Aside

TSA porno-scanner round-up

23 Nov 2010

Another day, more TSA instigated ridiculousness.

No x-ray, no pat-down, come on through

I asked The Supervisor, “Per my constitutional rights, I am not allowed to be detained without reasonable cause for arrest.  Now, am I free to go?”

He answered, “If you leave, we will call the APA.”

I asked, “Who is the APA?”

“The Airport Police.”

I said, “Actually, that’s probably a good idea.  Let’s call them and your manager.”

Why Cavity Bombs Would Make the TSA Irrelevant

Three experts I spoke to this weekend — two of whom are currently serving in government in counter-terrorism capacities — believe it is only a matter of time before the technique is tried here. “We have nothing in our arsenal that would detect these bombs,” one told me. “There is no taboo that we can see against this technique. Suicide is suicide, it doesn’t matter how gross it is.”

A Massive Terrorist Target

By attempting to protect one high-value target, the TSA is creating another.

The occasional voices of reason are what I enjoy most about this entire saga. A security official in Amsterdam has called for what other security experts have been begging for during the last decade.

“If you look at all the recent terrorist incidents, the bombs were detected because of human intelligence not because of screening … If even a fraction of what is spent on screening was invested in the intelligence services we would take a real step toward making air travel safer and more pleasant.”

— Marijn Ornstein, chief of security, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam