Maureen,
If you are suggesting that we all en masse get together and hit the islands at
once, I can't imagine better fodder for the CBBT to use to claim that birders
are a security risk. In fact, such an event WOULD be a security risk because
it would probably block traffic. Could you imagine 300 people showing up at
that little office where you check in before heading out? That office is
barely big enough for the few officers that work there.
If anything, we should be dilligent to keep a low profile now more than ever.
Yes, go to the islands to bird, but let's make sure that we are acting
reasonably for the next month.
Also, nobody's suing anybody. We want to prove that we aren't a problem, not
the source of them. On that note, I think by now the CBBT and Homeland
Security realize that birders are not likely a security risk. To me, their
intentions are either to make sure that a terrorist does not have a loophole to
get access to the islands, OR there is some other reason for closing it down to
us that they're not telling us about, i.e. a non-security reason. Finding out
this reason, if it exists, might be the key to addressing the real concern.
From my experience in working in government in the past, what is expressed
openly is rarely the truth. That's why government has "talking points" memos
for everything they do.
Justs some thoughts FWIW...
Jay Keller
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