TUFBEAR I thank you for your service as a police officer. I am/am not surprised that you would have your attitude about poorly trained security. You, as well as I, see a cluster f*** and know that it is not providing security. At the same time my friends on the Platte County sherriffs dept.(MCI), Omaha Police, Ne. State Patrol and even Military Police always get upset when they are deemed inferior to either the City Police, State or a Federal agency. I have seen the same thing in the military between Rangers, Special Forces and SEALs to name a few. My response is that it is all apples to oranges. I do not expect and do not think it is smart to place someone that has all the skills of a LAPD police officer at either the initial security check point or the secondary one. It is a waste of resources and skills!!!!!!!! Just as I am sure you felt, if you ever pulled a Secret Service support assignment of standing in a doorway 2 blocks away from a potential Presidential wannabe.
Next regarding pulling the first 2 in line being discrimination. I would think that the rule is the same in California as it is in Nebraska, since I thought it was based on Supreme Court precedent. A police force can set up check points and either stop all cars or every so many cars. I realize it is not exactly the same but the closest anaolgy that I know of. I also do not believe that pulling the first couple of people regardless of race, religion etc could be discriminatory. Place in line is not a protected status, I would think. Here is where I agree though. It is stupid security policy to always pull the first 2. Unfortunately it is the fear of political backlash and then lawsuits from offended parties, that has so far prevented the TSA from doing the logical thing and actually profiling who gets secondary screenings.
Unfortunately to make the public think stuff is doing the FAA set rules that basically cause airlines to fear being penalized by having agents that are not busy during the boarding process. Again it is stupid but not necessarily the person screening you's fault.
Finally I do not board the plane 'Willy Nilly' not considering the silliness of this and many other rules. If you would look at my posts, I have discussed the likely at the time, and confirmed since the start of the take over that the government was going to implement many stupid procedures. The first and probably most stupid was calling the Nat. Guard to duty, and then wasting whatever service they could have provided. The only real security reason to place the troops at the airport is if you really feel that there was a risk of a Rome style assault on a facility. If we ever had that type of fear it was not ever publicized and the troops assigned were improperly positioned and equipped to deal with that possibility. The more logical response at the time would have been to place these same troops at major facilities and in roving patrols. There were threats to these facilities and they were a much more logical point for terrorists to continue their operations against.
Maybe unlike you I feel that the future response of passengers and crews has limited the viability of this target and that the only real defense against these bad guys is our frontline defenses. CIA, FBI, military and even INS etc.
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Robert