Security in our Airport

See the Seattle Times article on security solutions already available from local enterprises here in the state of Washington. Our public officials appear to be deaf. Below is a snippet of correspondence from my friend Doug Macmillan who works at SecureEye. Doug points out that "the Saudis use our technology, why don't we?"

-----Original Message-----
To:      Senator Murray [mailto:Senator_Murray@murray.senate.gov]
Sent:    Tuesday, September 18, 2001 7:18 AM
From:    Doug Macmillan
Subject: This is very serious,  it is OUR AIRPORT after all

Over the past year the Port of Seattle has not even allowed SecureEye to
meet with the group responsible for the new airport expansion security
because they wanted the 30 year old VCR technology.

This from yesterday's Seattle Times:

Sea-Tac screeners found test bombs only 12 percent of the time, the
second-worst performance of 20 major U.S. airports. Only Los Angeles
International Airport performed worse.

Passengers at Sea-Tac have the second-highest rate of FAA firearm
violations in the nation, second only to Los Angeles.

Clare Nordquist, chairman and president of the Port of Seattle commission,
said he sees no reason for the Port to interfere with security arrangements
at the airport, as other airports have done.

"This is not a role we should play," Nordquist said. "If we saw an obvious
problem, which we do not see, we would get involved."

-------------------------
To: Doug Macmillan 
From: Senator Patty Murray 

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me by email.  This is just a short note to let you
know that my office has received your message.

If you are from Washington state and you have included your postal address,
I will reply to your specific concerns through the U.S. mail as soon as
possible.

If you did not include your name and Washington state address in your
original message, please resend your ENTIRE message with your name and
address attached.

I'm proud that Washington state has helped develop technologies like the
Internet and email, which citizens like you are using to share your concerns
with elected officials.  In fact, email makes up about 40 percent of the
correspondence received in my Washington, D.C.  office.
If you have not visited my web page, I hope you'll take a look at
http://murray.senate.gov

Once again, thank you for contacting me.  I look forward to replying to your
specific request.
Sincerely,

Patty Murray
United States Senator (WA)

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                                                    9/20/2001 7:38 AM
Subject: FW: This is very serious, it is OUR AIRPORT afterall
To: Senator Murray [mailto:Senator_Murray@murray.senate.gov]

I understand your visit to SeaTac was reassuring.  How can that be?  The
above Seattle Times article quoted the person who reassured you.  He doesn't
see a problem.  Is anyone listening to the small boy watching the parade as
the naked emperor goes by?

We live in a computer age and we need to use them.  Our enemies are making
good use of them.  It's our technology.  I am curious to know why I must
enclose my SNAIL MAIL address each time I send you an e-mail.

Doug Macmillan
SecureEye
19401 40th Ave. W 3rd Floor
Lynnwood, WA 98036

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