Most people have to wait in lines to get through Miami International Airport, but not representatives of the communist Cuban government. In late June, on Cuban Independence Day no less, the Transportation Security Administration rolled out the red carpet for these state sponsors of terrorism in yet another example of a hostile foreign government getting the best of the Biden administration.
And make no mistake, the Biden administration was responsible for the incident.
The current director of the Miami airport had no advance notice that the TSA planned to host the visit and made his displeasure known when he found out about it.
A former director of the airport called TSA’s actions “unconscionable” and said it “makes no sense.” He explained that seeing “how many people work there, seeing who is who, seeing the type of equipment they use—the fact of being inside a TSA secure facility, that’s a vulnerability in and of itself.”
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) echoed these sentiments, asking, “How many people feel safe when you know that your State Department [in conjunction with the TSA] is telling a state sponsor of terrorism, exactly all the security protocols that come through the airport?”
The TSA, for its part, tried to defend its actions as routine, arguing that such “security” visits date back to 2011. Still, many of Florida’s leaders are rejecting that explanation and are upset.
Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Carlos Gimenez, for example, are taking action to make sure such an egregious incident doesn’t happen again. They have proposed legislation with a simple requirement: The TSA can’t show sensitive areas of airports to those representing the government of a country the United States has designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.
“It’s absurd America has hosted officials from nations currently designated as state sponsors of terrorism,” Rubio said in a statement. Congress is obliged, Rubio added, to “ensure this administration is not enabling foreign operatives to learn of our aviation security measures aimed at keeping Americans safe.”
He’s right. It’s unconscionable that this legislation is needed—but it apparently is.
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The good news is that other Florida Republicans and even some Florida Democrats agree and have joined this bipartisan effort.
Perhaps the backlash wouldn’t have been so severe if this were not the latest in a string of black eyes for the TSA in Miami. But given concerns that Cuban spies have been stealing sensitive information from Miami’s airport, such as access codes to secure areas, it is all the more unacceptable.
On top of that, there were recent high-profile incidents of TSA screeners stealing cash and other items from passengers. Fortunately, they were caught on camera. And that’s not to mention long-standing concerns around the efficiency of TSA screeners.
All in all, the Biden TSA has exhibited characteristically poor judgment in hosting a tour of an adversarial government. Let’s hope Washington can get its act together to ensure that such dangerous actions won’t happen again.
