Should that S be an I?

Further confirmation for those who doubt that the US "Transportation Security Administration" really cares about your security: Information Week has an article by Thomas Claburn about a Congressional report on TSA's screw-up of its "Redress Management System."

Hundreds of Americans inappropriately placed on airline security watch lists and either banned from commercial air travel or subject to additional screening have also had to worry about identity theft for the past year. The Transportation Security Administration Web site set up to help innocent travelers clear their name has been deemed "insecure."

A report issued on Friday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee says that between October 6, 2006, when the TSA launched its Redress Management System [RMS] site, and February 13, 2007, when the site ceased operation following revelations about its lack of security, "at least 247 travelers submitted their personal information through the unsecured 'file your application online' link."

The report, prepared at the request of Chairman Henry Waxman, accuses the TSA of "poor procurement practices, conflicts of interest, and weak oversight." ...

According to a September 2007 report from the U.S. Department of Justice, that "43% of the names reported to the TSC [Terrorist Screening Center database] are false positives." The TSC database, maintained by the FBI, is the source for names on the government's No-Fly List.

"Well-known false positives include Senator Ted Kennedy, whose name was close to the name of a suspected terrorist, and Catherine Stevens, the wife of Senator Ted Stevens, whose name was similar to 'Cat' Stevens, the former name of the singer Yusuf Islam," the House report says.

Maybe it should be called the TIA, Transportation Insecurity Administration? No, wait a minute, TIA's the name of another government program that somehow got discontinued.