The idea of Homeland Security is more of a joke than ever. It is now clear that anyone who wants to be the driver of a gasoline tanker truck can be, even someone with an extensive criminal history. Case in point: the man who crashed a tanker truck causing a San Francisco freeway to collapse.
California Highway Collapse Trucker Has Long Criminal Record
OAKLAND, Calif. — The man behind the wheel of a tanker truck hauling thousands of gallons of gas that exploded and brought down one of Northern California’s most traveled highways had a long criminal rap sheet. But he still got a license.
The fiery crash has thrown a spotlight on the limits of anti-terrorism rules that may not prevent people with checkered backgrounds from hauling hazardous materials on highways…
Mosqueda, 51, cleared an FBI criminal history check and an intelligence review from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
The TSA said the checks aren’t designed to identify people with Mosqueda’s type of record, which includes a two-year prison term for a 1996 heroin conviction and other arrests but no terror charges. “We’re looking for terrorists,” spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said Tuesday. “We’re looking for people who would be involved in terrorist activities — that’s the scope.”
Sure, there’s no reason to think that a Hispanic man with a criminal record and history of serious drug abuse would be a security threat related to terrorism. No reason at all to consider how he might be vulnerable to drug cartels and the fact that Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Qaida are running the major drug operations in South America and have an interest in men who will help them not only move drugs, but gain them access to potential terrorist WMD–like a tanker truck carrying thousand of gallons of gasoline.
Nope, nothing to see here.
And we certainly shouldn’t wonder if Mosqueda is even a citizen. No, asking that question was far too politically incorrect.
I don’t know, Tammy.
It’s not often I disagree with you, but this seems a little reaching. While I don’t want this guy driving, do you really want the scope of homeland security to expand that much? How many people like him are there? Would the numbers overwhelm the system? It’s hard enough keeping these bureaucracies even marginally useful as it is.
And despite the fact that I am for the patriot act, I would get rid of it in a heartbeat if we didn’t have the current threats. These things CAN and DO infringe on liberties. It is not clear to me that homeland security should have filtered this guy out, when looking at the entire picture. I can see how the attemp might lower operational security.
Tammy you are just asking Bush and the thought police to pick you up! He has made clear his support of criminal aliens. He thinks we should reward them with a mass pardon and give them all citizenship. Be happy dont wory about the lives they destroy or the damage they do.
Just keep saying to yourself “War is Peace” and soon you will believe it and understand that Bush really is conservative.
Tammy, I must agree with the comment above; because to me, it is desirable that a former drug addict clean up his life, find a good job, etc.
What exactly were the conditions of the road, the weather, when this tanker wrecked? Or, are his wreck, and the damage caused, a result of his criminal record?
I’m more likely to give this driver the benefit of the doubt, unless drugs were involved, or if he is an illegal immigrant in the United States.
I can’t see where his checkered record ought to prevent him having a decent job, as long as he’s clean, as opposed to drug useage, or dealing them.
So Mosqueda isn’t a terrorist. Lucky us. At the very least, he has shown extremely poor judgement in the past–on more than one occasion–as evidenced by his long criminal record.
Personally, I don’t want someone prone to such lapses in good judgement sitting behind the wheel of a tanker filled with gasoline–or anything else for that matter! All the red lights in his resume should have caught someone’s attention in the TSA and he should have been denied a license. (Turns out the guy was SPEEDING-on a busy highway-with a tanker of gasoline attached to him. There’s that pesky “good judgement” problem again.)
I don’t think we have the luxury of being magnanimous, in this day and age, when it comes to potential threats to the safety of our public at large–terrorist or not. And the TSA needs to get its act together–fast.
How about we ask the more obvious question? Has the FBI really gotten so incompetent that someone has a long criminal record and still manages to clear a background check? Think about all the people that are supposed to recieve federal background checks. TSA screeners. USPS employees. FBI agents. Everytime someone like this slips through the system, it undermines the public trust in all the people who are supposed to be properly checked.