TSA Pat Downs: What a Waste of Time

My favorite quote is from an official of El Al, the Jewish airline. He said that all these intrusive searches of passengers at American airports only gave the illusion of security, not real security. This quote is from a few years ago, about x-ray scanners for your carry-on junk and metal detectors that you walked through.

Witness: Muslim terrorists use razor blades and Swiss Army knives to hijack an airplane; several months later, we get a protocol banning razors in your toiletries kit and pocket knives. They then try to mix carry-on liquids in flight to create an explosion; several months later, we get a protocol limiting the volume of any liquids you can carry with you. Next, they put plastic explosives in the sole of their shoes; several months later, we get a protocol making passengers take off their shoes for inspection. Then, they stick explosives in their jockstraps; several months later, there is an x-ray machine that will see through your clothes and an added procedure for physically examining the genitalia of passengers.

Are you beginning to sense a pattern? None of these protocols make us any safer, because the TSA is always behind the curve; the terrorists are already working on a new, clever way to bring bombs onto airplanes. The Muslim terrorists are always one step ahead. Hey, if even I can figure out how to slip explosive past current TSA screening procedures, then surely the bad guys can as well. The TSA procedures are reactive rather than proactive.

The only real way to make flying safer is to use profiling. Also, a skilled, trained person can interview passengers with a couple of questions and be more effective at detecting potential terrorists. More bomb sniffing dogs would also be helpful, and much cheaper and more effective than hiring a gazillion TSA pat-down-employees or those new, idiotic body scanner thingies.

One example of what we could be doing: everyone on the terrorist watch list is automatically on the no-fly list. Or: anytime someone from the watch list tries to fly, they automatically get the super-duper-naked-X-ray machine and the new, genital exploring TSA pat-downs. Most airline passengers will go through the old metal-detector jazz.