Look for Terrorists, Not Weapons (We should follow Israel’s example in airline security)

Back in January, the Obama administration announced a new policy for airline safety: country-based profiling. Travelers from 14 countries known to harbor terrorists would automatically receive extra scrutiny, including additional pat-downs or full-body scans. The named states were: Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

My reaction at the time was: You mean you weren’t already doing that? Apparently not. When underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab traveled from Nigeria to Detroit without baggage (it was reported at the time that he had purchased a one-way ticket, but that proved to be incorrect), he sailed through routine screening — despite a warning from his father to authorities that Umar had been radicalized.

After 9/11, we were all under the impression that the newly created TSA, and its counterparts in other Western countries, would be particularly alert for certain kinds of behavior. Purchasing a one-way ticket, paying cash, having little or no luggage, looking nervous, and traveling from certain unstable parts of the world were all presumed to be red flags that would trigger action. Instead, we seem to have settled into a kind of bovine, tedious hunt for weapons. We screen everyone for guns, knives, scissors, nail clippers, tweezers (yes, I lost a good pair in November 2001), and now also shoe bombs and liquids and gels. In short, we look for weapons, not terrorists.

Defenders of the system — Bush-era Homeland Security officials as well as the current crop — argue that these irritating procedures, and now the body scans and distasteful, intimate pat-downs, are the only way to keep us safe.

Critics from the right believe that if we would only drop our political correctness and aggressively profile Muslim-looking men between the ages of 18 and 40, we would solve the problem.

I’d be for profiling of that sort — despite the civil-liberties cost — if I thought it would work. But I’m not convinced.

Colleen Renee LaRose, a.k.a Jihad Jane, and Jamie Paulin-Ramirez were both blond, blue-eyed American converts to Islam who were arrested in October 2009 in Ireland and charged with plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist who had drawn Muhammad’s head on the body of a dog.

In 1972, members of the Japanese Red Army opened fire in Tel Aviv’s airport, killing 24 people. In 1986, a pregnant Irish woman was attempting to fly from Heathrow to Tel Aviv. A check of her luggage revealed that her fiancé, a Palestinian, had planted Semtex explosives in her carry-on bag. If not discovered, they would have brought down the plane. In the early 1980s, a German national recently released from prison was befriended by Palestinians. His new friends bought him an airline ticket to Tel Aviv. He thought he was smuggling drugs. But in fact, his bags contained ten pounds of explosives.

Yes, most aspiring airline bombers are young Muslim men. But not all of them are from the 14 countries listed by the Obama administration. Richard Reid was British. Zacarias Moussaoui was French. One of the terrorists who hijacked an Air France jet in the 1970s on behalf of the Palestinians was a German woman. The suicide bombers who struck the Moscow subway in March were women. And women suicide bombers have struck at checkpoints in the West Bank.

Israeli security succeeds by questioning every passenger. What is the purpose of your trip? Who packed your bags? Where will you be staying? The security agents are all army veterans (well, nearly everyone in Israel is), have college degrees, and are fired immediately if they make a mistake. They learn psychological profiles of terrorists as well as how to detect things — like the Irish lady traveling to meet her fiancé’s family without him. That don’t smell right.

While it’s true that Israel has about 1/60th of the air traffic that we do, and it may not be feasible to undertake exactly that kind of examination in our country, we could at least attempt to apply the principle: looking for terrorists rather than weapons. How much longer would it take to ask each passenger a few questions than it does to put them all through the full-body scanner or subject them to a pat-down? Some travelers will be questioned more extensively, but on balance, it probably wouldn’t add any time to the average trip and might even speed it up. And the invasion of privacy would be much less offensive.

Absolutely those machines don’t work anyway and yet we are stuck paying Millions for them.

German Deconstruction of Security Theatre

And if you’re wondering if these “full-body scanners” will actually prevent someone from blowing up a plane, here’s all the evidence you need that this technology is worthless to stop terrorists.

Oh yeah, he also demonstrates what you can do with the material he smuggles through. Good thing he’s outside - and not in an airport. Remember in the last part of the demonstration that everything he used was brought through the so-called “security” and not detected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBfHMCiatK0&feature=player_embedded

You have been conned America. Again.

Note that this is only one of the so-called “full body” technologies available. But all of them suffer from the same problem - none will detect something non-metallic you shove up your butt, as just one example.

Now about all the money Chertoff has made “consulting” with people to push these expensive devices - which we, of course, get to pay for - and then get strip-searched with.

