Final Four rematch: It"s UK-Wisconsin again

2013-2014 Kentucky Basketball: "The Greatest Story Ever Told"
VIDEOS | UK BASKETBALL IN THE FINAL FOURVideo | Final Four preview: No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 1 Kentucky | 01:57

USA TODAY Sports" Scott Gleeson and Nancy Armour preview the Final Four matchup between Kentucky and Wisconsin.

1 of 10

VIDEOS | UK BASKETBALL IN THE FINAL FOURHow to beat Kentucky in the Final Four | 01:37

USA TODAY Sports" Scott Gleeson discusses the game plan to beating undefeated (38-0) Kentucky.

2 of 10

VIDEOS | UK BASKETBALL IN THE FINAL FOURVideo | Calipari, players after thrilling win | 17:53

Video | Kentucky talks after defeating Notre Dame

3 of 10

VIDEOS | UK BASKETBALL IN THE FINAL FOURVideo | UK fans celebrate in Lexington | 01:00

Kentucky basketball fans took to State Street in Lexington Saturday night to celebrate UK"s win over Notre Dame and earn a trip to the 2015 Final Four in Indianapolis. James Crisp / special to The Courier-Journal

4 of 10

VIDEOS | UK BASKETBALL IN THE FINAL FOURVideo | UK"s Cauley-Stein on defensive heroics vs. ND | 05:36

Video | UK"s Cauley-Stein on defensive heroics vs. ND

5 of 10

VIDEOS | UK BASKETBALL IN THE FINAL FOURVideo | UK"s Aaron Harrison on another clutch three | 01:16

Video | UK"s Aaron Harrison on another clutch three

6 of 10

VIDEOS | UK BASKETBALL IN THE FINAL FOURVideo | UK"s Andrew Harrison on clinching free throws | 01:16

Video | UK"s Andrew Harrison on clinching free throws

7 of 10

VIDEOS | UK BASKETBALL IN THE FINAL FOURVideo | UK"s Ulis has a new net necklace, Final Four ticket | 03:07

Video | UK"s Ulis has a new net necklace, Final Four ticket

8 of 10

VIDEOS | UK BASKETBALL IN THE FINAL FOURVideo | UK"s Towns hugs trophy, talks Elite Eight win | 03:06

Video | UK"s Towns hugs trophy, talks Elite Eight win

9 of 10

VIDEOS | UK BASKETBALL IN THE FINAL FOURVideo | Can Anyone Stop Kentucky? | 02:41

BasketballInsiders.coms Cody Toppert and CineSports Brian Clark discuss Kentuckys dominant win over West Virginia, and discuss Wisconsin, Arizona and Notre Dames Sweet 16 wins.

10 of 10

Last VideoNext Video

• Video | Final Four preview: No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 1 Kentucky

• How to beat Kentucky in the Final Four

• Video | Calipari, players after thrilling win

• Video | UK fans celebrate in Lexington

• Video | UK"s Cauley-Stein on defensive heroics vs. ND

• Video | UK"s Aaron Harrison on another clutch three

• Video | UK"s Andrew Harrison on clinching free throws

• Video | UK"s Ulis has a new net necklace, Final Four ticket

• Video | UK"s Towns hugs trophy, talks Elite Eight win

• Video | Can Anyone Stop Kentucky?

Kentucky"s Aaron Harrison, far left, celebrates with his team after the Wildcats defeated the Badgers Saturday night at the Final Four at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. April 5, 2014

CLEVELAND Since Aaron Harrison"s final dagger dropped with six seconds left in last year"s national semifinal, Wisconsin has been on a mission.

"That loss left a sour taste in our mouth, so we wanted to get back," Badgers forward Sam Dekker said Saturday after winning the NCAA Tournament"s West Regional to return to the Final Four.

Since Connecticut ruined Kentucky"s storybook ending in the national championship game last season, the Wildcats have been similarly motivated.

"Just two more games," said Andrew Harrison late Saturday night after hitting the clinching free throws against Notre Dame to get UK into its second straight Final Four and fourth in five years under coach John Calipari. "You really remember that feeling you had after the (title) game last year. You don"t want to have that feeling again."

But someone"s redemption tour will be stopped short in the rematch. The undefeated Wildcats (38-0) must go through red-hot Wisconsin (35-3) again, this time in Indianapolis, for their shot at a ninth NCAA championship and college basketball"s first 40-0 season.

