Originally Posted by
GUWonder
This doesn't keep "economies" safe. It doesn't even keep citizens safe on the flight. It's often -- on some routes, generally -- a waste of resources, a dog and pony show meant to intimidate and/or show that they are doing something.
These checks also often enough have nothing to do with looking for a specific named person, and is quite literally a fishing expedition done with a wide net that doesn't even ask to look at all (or even any) passengers' passports or otherwise have the passengers visually identify themselves with their name to the agent asking questions as part of a fishing expedition.
Governments need to walk a fine line to find the proper balance between security and facilitation of legitimate travel. Using ad hoc procedures, performing unexpected inspections and interviews, etc. are some of the tools governments have available. There is no one correct answer. Every single PAX could be interrogated and searched, but that would clearly be a waste of resources, and would deter travel due to the huge hassle factor. At the other end of the spectrum, governments could not screen anyone. I think we can agree that the answer lies somewhere in between these two extremes.
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13F