1) Let's place the blame where it belongs, Boeing. The FAA didn't force them to rely on a single sensor (in fact, given that MCAS can have hazardous consequences, two are mandatory IIRC). The FAA didn't force them to have MCAS three times the control range that's mentioned in the specs. The FAA didn't force them to not mention MCAS at all.
2) While this is certainly a tragic incident, it has nothing to do with homeland security existing or not. It's not like the autopilot suddenly decided to use planes as weapons. Apples and oranges.
Thanks for that, the point has not been made in mainstream media, but time will reveal what a farce the Homeland Security thing was, a project fear to keep everyone believing what they have been believing. Meanwhile the FAA has been changed from being the helpful body it once was.
Blaming Boeing is one thing but we know from our own coding work that you don't have the programmer test and deploy mission critical stuff, you get someone else to do it. It is a team effort. In code if you cut the people out that do all the testing and just ask the programmers to deploy stuff when they want to it goes wrong.
I am not cutting Boeing slack in this, if you go back to the programmer analogy, you still get your code written to best practice before you put it anywhere near the testing and deployment people.
1) then why didn't they force them to use input from both? Why give this shitty design green light? Why outsource parts of the certification process to Boeing, the same company who's plane is to be certified?
Because of 2) obviously. All the money is gone. No budget for rigorous testing and validation of specs.
Outsourcing of certification predates homeland security - see e.g. mid-90s reporting on the 777 certification[1]. In fact, the idea of outsourcing parts of the certification process started IIRC in the mid-1940s. What did happen past 2001 (but not due to budget pressures) is that the airline manufacturers got the authority to appoint their own designees, and were allowed to self-certify.
Not for budget reasons, but for "deregulation is good" reasons. The money isn't gone. We've just got people who'd like "a government so small they can drown it in a bathtub". Well, it's drowning alright.
2) While this is certainly a tragic incident, it has nothing to do with homeland security existing or not. It's not like the autopilot suddenly decided to use planes as weapons. Apples and oranges.