The Badgers, who returned eight of the nine guys who played in last year"s Final Four duel with Kentucky, have won 10 straight games and hit 10 of 12 3-pointers in the second half Saturday to blow by Arizona.

"I know (Wisconsin coach) Bo Ryan, and he"s a great friend, and how good he coaches," said Calipari, who has won 15 of his last 16 NCAA Tournament games. "I"ve said all along I thought the (four) best teams were us, Wisconsin and Arizona and Duke. And other teams are right there, but those four seem to be a little bit better than the others."

The Badgers have a combination of shooting and size seven players 6-8 or taller, including 6-9 Dekker and 7-foot All-American Frank Kaminsky to threaten the Cats. Kentucky, with just one major contributor shorter than 6-6, ultimately overtook the Fighting Irish with a massive mismatch in length.

"That"s a great matchup," said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey after his team fell just short in a 68-66 thriller. "Wisconsin"s a little bit like us: they"re skilled and they can spread people out. They have a little more bulk and frontline size, but they"re really skilled offensive guys, and certainly we were able to get some things tonight."

The Cats returned just five of the guys who played against Wisconsin the first time, and lost their top two scorers from that 74-73 classic, but that doesn"t mean the Cats are less equipped. This team is actually far better than that one. They added four McDonald"s All-Americans, including 6-11 freshman star Karl-Anthony Towns, who poured in 25 points against the Irish.

Junior 7-footer Willie Cauley-Stein, the nation"s top defender who helped save Saturday"s game with a late block, was injured and didn"t play the Badgers last year. But he knows this will be a challenge.

"I"m glad we have a week to prepare for them," Cauley-Stein said. "The way they play together is the best in the country. This is when I"m glad we don"t have one day to prepare for them. One day to prepare for a team like Notre Dame? That"s why we couldn"t stop them. If we"d had a couple more days to see where the holes are . but the way they run their offense is crazy. You really can"t stop it.

"It"s really them missing shots, and you get the rebounds, and that"s how you stop them. Otherwise they"re going to get their shots up, and if they"re making them, it"s going to be a long night."

One of the Wildcats" newcomers, rookie point guard Tyler Ulis, is still familiar with Wisconsin"s best player, Kaminsky. They"re both former Illinois high school stars and played in the same league.

Ulis is new to this matchup, and this stage, but he knows what to expect.

"Another hard-fought game," he said, "and I feel like they want some get-back from last year."

Kyle Tucker can be reached at (502) 582-4361. Follow him on Twitter @KyleTucker_CJ.

Read or Share this story: http://cjky.it/1CmlVo2

Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/2015/03/29/final-four-rematch-kentucky-basketball-will-battle-wisconsin-trip-title-game/70628242/

Continue Reading ..

"Home" Sweeps Away Box Office

Jennifer Lopez - Feel The Light (Official Lyric Video) | HOME
March 29, 2015 2:59 p.m. ET

Home gave DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. a much-needed hit this weekend, surpassing expectations and topping the box office with an estimated $54 million.

The childrens film features an unlikely duo: singer Rihanna voices the character of Tip, a young girl who befriends an outcast alien voiced by Big Bang Theory actor Jim Parsons.

Last year, DreamWorks bumped the release date of Home from November to March, with executives saying it was a kinder window for an original-concept title. The movie that it swapped dates with, DreamWorks own Penguins of Madagascar, flopped, but the switch was the right move for Home, said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at Twentieth Century Fox, which distributed the movies. (Foxs parent company, 21st Century Fox, was until mid-2013 part of the same company as The Wall Street Journal.)

Were going into the big spring weekends, said Mr. Aronson, adding that Home faces little competition for family sales until Walt Disney Co.s Inside Out debuts June 19.

It also gives DreamWorks a hit at a time when the studio desperately needs one. The company has issued four write-downs on features like Turbo and Mr. Peabody & Sherman since November 2012. Earlier this year, the company announced a massive restructuring and creative overhaul that resulted in 500 workers being laid off. Home is the companys only release this year, making its box-office returns all the more important for the studios bottom line.

Overseas, the movie has grossed $48 million so far. Home is the second animated movie to perform well this year; The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water has collected $160 million since Viacom Inc.s Paramount Pictures released it in February.

The weekends other new release, the R-rated Get Hard, went after a very different audience and landed in second place with a solid $34.6 million. Distributed by Time Warner Inc.s Warner Bros., Get Hard stars Will Ferrell as a man preparing to go to prison with the help of businessman played by comedian Kevin Hart. Insurgent, from Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., fell to third place in its second week of release, grossing $86.4 million so far.

