What's Wrong with Airport Security...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34878739/ns/travel-tips/

Excerpt:

The TSA explains away all the inconsistencies and outright failures in the system with the bald-faced dodge that they want the process to be unpredictable. I get that, but do they really want it to be so unpredictable that knives and guns pass through security?

Pssst, hey Ed. I don't "fear terrorism".

Right; I, for one, fear the Eds of the world.

I attempted add to the discussion of the article with the post below. Not sure if I was able to register.

TSA is supposed to secure the sterile areas of airports, yet airport workers and TSA employees are exempt from 100% screening. This creates the ability for airport employees to introduce contraband such as drugs, weapons, and other items at will.

Checked baggage is not secure after TSA screening and an ongoing problem of theft from these bags by TSA and airport/airline baggage handlers stops many from checking bags. These same people have the ability to introduce contraband to checked baggage then directly onto an aircraft.

Cargo loaded onto passenger aircraft is not fully screened by TSA. The ability to introduce contraband is a gaping security hole that goes unanswered.

WBI technology will not detect items secreted inside of the body. They strip a persons dignity and should be banned from the United States. TSA has refused to publish actual images from these machines. WBI should never be used to screen minors. A strip search, real or virtual, should never be required to use mass transit. TSA invested millions of dollars on machines that test for explosives and then tossed them in the garbage. These machines are the only tool that TSA has available that will detect explosives on a person. Fix the problems with them and get them back in airports.

Screening passengers and cargo should be a relatively painless process but TSA has made the process a big pain in the rear. Changes are needed but those changes will have to start at the top of the DHS/TSA agencies not the workers in the field.

Watch lists for the most part should not exist. If a person is to dangerous to fly then take the matter to a court. File charges and let the person answer said charges. That is how the law works in the United States. Secret watch lists that one cannot find out who is on is more like what has happened in communist countries. If the person is not a resident of the United States then identify those people only.

Lastly, government should have no role in providing security for any private business. The airlines and airports should take the steps required to protect their property. Get government out of the airports!

BD

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Where have I heard that before?

emphasis mine: sure they do. "our security is so unpredictable that we never know when we will screw up"

Being afraid of terrorism is like being afraid a quadriplegic will beat you at the 100-yard dash.

Being afraid of terrorism is like being afraid that a Down's Syndrome patient will school you in a game of "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?"