Non-intrusive airport searches are basically a waste of time and money.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

I am at least prepared to listen to both the case for serious, all-over, intrusive, whether-your-like-it-or-not pat-downs in airport security and the case for not bothering to search people at all before they fly.

But arguing that people should be subjected to a cursory, only-slightly-intrusive search that doesn't involve touching some parts of the body just seems daft - you're still inconveniencing people, just not quite as much, and you're not preventing anyone who actually wants to blow up a plane (or, less seriously but much more frequently, to smuggle drugs) from doing so - you have most of the pain and none of the gain.



(Disclaimer: I am not an expert in airport security. It's entirely possible that there are some details I've overlooked - maybe you can tell if someone has something in their pants by patting their stomach, or maybe limiting people to underwear-sized bombs is an improvement over cummerbund-sized ones, or something. But it seems unlikely...)

[seabeyond]

1. with all our hands on now, the underwear guy would make it through.

how do you gain your guarentee of safety?

[hobbit709]

2. TSA thinks like the military.

They are fully prepared to fight the previous war. Terror, like drug smuggling, works best when you don't repeat yourself.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Most the Real Threats Have Come From Abroad...

Almost every real air threat that we know about over the past several years have come from outside the US...yet it was assumed that if some nut could sneak on with a shoe bomb or explosive in a bottle, they'd do it here. Between the regressive TSA dog and pony tactics at the airport (my wife was once singled out for carrying a terrorist snowglobe of the Statue of Liberty) and the games the airlines play air travel has become tedious and at best a necessary evil. Few people enjoy flying anymore and the games at the airport don't make one feel safer...at least not on my end.

Seems to me the old metal scanners worked just fine...check my ticket and DL as well, but once we start profiling and turning our airports into militarized zones, I'll prefer driving or taking a train. As you say, someone hellbent on beating the system will find a way...it's the risks of living in a "free" society.

[DCKit]

5. Ah, but that would be profiling. They've got to offend everyone equally...

to prevent the appearance of racism/sexism or religious discrimination.

[notesdev]

7. They've managed to do that quite efficiently

now they've got everyone offended.

[lunatica]

4. Yeah sure. They've caught so many terrorists with intrusive searches haven't they

I'm sure your children or your elderly parents or your spouse won't mind sacrificing a little dignity for their country. Let's hurry up and get to the lowest common denominator as fast as possible. We're wasting precious time arguing here!

:sarcasm:

[alarimer]

6. TSA groping and porno machines have never stopped a single attack.

Nor will they. Terrorists will simply adapt. They will use cargo planes (as we have seen, a plot which was, again, not thwarted by the TSA, but by good intelligence and police work) or they will use private planes. It is about damn time that rich fucks who use private planes have to go through the same security theater the rest of us riff-raff have to.

The TSA is the biggest collection of idiots, top to bottom. But, hey, you get what you pay for.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

9. I think you mean "they have never caught a single would-be attacker".

I think it's fairly safe to assume that, at times, people have thought about blowing up an airplane and decided not to try it because they didn't think they'd be able to get away with it. I don't know how much any given component of the security procedures contributes to that, though.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. Monkeywrench them: Opt Out and force a manual search

http://www.optoutday.com/

[MadHound]

10. You can do a thorough search without touching a person

A wand and a dog will do the trick.

[Javaman]

11. I think there should be a new line of clothing for airports...

New Airport wear!!!

It would basically be a hospital gown.

get ready for your airport enema!! (they have to make sure, you know)