Audiences gave Home an A grade, according to the CinemaScore market research firm, while Get Hard received a B.

In other box-office news, the horror film It Follows expanded to wide release after good word-of-mouth led to robust returns in a handful of theaters. It collected $4 million in about 1,200 locations, and its distributor, Weinstein Co.s Radius-TWC, said it will expand further next week.

Write to Erich Schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com

Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/home-sweeps-away-box-office-1427655577

Continue Reading ..

Comcast"s New Customer Service Strategy: More Tweets

Comcast Doesn"t Give A F*ck

Comcast COMCAST CORP.CMCSA0.05% seems to be following through on promises made by its CEO Neil Smit to make fixing its customer service woes a priority for 2015.

The way we interact with our customers on the phone, online, in their homes is as important to our success as the technology we provide, Smit wrote on a company blog. Put simply, customer service should be our best product.

The company has already put a respected company veteran, Charlie Herrin, in charge of repairing its broken method of interacting with customers. It has also created an app which lets people know when a technician is en route to their home, ending the previous practice of subscribers having to wait around during a four-hour appointment window.

Now Comcast is taking its efforts to fix its customer relations a step further by hiring 40 workers for its social media team. These new hires will join an existing 20-person group in providing help with everything from scheduling appointments to troubleshooting Internet problems and setting up DVRs, CNN Money reported.

Why is Comcast doing this?

We have thousands of people answering service calls on the phone, and for many customers thats great. But some people would rather go online, and we want to make sure to give them that choice, Comcast spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury told CNN Money.

The company explained in a press announcement about the hiring effort that it has been using social media since 2007, but the use of platforms including Twitter TWITTER INC.TWTR0.18% and Facebook FACEBOOK INC.FB0.35% has increased over the years. This has shifted some customer support needs from traditional call centers to the social media team.

With a much bigger team, well be able to support customers across more platforms. And well be able to get to them faster. A larger team also means that well be able to increase bicoastal and bilingual coverage to make sure we are available 24/7 to customers who speak either English or Spanish.

The social care team has access to all the same advanced tools and training as our call center agents do, which means they can quickly jump in to solve problems. They also have a direct line to our tech teams so they can schedule appointments.

While this effort wont solve all of Comcasts problems, it will bring some customers immediate help. Its not a complete solution to a customer service culture which has been built around retention at any cost, but its a solid incremental step that should take pressure off the system.

Adding 40 people to the @comcastcares social media team shows that Smits vows to revamp customer service have actual money behind them. This isnt a token hire or a PR move; its likely a multimillion-dollar commitment to delivering actual improvement.

Comcast deserves credit

The media, myself included, has spent the past year shining light on Comcasts customer service failures. Those woes went viral when a recording made by former Engadget editor Ryan Block where a retention specialist essentially refused to allow him to cancel his service. That debacle led to a flood of embarrassing customer service issues being made public everything from bad service to names on bills being changed to derogatory terms.

Comcast probably deserved the scorn it got from the legitimate media and on social media. Now, however, the company deserves praise for not just saying its going to fix the problem but actually doing the hard work to turn around its culture, while backing those efforts with financial resources.

This is good business for the cable and Internet giant. A company cant treat its customers poorly when they can easily leave for other alternatives. But, aside from the long-term business gains the company should make, Comcast deserves credit for publicly tackling what is a thankless problem.

Bringing the customer service battle to social media is a smart move. Twitter and Facebook allow for quick problem resolution. That should result in happy customers and less stress on traditional phone-based customer service.

There are almost certain to be more problems and humiliating gaffes before Herrin and Smit completely change the companys culture. Still, adding 40 social media customer care reps is a win for customers, which is ultimately a win for the companys bottom line.

Source: http://time.com/money/3761427/comcast-customer-service-twitter/

Continue Reading ..

The Sight of Ashley Judd Wearing Glasses Really Bummed Out Doug Gottlieb

FULL INTERVIEW: Ashley Judd
SHARE ON WHATSAPPWHATSAPP

CBS cameras zoomed in on Kentucky superfan Ashley Judd reading something during todays victory over Florida. Perhaps a box score or a movie script. That part isnt important.

What is important is that she was using reading glasses, a development serious enough to throw analyst Doug Gottlieb into a downward spiral.

The very sight of Judd using cheaters caused him to lament the passing of time and how others have aged. Pretty heavystuff for a seemingly innocuous establishing shot.

