I just couldn't resist ;)

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Category: Complaints

Sub-Category: All Other Complaints

Message: Could one of your security specialists kindly explain to me why we are harrassing millions of travellers to efficiently defend against a plot that is in the past? What, exactly, is the purpose of building a Maginot line in the sky and fighting the 'last war'? (Worked out super swell for the French when they built defenses designed for World War I and got completely clobbered by the Germans with utterly different technology and tactics in World War II.)

Does the TSA really believe that terrorists are so stupid as to repeat, in exact detail, the plots of four years ago or even the plots of last week? Furthermore, how specifically is it helping to eliminate hand lotion when someone could strap a bag of liquid explosives to their pant leg and walk through the metal detector unimpeded? Also, if the next terror plot should involve, say, ingested contraband (as drug mules have been doing for years), will all passengers be subjected to cavity searches and medical-grade x-rays? Kindly also list a single terror plot that was foiled by intrusive gate checking methods alone rather than by intelligent police work. If these access controls were truly effective against a determined individual, then there would be no drugs or contraband in prison. And as we all know, that's just not true.

By all means, invest money in explosive sniffing machines, but the general harrassment policy you have in place right now can only constitute aiding and abetting terrorists by damaging the travel industry beyond repair. I, personally, have cancelled several thousand dollars worth of travel already to avoid the Kafkaesque circus at the airport.

Awaiting your answer with bated breath...

Speaking as someone who had items stolen out of my luggage, probably from a TSA screener, I must say this whole thing is a very unfunny joke.

The vast majority of TSA employees I have seen are either people kicked off the welfare roles, laid off and couldn't find other jobs, or glorified security guards/cop wannabees, and are probably being vastly underpaid as they try to figure out the constantly changing rules of travel. I have seen very few smiling TSA workers.

The subcontractors seem to be hiring anyone who can pass a drug test (another joke) and a background check and needs to share responsibility in this fiasco. Give the workers a few hours of quick training and they're in control of your life from the time you enter an airport until the time you land. It's the contractor who's raking in a big profit at the expense of anyone flying and should be held accountable.

This practice is typical of so many companies today, and seems to be rampant in the Homeland Security bureau. Government contractors who wine and dine officials to get lucrative contracts then skim off the profit first and leave a skeleton operating budget from which to run the organization. It is just another symptom of a sick system that needs to be scrapped across the board.

I also thought after watching all the brain-dead soundbites about 'better this inconvenience than to get blown up' that reason had gone out the window. Banning all sorts of innocent liquid products does not ensure any amount of reasonable safety, and only adds to the absurd panic and feeling that terrorism is winning on its favorite front, irrational fear and restriction of freedom. This new rule is such a colossal waste of time and resources for no real benefit, and the fact that everyone goes along with this inefficient rule like cattle just increases my frustration. It's intelligence that will save us the most, and that really is the best way to direct our resources. Unfortunately intelligence (on every level) seems to be in short supply nowadays.

If only Richard Reid had fashioned a penile implant out of Semtex, exhibitionists across this great land of ours could happily leave their shoes on while whipping out their schlongs for pre-boarding scrutiny.

Thank you for mentioning the complicity of Americans in the fiasco that is airline security. Every time some new indignity, harassment or inconvenience is foisted upon the travelling public it is met with a chorus of "if it makes us safer, it's well worth it."

To cite just of few examples as to how these measures have not made us safer:

- The TSA screeners have failed an impressive number of tests -- with government and media successfully getting guns, knives, bombs and even missiles past the screeners. Security experts cite the inevitable ineffectiveness of a person staring at a screen for hours on end. Screeners are poorly paid, uneducated, have high turnover (i.e. inexperienced) and are cited by TSA spokespeople as "well-trained" having completed a 1 to 2 week course.

- The measures are always reacting to the last vs. the next incident. Although in the most recent case, the measures do not even seem to address the planned attack. It was reported that the plans called for the use of a bottle with a false bottom. The explosives would be in the lower compartment -- a regular liquid would be in the top in case the terrorist was asked to drink from the bottle. The NY Post reported today that the plan was for one couple to bring their baby along and put the explosives in the bottom of the baby bottle.

- The cargo carried on passenger jets in the U.S. is still not inspected.

Just yesterday, a woman going through security in London made it onto a plane with a screwdriver, multiple lighters and a bottle of water.

It is somewhat apparent that it is impossible to screen for the currently recognized attack weapons -- much less prevent terrorists from identifying new ones.

It is time to have a reasonable national discussion as to which security measures make sense -- and end the "theater" (the term a number of security experts use to refer to airport screening.)

"We are following this path deeper and deeper into absurdity."

Almost invariably when I read articles on terrorism, the theme is confined to security and law enforcement. Rarely does anyone broach the real problem: why terrorists target us. (I realize Patrick Smith is dealing with airport security, so this is not a complaint about this column specifically.)

As reader John Sutcliffe pointed out, we need to change our policies towards Muslim populations, or this insanity will never end. How ironic that this "liquid explosive" plot was divulged while Israel, with US weapons and US backing, was busy killing hundreds of Lebanese civilians in a grossly disproportionate and illegal (if you believe in the validity of the Geneva Conventions) response to a border raid by Hizollah. Can we not put 2 and 2 together? No one hates us because we are free to pop a Bud any time we want. Our actions, our decisions, all carry consequences. We use a blatant double-standard in our dealings with the region, allowing Israel to flout UN Security Council Resolution 242 with impunity, carry out a nuclear weapons program, etc., but destroy Iraq under the bogus pretext that they did not comply with UN resolutions, and hound Iran for working on a nuclear program. We support Israel's de-facto annexation of the West Bank, but attacked Iraq (in '91) because they attempted to annex Kuwait. As if that weren't bad enough we'll support any Muslim leader who toes our line, no matter how despotic, hateful and un-democratic they are to their own people (see Saddam, pre-1991, or the Shah of Iran, among many others). That is why we are hated.

I challenge any reader: Put yourselves in the shoes of the average Arab or Persian Muslim. Would you love us? Or would your blood boil? I know what the honest answer is. It will take years to undo this damage. It will take real concessions by Israel and the US, but it can be done. And it would ultimately be cheaper and safer than maintaining our bloated but largely ineffectual national security apparatus. And maybe, just maybe, we might salvage some of those freedoms we so crow about but, out of fearfulness and timidity, we are so eager to throw away.