names that raise a flag. d) Station agents in dive shops and harbors throughout the US, and have them suit up and follow each diver as they dive, (at least you'd have a dive buddy) ]]>

Comment by swingingpuss

Sat, 5 Feb 2005 00:37:28 EST

I have a simple solution make us all wear radio tags and dog collars. That way the government would be saving time and money or better still tattoo numbers on our wrists as was done to the Jews on the concentration camps. ]]>

Comment by SFC SKI

Sat, 5 Feb 2005 00:24:39 EST

Let's put it this way, if the FBI had been a little more interested in just who had earned pilots' licenses from 1998 on, 9/11 might not have happened. Anyone who reads the papers should no that intelligence gathering is a challenge, but the bigger challenge is analyzing all that raw data into a valid usable intelligence report. Imagine having an "inbox" the size of a large warehouse, with more stuff being dumped off by the truckload every hour, and at the other end, you. I don't worry about this database, unless a lot of manpower is put on it, it will just be a big electronic dump like a lot of other databases. THe acoustic gun sounds pretty cool. Remember, most divers hang around ships that have already been sunk, and most Coasties are charged with patrolling harbor areas where divers are already prohibited. ]]>

Comment by RJ

Fri, 4 Feb 2005 23:36:52 EST

And I thought JAWS made people afraid of the water... ]]>

Comment by Aaman

Fri, 4 Feb 2005 21:37:40 EST

The FBI email system was breached this weekend - discussion on /. ]]>