What Airport Security Costs You

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Unfortunately he shot the wrong people. Where were the TSA/Homeland Security idiots when they were truely needed.

Sam Houston of TX 4:39PM January 13, 2010

The increased concern about body scanners is another invasion of individual privacy. The whole system is structured on the basis of fear and suspicion, leading to profiling and stereotyping.
Better intelligence analysis is required together with smoother communication between agencies.
Treating passengers like a herd of cattle is demeaning and unnecessary. Better training of staff such as the system in Israel is required.
One incident and the government reacts with draconian measures...will it get to the stage were passengers will fly nude and dress at the final destination?

martin in australia 10:21PM January 12, 2010

The TSA is nothing but eye-wash. If Homeland Security were trully doing its job, tutelage is needed from the Israelis, 80% of this organisation could be eliminated. Another excuse used on the road to Fascism.

Ronald Hicks 6:50PM January 12, 2010

Program is called Military and Federal workers. All of which undergo different levels of background security checks, are already fingerprinted, some already have DNA on file too. For reasons unknown, the TSA refuses to talk about this, they refuse to recognize their own co-workers and put them in the program. True, branches do not talk to each other, no reason not to in this case. Take all the Military and Fed workers out of the main lines and screening delays would drop. What a concept, government actually working!
And yes, there is the Major who went psyco shooting innocent people, but no program will ever be perfect.

Al of HI 5:18PM January 12, 2010

until someone pulls off a another serious attack related to an airliner. In the meantime, get used to having your full body scan pictures looked at. That's probably going to be SOP most everywhere---whether it can provide significantly more security or not.

muser of NM 3:41PM January 12, 2010

check out my blog on this point
http://udothedishes.com/2010/01/airport-security-missing-the-point/

john of DC 12:37PM January 12, 2010

TSA’s attempt to make air travel so inconvenient that terrorists won’t use it has clearly failed, but TSA promises to keep trying.
Man-handling every would-be airborne US citizen, none of whom has tried to blow up an airplane to date, is a horrible misapplication of the billions spent on airport security. It’s foolhardy to expect our government to keep out one terrorist when it can’t keep out 12 million illegal immigrants.
Profiling based on nationality won’t make us safer, but profiling based on religion might. Most Muslims are not terrorists, but most terrorists are Muslim. It seems a relatively trivial matter to do data-mining among all the government and commercial data bases which already exist on all travelers into or out of the US. And as the folks at El Al can tell you, the key to successful screening is to focus on people and their behaviors, not objects.

James of NY 5:34PM January 11, 2010

If you ask for the candid opinion of any experienced security/police/intelligence professional they will tell you that airport security is more show than substance. It takes very little effort to get 'banned' items and weapons on an airplane. Any of the flying public who believes they are safe with all this spending and inconvenience is naive. Selective searches and I'm sorry "profiling" and putting effort into detecting security risks is the only way to go. Treating every US citizen as a potential threat to be screened by the cheapest employee the congress is willing to hire is ludicrous. Notice too, that in the years since we started checking on time performance of the airlines that the average 'flight time' has increased 30-45 minutes giving the airlines a much bigger 'window' in which to improve their on time performance.

js of NY 4:11PM January 11, 2010

I am not convinced that the additional measures implemented are useful. For example, I find it hard to believe that running one's shoes through an X-ray machine does anything for security. First, it is my understanding that explosives will not be detected by X-rays. Second, how much explosive can be hidden in a shoe? Hardly enough to cause fatal structural damage to an airplane, I would have thought. And if it works, why is the US the only country enforcing such a rule? The UK certainly does not, from my experience.

EricS of NY 3:13PM January 11, 2010

I agree with the above comments. I also think we should have medical professionals stationed at all airports to examine the bodily orifices of ALL passengers. Only then will I feel safe flying and only then will we have truly defeated the terrorists. Take that, Al-Qaeda

Ray of WA 3:06PM January 11, 2010