Homeland Security Border Failure
According to CNN, Mr. TB is Andrew Speaker a 31 year old attorney, whose father-in-law works for the CDC on TB research.
The man has been identified by multiple medical and law enforcement sources as Andrew Speaker, 31, a lawyer from Atlanta, Georgia. Hospital officials have not disclosed his name.
Speaker’s father-in-law works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, an agency spokesman said Thursday.
The father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a microbiologist who has conducted research on tuberculosis for the National Center for Infectious Diseases, according to a CDC biography posted on the agency’s Web site.
Mr. Speaker was put on a no fly order list, but he still managed to fly to Europe. How is it that you get on a list but you can cross the border and fly out? Now because of the complete incompetence of Homeland Security and the CDC there is a world wide alert.
When Mr. Speaker arrived at the U.S. Canadian border, Homeland Security employees checked his passport and let him into the U.S. even though alarms went off regarding his condition. Obviously Homeland Security employees are allowed to make judgment calls instead of procedural requirements.
The CDC had alerted Customs and Border Protection authorities about the man on May 22, noting that they anticipated he might board his scheduled June 5 flight into Atlanta, the official said. Instead, Speaker took a Czech Air flight from Prague to Montreal, along with 199 other passengers and crew members, and then drove into the United States.
But the CBP also put the information out to all ports of entry, which is “routine practice,” according to the official.
Speaker’s passport was checked at the Champlain, New York, border crossing, and although it triggered an alert on the Customs and Border Protection computer system, he was still allowed in the country, a Homeland Security official told CNN.
The CBP agent who processed his entry on May 24 has been placed on administrative duties while the investigation is continuing, the official said.
Obviously Homeland Security is not any more prepared then they were for Katrina. How can we trust them to protect us from germ warfare or another attack if their employees are allowed to make judgment calls on an individual? While Bush and the GOP are so concerned that the enemy will follow us home, the events of Mr. Speaker shows everyone that our security is poor, subjective and porous. Heck of a job Chertoff.
Sphere: Related Content
May 31st, 2007 at 3:41 pm
If I had been a passenger on any of the four flights TB Harry flew, I would sue everyone from Homeland Security to the CDC to TB Harry.
I would finally have my house in Malibu!
May 31st, 2007 at 4:14 pm
I think TB Harry’s days of being law suit free will be coming to an end. Homeland Security and the CDC should also pay for all the damage they allowed to happen.
May 31st, 2007 at 9:24 pm
The irony is, he’s a personal injury attorney! HAHAHAHA!
May 31st, 2007 at 10:57 pm
The failure of racial profiling. Was the guy given a free pass againsts orders because he was “healthy” or because he was white? I think this scenario would have played out differently if the guy would have been a mexican or an arab.
June 1st, 2007 at 7:15 am
Homeland Security is just another layer of bureaucracy making us more inefficient. Let the truth be known, if we are spending a billion dollars a month in Iraq who is benefitting? The producers of arms and armaments, many large corporations and of course the Federal Reserve. They benefit in printing the fiat money which we borrow to buy the weapons because we can’t afford it. What does this have to do with our borders? Simple, we need to spend money on policing our borders and coastlines. Ever hear the fable, we can’t fence our southwest border? Yeah, right but we can spend 1 billion a month plus in Iraq and take the 800 billion dollars plus dollars we collect from Federal income tax of America’s population and give it to foreign and US bankers. That’s right the Federal Reserve is made up of bankers and not a part of the US government in any way, shape or form. Want to strengthen our borders? Dissolve Homeland Security, The Federal Reserve and create a legal system of income tax that is apportioned and constitutional, unlike what is in place now. Then we can police our borders and build fences/walls. If terrorism was a real threat we would be doing this. Terrorism is but a minor threat. The real threat is our government which is taking away our liberty and freedom. Want to see a terrorist? Look on Capitol Hill, you will find many of them.
June 1st, 2007 at 7:54 am
I agree w/ all you said however, get the facts straight, being in the Homeland Security “system” and being on the “no-fly”(much more serious) list are two TOTALLY different things,…the man WASNOT put on the no-fly list.
June 1st, 2007 at 9:01 am
Kritsa:
If you read the CNN article which states a no-fly order.
CNN: Andrew Speaker, an Atlanta, Georgia, personal-injury lawyer infected with extremely drug-resistant TB, flew from Europe into Canada to avoid a no-fly order in the United States. His passport was checked at the U.S.-Canada border, a Homeland Security official told CNN.
Medical conditions are listed as NO-FLY ORDER to make everyone aware of the situation. It is the same as the no-fly list, however, it give the carrier’s the awareness of their passengers medical condition and the discretion to not fly them or quarantine them during the flight.
The no-fly order list is arranged this way for people that are flying for medicl treatments from one coountry to another. It also aids people who are fleeing as refugees.
Because of Mr. Andrew’s actions and the inactions of Homeland Security and the CDC the medical no-fly order will probably be changed to work more like the no fly list.
So yes the facts are straight. Maybe the word “order” was missed in the reading of my post.
June 1st, 2007 at 9:28 am
DC:
I agree with you. Our biggest terroist threat is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. However, if you are suggesting borader walls or fences in the southwest, I can not agree with that.
Here is Texas ranchers and land owners are totally against the fencing idea. In the past year, we have had success with cameras, drones and beefed up patrols. But the fence will still happen.
Thanks for stopping by.
June 1st, 2007 at 11:08 am
Whoo Hoo! We’re all gonna die!!
June 1st, 2007 at 12:14 pm
LOL….BigAl
June 1st, 2007 at 12:46 pm
The Andrew Speaker XDR-Tuberculosis is another example of selfish and unresponsible act by a “WELL EDUCATED(as he so eloquently put) PERSON” that did not care of an GLOBAL PANDEMIC because of his actions.
The government, in this case CDC, should act and take advantage of this potential breakdown of MORAL and INFECTION CONTROL MEASURES because it did not have LEGAL POWER to force a potential public bio-harzard to be inmediately detained and put on LEVEL 5 CONTAINMENT.
Laws should be changed to send a strong message to those future individuals trying to bypass the INFECTION CONTROL PROTOCOLS, that they will face PROSECUTION and PUNISHMENT for endangering other human beings of other countries and that of their own.
IF NO LESSON IS LEARNT FROM THIS BREACH OF PROTOCOL, THEN I GUESS WE’LL HAVE TO WAIT TO HAVE A GLOBAL PANDEMIC IN OUR HANDS IN ORDER TO START ACTING…
June 1st, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Jeffrey:
You are so right. If strong language in the laws and true prosecution is not enacted, then there is nothing to stop future Andrew Speakers’
Speaker touting his “well education self” does not speak well for his level of understanding the world around him.
As a personal injury attorney he apparently forgot one of the main arguments of civil litigation “what a reasonable person should have known”. Obviously he is not a reasonable person or does not follow what he practices.
June 1st, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Kellamd:
You are so right. Had Mr.TB been non white of any ethnic group he would have been ushered off to an immigration holding facility. The question of his health then becomes secondary to his color. That is a sad commentary on our nations view of color.
Thank you for your comment.
June 2nd, 2007 at 10:37 am
It is an unalienable right for all those people in contact with him to sue his arse ’till kingdome come. Border Guard? Should be fired for ignoring a direct order to stop him at the border(making the matter a procedural requirement) BUT INSTEAD chose a judgement call(was he trained to eye or diagnose a would-be bio-terrorist?)
June 2nd, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Jeffrey:
The idea of Homeland Security teaching border guards about bio-terrorist is a joke.I highly doubt they are trained on anything sophisticated. Don’t forget these are the same idiots that told us to protect ourselves with duct tape.
June 2nd, 2007 at 4:31 pm
LOL !!
But i still think, even for the most IQ challenged, that THE PHRASE “STOP JOHN DOE AT CHECKPOINT INMEDIATELY” means exactly that.
May this be also a warning call for the rest of the border guards, because unfortunately, we have to depend on them on screening for would-be bio-terrorists; or in this case, an attorney at law who knew how to circumvent OLD 1940’s-era QUARANTINE LAWS.
June 2nd, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Jeffrey:
You would think “stop John Doe” would not need furhter explanation.
You point out another failure, why weren’t the laws updated when Bush created Homeland Security.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Dear Nytexan:
For yor enjoyment, another place where we’re discussing this issue. hopefully you like mine of June 6, comment # 66.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/2007/05/30/tb-patient-quarantined-in-denver/
June 6th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Jeffrey:
Thanks for the link. I agree with everything you said on the post. The laws need to be changed and “I didn’t realize” act that he has espoused, is a poor excuse. After all he does sue people for this type of “should have known” behavior.
Thanks for keeping me in the loop.