http://www.vawatchdog.org/milcom/tsalookstovaanddodformentaldefectives.htmDecember 18, 2005
TSA Looks to VA and DoD for "Mental Defectives"
Military personnel and veterans with mental health issues could end up on the TSA?s ?Watch List? and be denied access to commercial flights ? Who has access to the information is a primary concern
by Larry Scott -- VA Watchdog dot Org
How far are we willing to go when it comes to ?security? on commercial airline flights? The ugly side of that question came to light on November 15 when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) posted a ?sources sought? inquiry on their web site.
The TSA is looking for contractors to build new databases to help screen airline passengers. They want to include information about military personnel from Department of Defense (DoD) files and veterans from Department of Veterans? Affairs (VA) files.
According to the TSA, here?s what they want: ?Examples of new data sources would be DoD files for military service histories or VA files for lists of persons who have been declared mental defectives.?
The story was first reported by Jacob Goodwin in Government Security News. Jeff Stein, National Security Editor of Congressional Quarterly, followed with an article and then was interviewed on National Public Radio?s Talk of the Nation.
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Here is the ATF?s definition of ?mental defective? -- ?A determination by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority that a person, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease: (1) Is a danger to himself or to others; or (2) Lacks the mental capacity to contract or manage his own affairs. The term shall include a finding of insanity by a court in a criminal case.?
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