The Body Scanner Scam

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 19 Jan 2010 | Edward N. Luttwak

[AncientAirs]

To screen passengers as persons would reduce costs and inconvenience very greatly, because entire categories of passengers could be waived through with a rapid examination of travel documents and a few random checks now and then. These include a variety of easily recognizable groups that not even the most ingenious terrorists could simulate: touring senior citizens traveling together (a category that contains a good portion of all American, European and East Asian tourist traffic), airline flying personnel who come to the security gate as a crew, families complete with children, and more. In each case, the critical procedure would be to ask the group's members to recognize each other as such.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

And when in doubt, a few scientifically formulated muslim ZINGER questions...guaranteed to cause any self respecting jihadist to blow his cool...and his cover.

[Travis McGee]

Any solution involving common sense has no chance of being adopted.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Unless the government owns the airline or airport (which is entirely plausible) those private sector entities should be designing and providing the security.

In other words, you have no iron-clad right to travel on an airline.

Let the best carriers win.

[element92]

bombs can be swallowed.
..........................
travelers need to be monitored
for 48 hours

[Mister Da]

You can't require frequent fliers to be x-rayed 2 or more times a week. That's crazy. And what about those x-ray operators & all the other security people in the immediate vicinity? The constant exposure will “cook” them in no time.

What about people with medical implants & prosthetic devices? Will repeated x-rays affect their function?

I'm thinking a nudist airline might be the safest bet for travel in the future. Or, maybe when you get “over exposed”, you'll need to fly Nudie Airlines for a while - no x-rays required.

[steve-b]

entire categories of passengers could be waived through with a rapid examination of travel documents and a few random checks now and then

"Ah, Achmed; here is a description of the appearance you must present to insure that your martyrdom operation is not prevented by the infidel security guards...."

Sorry, guys; there is no substitute for comprehensive security.