Originally Posted by
TSORon
Tell me, what does the label have to do with what’s inside? It could have been Pepsi for all I know, or nitro methane, or indeed contact lens solution. If the strips detect H2O2 as suggested I can tell you this, they do not provide a reading for concentration.
Only a lab is going to be able to tell us exactly what was in the bottle, and at what concentrations. Its not a technology that can be put at a checkpoint. But the detection technology can be, and since it is impractical to make a passenger wait several days for the results of lab testing of their products its best to just not allow them into the sterile area. It’s the reason we give the passengers choices, because it may be a completely innocent bottle of whatever, and there is no real need for them to loose it. Its also why we have the signs throughout the airports, the announcements on the PA systems, the TSA web site, and all the other forms of advertising and/or warnings that passengers ignore on a daily basis.
People are still bringing loaded guns to the checkpoints. Explain that please.
So, taking what you say as facts, I read that 1) the strips just give a GO-NOGO indication, and 2) TSA's SOP is that they let the potential terrorists toss the NOGO items into the trash.
Putting those two facts together, it seems like TSA provides a free testing service for liquid explosives/components.
Putting those two facts together, it seems like it would enable a potential terrorist to try out potential packagings of dangerous liquids until he found a reliable disguise (silicone plug, wax cap, plastic membrane,...) at low risk.
Putting those two facts together, it seems like TSA is an idiot.
Is there any other way to read this?
This Security-Theatrical implementation makes it easy to develop a workaround for the very layer of security it purports to be. (Same as not printing boarding passes for NFL people, or checking the IDs only against the profferred boarding passes.)