Producers working Gottliebs future games would be well-served to avoid any type of celebrity cameo. Who knows how h**l react to Drake having a new team or a clean-shaven Jason Sudeikis.

RELATED:The Lights Went Out During Rutgers-Michigan, Created Less-than-Ideal Conditions

RELATED:Michigan States Inexplicable Late-Game Blunders Caused Tom Izzo to Lose His Mind, Fall Down

RELATED:Seton Hall Allowed Georgetowns Tyler Adams, Senior Sidelined by Heart Condition, A Dunk

Ashley Judd, Doug Gottlieb, Kentucky Wildcats, College Basketball

SHARE ON WHATSAPPWHATSAPP Because you want to see it first!

Like and follow The Big Lead today!

blog comments powered by Disqus

Source: http://thebiglead.com/2015/03/07/the-sight-of-ashley-judd-wearing-glasses-really-bummed-out-doug-gottlieb/

Continue Reading ..

Friday Box Office: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart"s "Get Hard" Nabs $12M, "It ...

Mark Kermode reviews Get Hard

And now the rest of the Friday box box office news

Homewasnt the only big opener this weekend. The Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedyGet Hardscored a strong $12.91 million Friday, including $1.8m worth of Thursday previews. The $40m R-rated comedy, which earned negative reviews and would-be controversy over its vulgar humor, is looking at a $36m weekend, which is near the top for both comedic actors. If that $36m debut comes to pass, it will be Kevin Harts second-biggest star vehicle opening behind the $41m debut ofRide Alongand it will be Will Ferrells fourth-biggest opening behindThe LEGO Movie($69m),Talladega Nights($47m), andMegamind($46m) while just ahead of the $35.5m debut ofThe Other Guys.

ThatGet Hard, an R-rated comedy, will approach the career highs of both performers is impressive and frankly shows that their combined star power actively boosting the results beyond a mere one-man show. FerrellsBlades of Glorydebuted with $33m on this weekend in 2007 and ended up with $118.5m domestic. IfGet Hardfollows suit, then expect asolid $129m domestic finish. Of course, the explicitly bro-centric comedy could get slaughtered byFurious 7next next weekend, but the Warner Bros./Time Warner Time Warner Inc. film is cheap enough to quality as a win pretty much by the end of Sunday.

The high profile expansion this weekend wasIt Follows. The acclaimed festival darling horror film had a smashing four-screen debut two weeks ago, which caused distributor Radius-TWCto change course and go for a semi-wide theatrical release instead of a VOD debut yesterday. I wish I could say they made the right call, and Im glad that horror fans will get to see this one in theaters (my wife and I are checking it out tonight), but a $1.4 million opening on 1,218 screens does not bode well for the film or whatever hopes horror fans were pinning on it in terms of resurrecting original multiplex horror. Were talkingThe Quiet Onenumbers here, and itll end up with an opening weekend of around half ofYoure Next.

Frankly I think this is less of a horror is doomed situation and more of a studio matters situation (along with arthouse interest does not equal mainstream interest). A major studio, be it Universal/Comcast Comcast Corp. or Sonys Screen Gems may-well have treated this like a standard teens go to a horror movie on Friday night and get scared release and had the muscle to just release it as a mainstream horror title and not care about its artier inclinations (its not like horror generally has strong legs and/or gets good audience ratings anyway). But anyway, I will hopefully have seen the film by the time we do the weekend estimates tomorrow, so Ill leave it at that.

The Jennifer Lawrence/Bradley Cooper period-piece dramaSerenaarrived in 60 theaters this weekend courtesy of Magnolia. For the record, the film has been on VOD for a month and has been written about in a negative context profusely for the last year. So dont let anyone get away with writing Jennifer Lawrence movie BOMBS! type headlines. This was doomed to be a low-level title the minute it wasnt picked up for mainstream theatrical distribution, which was mostly because it was neither a franchise film nor a piece of Oscar-bait. Anyway, the film earned around $38k yesterday and should have $126k by tomorrow.

Noah BaumbachsWhile Youre Youngdebuted courtesy of A24 on four screens and earned around $60k yesterday. TheBen Stiller/Naomi Watts/Adam Driver/Amanda Seyfried/Charles Grodin film should earn around $200k for the weekend and hopefully will expand accordingly as a bit of adult counter-programming. In holdover news,Lions Gate EntertainmentsThe Divergent Series: Insurgentearned $6.85mon Friday, dropping 67% from last Friday to bring its cume to $77m. That sets the the stage for a $23m second weekend (-55%) and a $88m ten-day domestic cume. Thats slightly worse on all counts compared toDivergentlast year.