Our revolving-door government not only enriches the “connected”, it turns you into cattle for a gropefest and fails to stop the threat.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=173084

Full Body Scanner Lobby: Michael Chertoff & Rapiscan

“”Mr. Chertoff should not be allowed to abuse the trust the public has placed in him as a former public servant to privately gain from the sale of full-body scanners under the pretense that the scanners would have detected this particular type of explosive,” said Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org, which opposes the use of the scanners.

Rapiscan has already sold 150 full body scanners to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), with a price tag of $25 million. Rapiscan full body scanners, like the Rapiscan WaveScan 200, seem to be the preferred scanner of choice because they obscure the “private parts.”

But the fully body scanner lobby is also littered with a number of companies vying for the $300 million dollars the government has set aside for this type of technology for airports.

The Washington Examiner has a list of other full body scanner lobbyists including another heavy weight, Tom Blank, with the lobby group Wexler & Walker(pdf) - A lobby group that represents American Science and Engineering (AS&E) another full body scanner manufacturer.Blank was the former Deputy Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration - essentially Blank is lobbying the same federal department where he was boss.”

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/full-body-scanner-lobby-michael-chertoff-rapiscan-2552674.html

A look at OSI Systems, Inc., including its Rapiscan subsidiary identifies Deepak Chopra as the president and CEO. Chopra, individually and through his PAC, has been identified as a significant donor to the Democratic party, including contributions to the campaigns of Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton

Deepak Chopra
Political Campaign Contributions
2008 Election Cycle

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/deepak-chopra.asp?cycle=08

Michael Chertoff Admits ownership in company that makes full body scanners

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VucstNtPy0Q

Duncan Blasts TSA Pat-Downs, Body Scanners

The former Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, represents Rapiscan, the company which is selling these scanners to his former department.

Far too many federal contracts are sweetheart, insider deals.

Companies hire former high ranking federal officials, and then magically, those companies get hugely profitable federal contracts.

The American people should not have to choose between having full-body radiation or a very embarrassing, intrusive pat-down every time they fly, as if they were criminals.

In full http://duncan.house.gov/2010/11/duncan-blasts-tsa-pat-downs-body-scanners.shtml

The entire scrutiny process is defective and fraudulent.

The ONLY population segment which poses a threat are Muslims.

Muslims comprise a small number of plane travelers.

Obviously, the solution is to PRE-SCREEN passengers to PROFILE Muslims. Use the scanners for the general population.

Look at the delays, the humiliation, the anger, the frustration.

Who has won here?

The answer: the terrorists.

Without successfully detonating a single bomb since 9-11, they have succeeded in getting the government to compromise the freedoms of each and every American - WITHOUT any REAL enhancement of security.

And WHY is this happening?

Political correctness.

The Idiot in the Oval Office, along with the man who preceeded him, determined that to any way target Muslims with respect to security on plane flights would be an abridgement of their “rights”.

From MY perspective, after the Muslim world served notice on the west that the Jihad was still on after 1400 years, they have LOST any “rights” in our society.

I just got this e-mail from a friend (Tongue in cheek, but this is a great concept for the entrpreneural).

The Israelis are developing an airport security device
that eliminates the privacy concerns that come with full-body scanners at the airports.

Its a bomb proof booth you can step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on you. They see this as a win-win for everyone, with none of this crap about racial profiling. It also would eliminate the costs of a long and expensive trial. Justice would be swift. Case closed!

You’re in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled
explosion. Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system . . . “Attention standby passengers we now have a seat available on flight number XXXX. Shalom!”

Hats off to the Israelis!!!!

Here Are The Questions The New Congress Should Seek Answers From TSA

1st The recent crop of terrorists cited by the article were found in other countries outside the system being used in the US by TSA. What are they doing that is different ?

2nd..Those Xray scanners...(3 parts).
2a.. Do they represent a health issue of radiation dosage to those that use them ?
2b..Can they determine the passenger they’re examinining has plastic type explosives hidden in sundry places including body cavities ? Or discovering the explosive being woven as fabric is covering those body parts?
2c...If yes to the 1st question, and no to the second, then why are they being used?

3rd....TSA Organization (5 parts)
3a....How many employees does TSA have ?...
3b...How does TSA allocate the number of employees to a given airport terminal ?
3c...What are their duties and their salaries ?
3d.. At the federal complex outside Washington DC how many employees does TSA employ and please break down their duties and salaries ?
3e...How many dententions of passengers have resulted in a successful arrest and prosecution of a terrorist ?

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