Originally Posted by
Schmurrr
The interviewees were people with a military background who ended up on an FAA red team that was responsible for testing checkpoints pre-9/11. As I recall, they said that the red team tried bringing guns and other prohibited items through the checkpoint at ~25 airports, and the best of these airports detected only 20% of the items. Presumably, the security at the time was WTMDs and carry-on baggage x-rays. (I don't know how they got the items through. Low-quality equipment? Poor training of security staff?) Part of the "joke" is that the interviewees said they brought this terrible detection rate to the attention of FAA leaders and were ignored.
I don't personally think we are safer at the checkpoint today. My reason for posting my original observation, though, is that pre-9/11 checkpoint security possibly is not the "ideal" that some FTers say it is. If we went back to WTMD and carry-on baggage x-rays only, would that really be sufficient? I would like to think that it would be sufficient, particularly in combination with the secured cockpit doors and change in pax/crew mindset, but the interviewees' statements suggest that it wasn't sufficient pre-9/11.
I'm definitely not arguing for nude-o-scopes. We already know that those are flawed in multiple ways.
??? I don't have exact numbers, but IIRC, aren't Red Team failure rates since 9-11 consistently in the 70%+ range? I wouldn't say we've gotten markedly better at detecting things at the checkpoint.
What we are unquestionably better at is ensuring that no one is going to succeed in taking over/down a flight. Even if someone gets a gun/'big scary knife' through the checkpoint, he/she is not going to be able to take over the plane because of 1) reinforced cockpit doors and 2) pax won't stand for it.
You might look elsewhere in this forum: less than two weeks ago, there was another Red Team test failure at EWR. A tester with a fake IED in his pants opted out, went through the WTMD and then got a grope. Neither detected the fake IED.
I suspect they miss just as many weapons and guns as they do large water bottles; possibly more.
BTW, about detection. There was a 'shoe bomber' incident that made the US (no other country in the world) worry about shoes - all shoes, even, for a while, infant booties. Zero tolerance for shoes. Furthermore, shoes have to be either in a bin with nothing on top of them or alone on the belt so the xray operator can clearly screen them.
Do you ever take a spare pair of shoes in your carry-on? A pair that get successfully cleared every time? Unlike the ones you take off and put in a nearly empty bin or alone on the belt?