Walt DisneysCinderellaearned another $4.73m on its third Friday (-49%) to bring its cume to a strong $137.24m. Expect a $17.5m third weekend and a domestic total just over $150m.Run All Nightearned another $630k (-55%) to bring its cume to $22.2m whileFocuscrossed the $50m mark with a $385k Friday. 29th Century FoxsKingsman: The Secret Serviceshould have around $3m for the weekend and a $119m cume, whileThe Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotelshould earn around $2.3m for the weekend for a $28m cume. Finally,Do You Believeearned $0.65k on Friday (-43%) for a new cume of $5.55m.

And thats it for today. Join me tomorrow for weekend estimates and more holdover news.

If you like what youre reading, follow @ScottMendelson on Twitter, and like The Ticket Booth on Facebook. Also, check out my archives for older work HERE.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2015/03/28/friday-box-office-get-hard-nabs-12m-it-follows-flops/

Continue Reading ..

Who was Andreas Lubitz, Germanwings co-pilot blamed for crash?

Andreas Lubitz named as Germanwings co-pilot
Story highlights

• Police search co-pilot Andreas Lubitz"s apartment for clues
• A pilot who knew Lubitz calls him a "very normal young person"
• Investigators say they believe he deliberately crashed Germanwings Flight 9525

But investigators say he was the one at the controls inside the cockpit, deliberately locking out the plane"s captain and setting the plane on a crash course for the French Alps.

Andreas Lubitz had medical note for day of crash, hid illness, officials say

The only sound the recorder picked up from Lubitz as the Airbus A320 went down, Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said, was the co-pilot"s steady breathing.

Authorities didn"t mince words Thursday as they blamed Lubitz for the crash, but questions are still swirling over the 27-year-old"s past.

Officials say Lubitz passed a psychological test when he was hired, had no known ties to terrorism and showed no sign of medical distress during the flight.

It seems, Robin said, that Lubitz "wanted to destroy the aircraft."

But why?

Lufthansa CEO "speechless"

Police search apartment

It"s a question police were trying to answer as they searched Lubitz"s apartment in Dusseldorf.

Police spokesman Markus Niesczery said a team of five investigators went "through the apartment looking for clues as to what the co-pilot"s motivation might have been, if he did indeed bring the plane down."

About 85 miles (136 km) away in the town of Montabaur, the house where Lubitz"s parents live was shuttered and guarded by police.

A group of men, perhaps investigators, were the only ones granted access.

"This is just inconceivable"

This town in western Germany is where Lubitz pursued his love of flying from a young age.

At a club on the outskirts of Montabaur, pilots who knew Lubitz said they were shocked to hear what investigators said.

They said the man they know never would have deliberately crashed a plane.

Between the ages of 14 and 20, Lubitz was a regular fixture at the gliding club.

"(He was) a very normal young person, full of energy," Klaus Radke said. "What can I say? He had a bright future. He made his hobby into his job. What more can you hope to achieve?"

The authorities" explanation doesn"t ring true for Peter Ruecker, another pilot who knew him from the flight club.

"Knowing Andreas, this is just inconceivable for me," Ruecker told the Reuters news agency.

"He was a lot of fun, even though he was perhaps sometimes a bit quiet," Ruecker said. "He was just another boy, like so many others here."

A neighbor told Reuters that Lubitz "was very interested in things which are going on around him."

"It"s a very good family," the neighbor said. "They have a good connection within the family and they are engaged in the community."

An 8-minute descent to death

"Interrupted" training

Lubitz had been with Germanwings, a budget airline owned by Lufthansa, since September 2013 and had completed 630 hours of flight time, the airline"s media office said.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr told reporters that Lubitz "interrupted" his training, which he began in 2008. That break lasted several months, he said, but added that such an interruption isn"t uncommon.

Spohr said he couldn"t give any information about why the co-pilot had stopped and then restarted his training.

If it was for medical reasons, he said, then that information would have been private before the crash, he said, but it will be part of information gathered during the investigation.

Most of Lubitz"s training took place at the Lufthansa flight training center in Bremen.

He also trained in the United States, spending six months at facility in Arizona as part of a required program to get his license, a Lufthansa spokesperson said.

Spohr said Lufthansa pilots get medical testing but do not undergo regular or routine psychological testing once they are flying. However, the airline does consider an applicant"s psychological state, along with other factors, when hiring pilots, he said.

