l'avion

Okay, so most everyone here can't stand the TSA. It seems most of the threads on here are anti-TSA, so there is obviously widespread resentment.

But the fact of the matter is 9/11 still happened.

So how could we effectively prevent another 9/11 in your eyes? This an open ended question: If you were the President, or in some authority with the power to completely control the air travel security system in the United States, what would you implement and what would the policies be?

Spiff

1) Stop playing the 9/11 card. It's tired, worn, sad, and over-used.

2) Do a search. Do you think you're the first person in the last decade to ask that question in this forum? Some of us have been answering your question for nearly a decade.

clrankin

1. Disband TSA. They provide little to nothing in the way of meaningful security, and just seem to anger people. Security would in some ways be more effective without them, as then passengers like me might be willing to take on some of their jobs ourselves. (As it is I would not go one inch out of my way to help a TSA employee-- either on the job or off the job-- in whatever it was that s/he needed help with.)

2. Hire and train competent screeners. Use them to screen checked luggage and cargo. Do not use them to harass and annoy passengers.

3. Buy more and better screening equipment for checking baggage and cargo.

4. Leave passenger screening up to the airlines. Private security did a better job, were friendlier, and were more cost effective. Private security was adequate prior to 9/11, on 9/11, and would have been just fine after 9/11.

5. Ensure that all airport/airline badged employees are properly vetted through rigorous background checks, not unlike the investigation that one undergoes for a secret clearance.

l'avion

Right. Because 3000 Americans dying on American soil is no big deal 10 years later.

Spiff

Compared to the loss of civil liberties and the disgusting turn this nation has taken, no it really isn't. Many multiples of that number died in many battles fought in the Civil War, just to throw out some numbers.

9/11 is a pathetic, over-used excuse.



How's that search function working out for you?

bdschobel

Nobody said that. Obviously it was -- and is -- a "big deal" that 3000 people died, whether on American soil or not. (Many more Americans died on Iwo Jima. Is that somehow less significant?) But destroying the fundamental principles on which our country was founded will not bring those 3000 people back. Over-reacting to every threat and supposed threat -- in other words, doing exactly what the terrorists want us to do! -- won't bring them back, either.

We have already done all that was necessary and appropriate after 9/11/01:

1. Reinforced cockpit doors, and
2. Changed flight-crew protocols to stop cooperating with hijackers.

Everything else is essentially useless window-dressing.

Bruce

avsfan733

not to mention that AFAIK, what the hijackers brought through security was not MISSED by the screeners at the time, but was ALLOWED on airplanes. 9/11 wasn't an airport security failure, thats a misconception that is definitely related to the overuse of 9/11 as an excuse for all things TSA

studentff

620000 Americans were killed on American soil in the Civil War. After the war, and during/after reconstruction, there was a tendency to "wave the bloody shirt" so-to-speak, to whip up fear and blame for the War against the South, which, even if technically correct, didn't exactly help with reconciliation. Eventually the rhetoric was toned down, and history does not look kindly on those who kept whipping up fear and blame for decades after the war.

Over 2400 Americans were killed on American soil at Pearl Harbor. In reaction, the US waged a war against Japan (good IMO) and badly mistreated thousands of loyal (to America) Japanese-American citizens on American soil for what turned out to be bogus/irrational reasons (bad IMO). Eventually, the country realized the mistreatment was bad and had to atone.

The Civil War was a big deal. Pearl Harbor was a big deal. 9/11 was a big deal. But none of them mean that we should give up basic liberties or elements of civility and common sense that are part of our culture. After major events/calamities such as these, there is a natural tendency to over-react, and history inevitably looks poorly on those over-reactions. The sooner we can correct the over-reactions, the sooner we can get on with living our lives, and the less silly we will look to the next generations.

Others have already said what our airport security should look like as well or better than I can. But to reiterate--hardened cockpit doors and policy of non-cooperation with hijackers are key. Get rid of obsession with unlikely and improbable threats like tiny pointy objects, war on liquids, and 100% shoe carnival. Screen baggage (x-ray and explosives screening). Use technology to screen persons and property for explosives, and have rational reasonable policies in place for dealing with false positives on that screening. Reserve invasive technologies like virtual strip searches for cases where there is an un-resolvable alarm or for voluntary use by those with medical implants that would otherwise always have to suffer pat-downs.

Perform limited administrative searches for weapons, explosives, and incendiaries (WEI, as required by law), and quit looking for cash, drugs, fake IDs, or politically-incorrect documents.

Abolish the no-fly-list and other blacklists for domestic flights, and for international flights merge the watchlists with whatever visa/clearance program the State Department uses to determine who may visit the US. Find the 250 Americans that are supposedly on the no-fly list, perform police investigations on their crimes, and if warranted, prosecute them in court for their crimes with all of the due process considerations and punishment after conviction that our legal system provides for.

Take the $ that was being spent annually on all of the security theater that will be abolished; return half of it to treasury to reduce the deficit, and use the rest to beef up investigatory and intelligence agencies (outside DHS/TSA). IMO a $ spent by CIA (or someone else) on disrupting overseas plots or a $ spent by FBI on investigating and disrupting domestic plots--with all the powers and limitations of law enforcement--is much better than a $ spent on TSA theater.

IslandBased

+1 A thoughtful post

Boggie Dog

I believe that any security measures to protect the airlines and their customers should be under the direct control of the airlines themselves. The government should have no role in the day to day aspects of clearing people/baggage to fly. Government could act as an adviser or feed information to the airlines but no more.

sipes23

I suppose I'd disband the TSA and replace it with nothing.

Then the airlines can decide what level of security is best for them and their customers. Though I cannot imagine any airline would want any planes exposed to genuine risks. Nor can I imagine any customers wanting to be exposed to much of that kind of risk either.

But I could be wrong.

PoliceStateSurvivor

Had the threat of another 9/11 been as big as this post suggests, it would have happenned by now at train stations, shopping malls, big city freeways in the middle of the rush hour traffic, etc. The fact that none of this has taken place suggests that the threat is greatly exaggerated.

Let us look at it the other way. Pulling off an event like 9/11 requires a lot of money, i.e., someone with the means of OBL. Most people with this kind of means prefer to enjoy the good life and not start a terrorist organization. As for OBL himself, his assets are frozen, which means he is not a threat anymore.

As was said many times, OBL succeeded beyond belief in that he got a lot of people running scared. The goal of any terrorist, as the word suggests, is to terrorize. And precisely because so many people are so easily terrorized, all they need these days is some totally inept, if not completely bogus, plot, and the government obliges by another attack on our freedom. Look at the "shoe bomber", the "liquid plot", and worst of all, the "underwear bomber". It is the latter that is leading to widespread use of the virtual strip search machines and, sadly, their acceptance by lemmings.

So, what do I propose? For the government, bring back the sensible screening like we had before 9/11. Reinforcing the cockpit doors and allowing pilots to carry weapons were certainly good steps. For the people, I suggest that we refuse to be terrorized. The lesson I personally learned from 9/11 is to make every day count because I don't know how many I have left. Another suggestion I have is to train in martial arts, as I have done.

janey

^ Something like this is what we should be sending to our senators and congressfolk.

l'avion

^ This is the type of answer I was looking for. And just to clear something up, with regard to the underlined text, I did NOT mean to insinuate that we should give up any of our civil liberties just to practice another civil liberty (travel). But I think I have "overreacted" in my own thoughts and opinions, probably since I have grown up in a post-9/11 world (it happened when I was 10).

goalie

did garry trudeau steal that from the episode of family guy where lois was running for mayor and answered every question with "9/11" and won by a landslide or was it the other way 'round