In Texas, volunteer cowboys patrol against airport "perimeter incursions" and shoulder-mounted missile attacks on commercial flights in Houston. I wholeheartedly approve. Clamdiggers around Boston Logan are assisting in a similar program, according to a publication for security executives.

So I guess it's not a Red State vs. Blue State kinda thing, huh? More here.

Texas lore is filled with cowboys and rugged individualism, but the state is also home to patriotism and community spirit. Just witness Houston's Airport Rangers. About 700 volunteers, including off-duty police officers, are approved to mount their horses and patrol the perimeter area of the 11,000-acre George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Faced with post-9/11 perimeter intrusion concerns and obligations to create a shoulder-mounted missile mitigation plan, airport security put equestrians to good use. Although shoulder-mounted missile attacks on airplanes have not occurred in the United States, incidences in other countries have been widely publicized. Concerns of intrusion into the area are great since much of the airport land is heavily wooded and isolated. "We've made a very unpopulated area much more populated," says Mark Mancuso, deputy director of aviation for the Houston Airport System's division of public safety and technology.

The Texas program is similar to the program at Logan International Airport in Boston, where clam diggers assist airport security efforts on nearby beaches.

Volunteers must undergo criminal background checks, as well as training. Once approved for duty, they are given ID badges and license to ride during the day. They must carry a cell phone, call into a dispatch center to check in, and report suspicious activity. Mancuso considers it a win-win situation. Although some have criticized the program as inadequate, Mancuso says, "I believe in layered solutions for security. This is not the only way to secure the perimeter; this is just one of our programs."

Oh, and the Democratic Mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, is pushing ahead with an expanded program of public surveillance cameras to help identify potential terrorist suspects. There are already 2,000 public cams in places like schools, transit stations and busy traffic intersections. But another 250 will be added at "high-risk terrorist targets."

You go, King Richard II. After all, this stuff can only be labelled "Orwellian" when Republicans do it.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 6, 2004 04:09 PM

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