Lubitz and the captain passed a psychological test when they were hired, he said.

"We don"t only look at competence but we also give a lot of room to psychological capabilities," Spohr said.

"He was 100% set to fly without restrictions," he added. "His flight performance was perfect. There was nothing to worry about."

Students, singers among the victims

5 cases of pilots intentionally crashing

Diana Magnay reported from Montabaur. Catherine E. Shoichet and Ashley Fantz reported from Atlanta. CNN"s Fred Pleitgen contributed to this report from Cologne, Germany. CNN"s Mark Thompson, Eliott C. McLaughlin Laura Smith-Spark, Bharati Naik and Sara Sidner also contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/26/europe/germanwings-plane-crash-pilots/

Continue Reading ..

Former TSA Head: "We Should Take the Germanwings Tragedy as a Warning"

BREAKING: Germanwings flight 4U2595 crashes in southern France
Imago/Zumapress People stand in front of candles and flowers placed in front of the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium in Haltern, Germany, March 24, 2015.

Kip Hawley is the former administrator of the TSA and the author of "Permanent Emergency: Inside the TSA and the Fight for the Future of American Security."

Finding meaning or solace in the Germanwings tragedy may prove elusive. We should, however, use this horrifying moment to reflect on whether there are lessons here that could enable us to make corrections in our security strategy. I think that there are at least three points highlighted by this tragedy that are worthy of consideration:

Detecting evil intent before the evil action begins is extremely difficult

Counter-measures designed to stop an attack in progress are less effective than those aimed at disrupting a plot before it is operational

Independent, overlapping layers of security are essential in stopping attacks from unexpected directions

It is not clear yet where the Germanwings crash fits in the taxonomy of safety versus security incidents; the pilots motives are simply not known. But we can imagine the same scenario one person at the controls, locking everyone else out playing out with a terrorist in the cockpit and a major city as the crash site. The safety mitigation measures here are robust and long-standing. Pilots are carefully vetted and assessed by civil aviation authorities, their airlines, and co-workers. In this case, that was not enough. The security measures didnt do any better in stopping this incident, as the reinforced cockpit door, of the type adopted after 9/11, worked as an unintended hindrance.

Obviously, we all want to trust our pilots; and, of course, in the vast majority of circumstances we can. But we also know that is exactly those trusted nodes in our security systems that make us most vulnerable when they dont act the way we expect them to. The Germanwings tragedy puts this fact directly in front of us.

It is not enough to scale-up background checks to combat insider threats. Pre-9/11 security clearances and law enforcement checks were heavily based on the idea of prior performance predicting future activity. Todays terrorist or mass murderer knows full well that we still hold to that premise. We can pretty much assume that attacks today will be delivered by people who can and have passed background checks. We do not understand ahead of time what drives people to commit acts of mass violence or terrorism, therefore we cannot isolate the traits that reliably predict them.

What do we do against an enemy whose intent remains invisible until its too late? Layers of security that act independently from each other are where we need to concentrate. We must continue our investment in intelligence and all the systems that work together ahead of time that might highlight an anomaly whether it be psychological screening of pilots and crew or behavioral detection at the airport and on the plane. Teamwork among employees, companies, families, authorities, and passengers is the key. The answers involve people, not more hardware or technology.

One layer of security now under pressure at home is the Federal Air Marshal (FAM) program. Misbehavior by some in the FAM program and a buzz about various personnel grievances do not take away from the fact that FAMs represent the most effective and flexible weapon in TSAs toolkit. If the equivalent of a FAM team was aboard the Germanwings plane, would the result have been different? Maybe. The point is that FAMs, working undercover in airports, boarding areas, and on flights provide a layer of security that is unmatched as far as stopping unexpected attacks while they are unfolding. VIPR teams, where FAMs are very visible, operate thousands of missions a year throughout the transportation system again, disrupting a planner who thinks that any part of the network is uncovered. Fix the program, but lets stop talking about diminishing the role of Federal Air Marshals.

Our security risk environment is at an all-time high. Just because the Germanwings tragedy may not be a classic terrorist attack, we should not dismiss it when it comes to evaluating our security framework. We can, and should, take it as a warning and heed its lessons.

0

TIME Ideas hosts the world"s leading voices, providing commentary and expertise on the most compelling events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. To submit a piece, email ideas@time.com.

Source: http://time.com/3760496/germanwings-plane-crash-tragedy-tsa-head-terrorism/

Continue Reading ..