Originally Posted by baliktad

You're asking the wrong question. Confining our security efforts to the airport checkpoint is like making sure you have a lock on your bathroom door to protect yourself against a home invasion. Here's a better question: Where do you think terrorist efforts are better stopped?


...<shortened for brefity...but it bears repeating loudly, and frequently>

Effective security at the checkpoint should really be focused on catching the type of threat that intelligence is least capable of detecting: the lone wolf with a crazed plan. This sort of terrorist operates alone, has little or no planning, and is mostly likely using rudimentary weapons like a gun or knife. A simple bag x-ray and WTMD, with a localized wanding and/or pat-down for any alarms, is sufficient here. Ditch everything else, including the shoe carnival, the liquid ban, harrassing interrogations, and most importantly, the body scanners.