I genuinely understand your misgivings about the TSA questions you on personal matters; however, since the TDC is talking to thousands of people everyday, your answers will not be logged or remembered. What matters is how you answer. Your body language helps the TDC to determine if you are a threat. If you maintain eye contact and exude calm body language you will be through in no time, and you can be sure the government will not have recorded your responses. While on its face this program appears to invade privacy, in reality the intrusion is very small.

It's not worth it. >99.9999% of people have good intentions and just want to go about their lives. That's why people go to the supermarket, to sports games, and all kinds of other places in public where we lack this kind of "security" and life goes on just fine. There are always going to be a few people who want to cause harm. You will never stop them all. And frequently, in trying to do so, you will give up your own basic freedoms (not to mention spend tons of money). If terrorists can get entire nations to to alter their behavior and live in a state of fear, they've already won and have caused far more damage than they would by blowing something up.

Sounds like another false dichotomy: e.g. do you want to fly on the plane with no security or the plane where everyone is strip searched, etc. etc.

TSA has no credibility in their current methods of "securing" the airplanes. I have a hard time believing this pilot program will be a tangible success (at least to an objective observer).

If we were able to actually have a choice, then it might not be so bad: would you like the talkie-talkie line or the nudie-gropie line?

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?

a) During terror-plot planning stages, using sophisticated intelligence tactics to identify and stop would-be terrorists at their residences, weeks or months before any planned event, OR
b) During the terror-plot execution phase, using high-school dropouts to harass, threaten, and intimidate everyone who passes through an airport checkpoint just minutes before a planned event

The safety and security of the travelling public starts long before the checkpoint, and the bulk of our effort should be directed to effective and proven intelligence techniques. Large-scale terrorist attacks (like 9/11) require years of planning and involve many people. As the terrorist plot grows in size and scope, so does our ability to track down the would-be perpetrators with traditional sleuthing and counter-intelligence. Unfortunately, these "behind the scenes" efforts do little to provide the security theater that TSA is so dependent on.

The idea that most or all of our security comes from actions we take at the checkpoint will never succeed. At best it slows travel to a miserable pace; at worst, it's a blatant violation of civil liberties and constitutional rights.

Security is a trade-off. We trade time, money, convenience, liberty, and privacy to gain security. Unfortunately, the TSA is costing us all of those things but providing little actual security. The primary goal of the TSA is not to keep us safe; instead, by examining their actions, you will find that the ultimate goal of the TSA is to ensure they are not blamed for any terrorist attacks that do succeed. It's what we call security theater: ineffective security techniques that are largely for show.

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.

TLV-style security is not scalable to what we have in the States.



You do realize the TSA has started to focus on vehicles now, don't you?



A law enforcement professional with years of experience, perhaps. TSA employees, not so much.


Answering questions is no guarantee of not being subjected to a Nude-O-Scope or grope.

But that means that there will be many people selected who truly have nothing to hide.

I fear that I am one of those.

It is considered rude and intrusive in many cultures to make small talk and ask questions of a personal nature. I can grit my teeth and bear it when I am in the US or other countries where such 'small talk' is considered polite, and generally can give out noncommittal responses to strangers who ask such questions.

But for years I never understood why I became so nervous at any checkpoint, be it a border crossing, or simply a ferry ticket purchase booth or a toll booth.

In recent years I have started to come to terms with the collective history that I share with millions of others and now I understand that my fear and nevousness comes from my experiences as a small child crossing 'internal' borders. (The memorial museum at Marienborn is still something I can only take in small doses)

I tend to turn off a switch internally in these types of situations. Now I have to face speaking to someone in another language (often with a very strong regional accent), answering questions which make me uncomfortable in a setting not involving a position of authority, about subjects which are often confidential.

I fear that my response both verbal and physical will make me a target, unintended or not. And I am not alone.

^

^

I too find a requirement to answer such questions in order to travel within my own country extremely offensive when asked by uniformed federal employees wearing ersatz badges.

Accordingly, my body language and tone of speech will almost inevitably be suspect to those fresh out of their intensive two weeks of training.

Slightly OT - but maybe not - a few days we took a VDB at SFO and had 10 hours to spare. I caught myself calculating whether the chance to wander around San Francisco on a glorious summer day was worth the trouble of going through screening with "Team San Francisco."

We went, had a great time, and our re-entry to SFO was painless at an uncrowded priority line, but it saddens me that this was the first thought that came into my mind.

I am sure there are many people like you who negotiate Israel's airports every day. In Tel Aviv the security agents handle passengers with grace and respect, so their nervousness is not exacerbated or mistaken for a threat. We can only hope the TSA approaches this in similar fashion.

Umm. I don't think this is modeled after El Al....

Not unless the TSA staff has suddenly become a lot better educated and lot better trained. And the US has suddenly become both much more homogeneous and more tolerant of racial, religious, and socio-economic profiling. And there's a lot less air travel...

This may work for the relatively small number of passengers and in the Israeli cultural environment (or it may just be security theater there, too ) In the US, this is basically a license for sexual and racial harassment at the low end and an invitation to stalking, burglary, and industrial espionage at the high end.

Note also that they don't do anything like this in countries that are far more similar to the US in terms of size, religious and cultural diversity, attitudes toward privacy and discrimination. As folks have commented in other threads, it is not common to be asked questions even when entering EU countries on a non-EU passport, much less when getting on a plane.

The TSA is only using college educated agents for this assignment, which should help on that front. Also I think you misjudge the El Al approach. It is much more centered on training and skill than profiling. They would not have their perfect security record just by hassling every Arab passenger flying on El Al.

But based on past experiences many of us here fear that they won't be able to approach this in a similar fashion.

I reported what happened when people did not understand or respond to the 'pronounce your name game', for instance. And how many times are we told that we are the wrong when we follow the TSA website?

The track record is not good. You are comparing an agency which hires and trains professionals to one which is considered a low entry, non-professional position. Even some of the LTSOs who post here admit that they have challenges with hiring and training and maintaining standards.

Again, I am afraid (and I travel all over the world in situations not considered 'safe' by many, and rarely feel fear) This makes me feel fear.

Well, no. White people from predominantly Christian-heritage countries are handled with grace and respect. Other people don't go there (or don't go twice).

"college-educated" or "has a 4-year degree from an accredited university"?

Seriously? Do you really believe this to be true? These people will insist on the "right" answers - whatever the answer d'jour may be. The TDC have no concept. None.

But most countries and airlines have perfect security records, as well. Even ones that have many more -- and a much greater diversity of -- passengers and destinations.