Finally, Some Rationality
Flying used to be a relatively simple way to get to a distant location. Buy a ticket, show up early enough to check luggage, pass through a metal detector, and wait for the announcement to board. That changed after 9/11. What used to take an hour at most, now requires several hours just to make it to the boarding ramp, and even there, additional 'checks' could waste another 45 minutes.
It's nice to see that the Transportation Security Administration is finally realizing that a lot of the security checks are unnecessary, inane, and stupidly intrusive.
The Washington Post reports that proposals are afoot which would eliminate a lot of the unnecessary and time-wasting 'security' checks.
The new head of the Transportation Security Administration has called for a broad review of the nation's air security system to update the agency's approach to threats and reduce checkpoint hassles for passengers. ...
The memo also calls for a new formula to replace the set of computer-screening rules that select passengers for more scrutiny. Currently, the system commonly flags passengers who book one-way tickets or modify travel plans at the last minute.
Obviously, part of the common sense now being shown by the TSA has to do with finances: Congress has cut funds for screeners. Still, many of the guidelines given to screeners were actually nonsensical. Any business traveler (and this class of travelers provide the bulk of ticket holders) will tell you that plans frequently change at the last minute and that buying a one-way ticket is one way to work around meetings that run late or last minute additions to the trip.
For the rest of us occasional flyers, however, the really annoying, and often humiliating, part of the trip comes at the last major security checkpoint where we are asked to remove our shoes, subject ourselves to a pat-down, and perhaps receive a lecture for being thoughtless enough to have a nail clipper in our carry-on.
Some security analysts praised the agency's proposal, saying that security screeners spend too much time trying to find nail scissors and not enough time focused on today's biggest threat: a suicide bomber boarding an airplane. The TSA has very limited capability to detect explosives under a person's clothing, for example, and is trying to roll out more high-tech machines that can protect against such threats.
K. Jack Riley, a homeland security expert at Rand Corp., said hardened cockpit doors, air marshals and stronger public vigilance will prevent another 9/11-style hijacking. "Frankly, the preeminent security challenge at this point is keeping explosives off the airplane," Riley said. The TSA's ideas, he said, "recognize the reality that we know that air transportation security has changed post-9/11. Most of these rules don't contribute to security." [Emphasis added]
Finally somebody noticed that the goal is keep explosives off the airplane, not nail clippers. It's a start.
It's nice to see that the Transportation Security Administration is finally realizing that a lot of the security checks are unnecessary, inane, and stupidly intrusive.
The Washington Post reports that proposals are afoot which would eliminate a lot of the unnecessary and time-wasting 'security' checks.
The new head of the Transportation Security Administration has called for a broad review of the nation's air security system to update the agency's approach to threats and reduce checkpoint hassles for passengers. ...
The memo also calls for a new formula to replace the set of computer-screening rules that select passengers for more scrutiny. Currently, the system commonly flags passengers who book one-way tickets or modify travel plans at the last minute.
Obviously, part of the common sense now being shown by the TSA has to do with finances: Congress has cut funds for screeners. Still, many of the guidelines given to screeners were actually nonsensical. Any business traveler (and this class of travelers provide the bulk of ticket holders) will tell you that plans frequently change at the last minute and that buying a one-way ticket is one way to work around meetings that run late or last minute additions to the trip.
For the rest of us occasional flyers, however, the really annoying, and often humiliating, part of the trip comes at the last major security checkpoint where we are asked to remove our shoes, subject ourselves to a pat-down, and perhaps receive a lecture for being thoughtless enough to have a nail clipper in our carry-on.
Some security analysts praised the agency's proposal, saying that security screeners spend too much time trying to find nail scissors and not enough time focused on today's biggest threat: a suicide bomber boarding an airplane. The TSA has very limited capability to detect explosives under a person's clothing, for example, and is trying to roll out more high-tech machines that can protect against such threats.
K. Jack Riley, a homeland security expert at Rand Corp., said hardened cockpit doors, air marshals and stronger public vigilance will prevent another 9/11-style hijacking. "Frankly, the preeminent security challenge at this point is keeping explosives off the airplane," Riley said. The TSA's ideas, he said, "recognize the reality that we know that air transportation security has changed post-9/11. Most of these rules don't contribute to security." [Emphasis added]
Finally somebody noticed that the goal is keep explosives off the airplane, not nail clippers. It's a start.
posted by Diane at 4:25 AM
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