FlyerTalk is loaded with posts calling for the abolishment of the TSA and getting rid of air marshalls. One person even suggested that Al Qaeda disappeared with the Taliban (I doubt he would find much agreement in Madrid, Jordan, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan) so there is no longer a need for security.

Assuming that most of us don't agree that all danger is past, I would like to know what YOU would do if you could establish the security procedures at airports and on airplanes.

Having asked that question, I will start the ball rolling with my own answers:

1. I would keep cockpit doors locked before the first passenger boards and kept locked throughout the flight. I would not arm pilots because I don't want them tempted, in case of an emergency, to open the cockpit in order to handle the situation.

2. I would keep armed air marshalls. In fact, I would put them on all flights. However, I would arrange that they boarded together with everyone else, did not take particular seats, and kept their appearance as inconspicuous as possible.

3. I would get rid of the pointy object search. With the cockpit doors locked a knife is no more dangerous in the air than it is anywhere else. Guns and explosives, of course, would still be forbidden.

4. I would make certain that each time a piece of checked luggage is opened, the passenger is present. This can be done as it is at FLL (where you stand near the checker as it is x-rayed) or as it is at Frankfurt (where they call you and escort you to your bag if it seems suspicious). I think the FLL system is much better and would lead to less delays.

5. I would stop the wanding, except where an alarm has gone off when someone passed through the metal detector.

(I am talking about the US. A tiny country, like Israel, can also make profiling and questioning extremely effective, but I doubt it would work well in a much larger country.)