The British introduced layered security to their airports a decade or more before we ever heard of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or Osama Bin Laden. The Provisional Irish Republican Army's (PIRA) fondness for remotely detonated bombs forced British security to adopt new methods of what we now call homeland security. Therefore, I find their comments about our airport security procedures to be especially well founded. It has always seemed superfluous to me to remove shoes and pull laptops out of the luggage. We already are passing through scanners, metal detectors, and ion scanners (used for detecting chemical traces on surfaces). These additional steps really don't add anything to the process except additional time and opportunity for bottle necks whenever someone forgets to remove an item.
The article goes on to point out the biggest grievance I have with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), namely a complete lack of reviewing policies and procedures. Once a new policy or process is implemented, the TSA does not go back and review the efficacy of the new practice. Take removing your shoes as an example. This was done in reaction to Richard Reid's attempt in 2002 to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes. Only the United States requires shoe removal and other than Reid's failed attempt, I cannot find any other instance of an attempt to smuggle explosives in shoes. Of course while we were busy removing our shoes, Abdul Muttalab hid liquid explosives in his underwear. The two cases should have the TSA focused on detecting the chemical signatures and not the means by which they chemicals are being smuggled. While I hate to think of this what if someone figures out how to either swallow a condom filled with one chemical while hiding the other chemical in another body cavity? Sounds far fetched and gross until you realize this is how drug smugglers have been doing it for years.
The basic problem is unlike Europe, which has small countries with only a handful of international airports, we have dozens of international airports with scores of smaller airports. Getting our procedures consistently applied throughout is almost impossible. The TSA needs to seriously re-evaluate what threats they can stop and how best to detect those threats without inconveniencing passengers further. While TSA is busy insuring shoes are removed, how many other transportation nodes are being left vulnerable?
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“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.”--Benjamin Franklin
1 comment:
I have to agree with everything that has been said here. It sometimes seems to me that TSA thinks it invented Aviation security and has nothing to learn from countries that have faced the threat of terrorism from within their own borders for the last 50 years or more! There is more to AVSEC than simply being seen to carry out procedures that may look good but mean nothing!
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