Do Body Scanners Make Us Safer? (NO)

New York Times ^ | 11/23/10 | Bruce Schneier

[tricksy]

A short history of airport security: We screen for guns and bombs, so the terrorists use box cutters. We confiscate box cutters and corkscrews, so they put explosives in their sneakers. We screen footwear, so they try to use liquids. We confiscate liquids, so they put PETN bombs in their underwear. We roll out full-body scanners, even though they wouldn't have caught the Underwear Bomber, so they put a bomb in a printer cartridge. We ban printer cartridges over 16 ounces--the level of magical thinking here is amazing--and they're going to do something else.

This is a stupid game, and we should stop playing it.

It's not even a fair game. It's not that the terrorist picks an attack and we pick a defense, and we see who wins. It's that we pick a defense, and then the terrorists look at our defense and pick an attack designed to get around it.... This isn't security; it's security theater....

That being said, airplanes require a special level of security for several reasons: they're a favored terrorist target; their failure characteristics mean more deaths than a comparable bomb on a bus or train; they tend to be national symbols; and they often fly to foreign countries where terrorists can operate with more impunity.

But all that can be handled with pre-9/11 security. Exactly two things have made airplane travel safer since 9/11: reinforcing the cockpit door, and convincing passengers they need to fight back. Everything else has been a waste of money. Add screening of checked bags and airport workers and we're done. Take all the rest of the money and spend it on investigation and intelligence....

[tricksy]

Somebody who knows what the hell he's talking about (unlike any of the Thickheaded Sexual Assailants) chimes in.

[a fool in paradise]

Do Red Diaper Doper Babies make us safer? NO!

[bgill]

Heck, terrorists don’t have to wait for our next defensive move, they’ve got Janet giving them the play book and pointing out page 38 states it’s too difficult to search the cargo.

[Tzfat]

Add screening of checked bags and airport workers and we're done.

This is the most underemphasized fact in the whole security theater debate: airport workers are not screened AT ALL. Thousands of workers walk into the SECURE area every day, with backbacks etc. Meanwhile, the ignorant sheep upstairs are being strip searched. It is not accidental - it is intentional. It is about CONTROL and having the APPEARANCE of security (your government at work keeping you safe).

[jazminerose]

Where did you get the info that airport workers are not screened “at all”? Link, please.

For the record, TSA does screen checked baggage & they wear gloves when doing it.

[Terry Mross]

Scanners and pat downs have nothing to do with security. This is just to see how many people will object so the government by the elite can move on to the next step of taking away our rights. And on this round about 99.9999 %accepted the process.

[fredhead]

Someone at the Slimes has intelligence? Who’d have thunk it?

[FromLori]

NYT reporter saying the machines are no good and what we need is intelligence must be their way of welcoming in obama’s new plan.

Warning: “Improvident” language.

Ten years on from 9/11 (almost) we now have this:

Each and every one of 197 airlines that fly to or through the United States will now collect and share passenger information with the government to be checked against terror watch lists.

The Obama administration announced Tuesday the names, genders and birth dates of all passengers will be gathered and checked before the planes fly into the U.S.

in full http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=173777

[jazminerose]

I also would appreciate hearing from someone from TSA. But, remember they do have security clearances, unlike BHO, so I don’t know how much they can talk about in a public forum.

[colorado tanker]

[ari-freedom]

I’m against the primitive groping but the scanning is an effective way of reducing the options for terrorists. So is having armed air marshals on planes. So is having profiling. We need all effective options.

[Girlene]

I also would appreciate hearing from someone from TSA. But, remember they do have security clearances,

I don't think that's true, yet. From Sept, 2010, TSA screeners' qualifications are jaw-dropping ......."Last week, TSA announced that over the next two years 10,000 employees will be granted secret clearances, access to information that has been classified as "secret" that is not put out for general distribution in the agency. ".......

Also from the article: ...."TSA has focused its energy on meeting unrealistic federal mandate deadlines in order to receive billions of dollars in DHS grants. TSA needed to deploy more than 55,000 screeners, personnel and equipment to secure the nation’s airways in order to meet the mandate.

The qualifications of employees were left at the discretion of the agency's Under Secretary. As it stands, TSA screeners must possess "a high school diploma, a general equivalency diploma, or experience that the Under Secretary has determined to be sufficient for the individual to perform the duties of the position."

Other requirements include they must know their basic colors and screeners who perform pat-downs or handheld metal detector searches of individuals shall have sufficient dexterity and capability to thoroughly conduct those procedures over an individual’s entire body. To be clear -- a high school diploma or GED is not necessarily required.".................

So if you want to hear from someone from TSA, you might be hearing from someone without even a GED, but who DOES know their colors and has a bit of dexterity to perform those, oh-so-important invasive pat-downs (aka sexual molestation).

[ari-freedom]

“We roll out full-body scanners, even though they wouldn’t have caught the Underwear Bomber, so they put a bomb in a printer cartridge.”

Imagine this alternative reality:
We look for all young muslim males, even though they wouldn’t have caught Jane Jihad, so they put a bomb in a baby’s diaper (like the one that was used against Benazir Bhutto)

[tricksy]

"Last week, TSA announced that over the next two years 10,000 employees will be granted secret clearances, access to information that has been classified as "secret" that is not put out for general distribution in the agency. ".......

And those chuckleheads in Washington wonder how secret documents end up getting posted on the Internet....

[tricksy]

This is why the Israelis do it right -- with behavior-based profiling (not "racial profiling" as the leftists say to obfuscate the issue).

Admittedly, infants are something of a special case (the behavior scrutiny would have to be directed at the supervising adult).

[jazminerose]

I have asked screeners at our local airport & they do indeed have mid level clearances.

BHO could never get one of those.

[jazminerose]

“Each and every one of 197 airlines that fly to or through the United States will now collect and share passenger information with the government to be checked against terror watch lists.”

Is this not part of what Israel does? They only have 1 airline & 2 airports to monitor, tho.

[Tzfat]

Where did you get the info that airport workers are not screened “at all”? Link, please. For the record, TSA does screen checked baggage & they wear gloves when doing it

You can cite me. I am an airline captain for a major US airline. Any airline employee can tell you the same thing. BTW, the article says this as well.

For the record, no, the TSA does NOT screen all checked baggage for explosives etc. Again, another myth. Only International luggage gets the full treatment.

I know all about TSA "gloves" - and find them dispicable.

[Tzfat]

But, remember they do have security clearances

TSOs do NOT have "security clearances." They are simply workers in the "transportation system" of the US. That means as such, they are not supposed to discuss what is deemed "SSI" [Security Sensitive Information]. In that manner, they are in the same category as every airline employee in the United States. These are not sworn officers - they are screeners. Don't let the badge fool you.

[Tzfat]

I have asked screeners at our local airport & they do indeed have mid level clearances.

Not screeners. Think of Barney Fife. Google "Security Sensitive Information" - the information they have is NOT "secret."