Originally Posted by
SnallaBolaget
Let's back up and figure out what the goal of the status quo is and what the goal of an alternative should be. Is our intent to reduce the risk of being harmed in as a result of an act of terrorism on an airplane from roughly the same as the risk of being hit by lightening to roughly the same as being hit by lightening twice? If the goal is simply to improve transportation safety, then air travel is
clearly the wrong place to attempt to make improvements.
Originally Posted by
SnallaBolaget
I'm not talking about something as simple as "disband the TSA", because you actually have to put something there to replace it.
Do we really need something to replace it? Why? What if we just went back to pre-TSA policies?
And for the sake of discussion, what would happen if TSA just disappeared one day? If their airport barricades were suddenly left un-staffed, what would happen? Do you believe that there would be a rash of airplane bombings by people who are intent on committing mass-murder or who simply want to terrorize Americans, but who are not out detonating their bombs in restaurants, at concerts, at sporting events, on busy street corners, or in the queue of passengers just outside of TSA airport checkpoints
right now? I don't believe that any significant number of such people exist.
Originally Posted by
SnallaBolaget
Criticism is always a good thing, but what this debate is lacking is constructive criticism.
Others have already cited plenty of constructive criticism. I'll quote a portion of
The Identity Project's November 17, 2010, blog post, "
What is to be done about TSA?":
So what is to be done? Real reform of TSA procedures would include:
- No more secret laws. TSA has to publish its rules and procedures like every other agency. Any unpublished rule cannot be enforced against citizens. Then the public would have early notice of rules like “You have to either be photographed nude, or groped”. And a flood of negative comments on such proposed rules might dissuade the agency, energize Congress to intervene, or allow a court challenge to be brought — before TSA molests a million more people a day in airports across the country.
- No more groping travelers. Assaults on innocent travelers in a way that the law oif almost every state defines as sexual battery should not be the new standard for Federally-approved suspicionless searches.
- No more suspicionless searches. We are in more danger from physical sexual attack by TSA employees than we are from secret bombers. Terrorism is a minor problem. Drunk drivers are more of a danger to travelers than terrorists. Heart disease kills far more people every week than terrorism did in its worst year. Mandatory heart checkups in lines at the airport would do far more to keep us all alive than mandatory searches. But neither checkups nor searches can be forced on the citizens of a free country. Millions have fought for our freedom; we should not let the government ignore the basic human rights that our families fought to obtain and keep.
- No more secret blacklists or secret “no-fly” orders. The TSA can’t bar “certain people” from flying by secret, extra-judicia administrative orders. If the TSA thinks someone is guilty of something, arrest them and give them their day in court to confront their accusers and defend themselves before a jury, with a presumption of innocence. If TSA can’t arrest them, because they haven’t committed a crime, then it must leave them (and the rest of us) alone.
- No more secret surveillance lists. TSA’s “selectee list” is much larger than the no-fly list. It is how a lot of people end up “randomly” searched every time they go through an airport. Again, if TSA has evidence of a crime, arrest them; otherwise, treat every traveler equally.
- No more lying to the public. TSA claims its searches are random when they aren’t. It claims their machines can’t store nude photos when they can. It claims ID is required when it isn’t. The history of TSA is a history of lying to the public. Congress should make sure it is both a crime and a tort (fraud) for a TSA employee or contractor to lie to a member of the public.
- No more identity checkpoints. Free countries don’t demand that citizens produce their “papers” in order to move around. No more warrantless interrogations (under penalty of denial of travel) or demands for information.
- Restore the right to assemble and the right to travel. Neither the TSA nor any government agency has the right to prevent us from moving around in our own country. If they don’t have cause to arrest us, then we’re presumed innocent and we’re free to move around the airports, the planes, the train stations, the trains, and the country.
I think any alternative should satisfy those criteria.