"A short history of airport security: We screen for guns and bombs, so the terrorists use box cutters. We confiscate box cutters and corkscrews, so they put explosives in their sneakers. We screen footwear, so they try to use liquids. We confiscate liquids, so they put PETN bombs in their underwear. We roll out full-body scanners, even though they wouldn�t have caught the Underwear Bomber, so they put a bomb in a printer cartridge. We ban printer cartridges over 16 ounces � the level of magical thinking here is amazing � and they�re going to do something else.

This is a stupid game, and we should stop playing it.
The other participants are worth reading, too."

www.Schneier.com

I entirely agree.

The history of warfare (and this includes the "War on Terror") is the constant focus on the LAST battle/threat.

"AIT is the Maginot line of the war on Terror"

-----Burton

I wonder if the terrorists are dumb enough to use a weapon that they know is being screened for. "Here I am, catch me before I kill again". Well, actually, if they didn't have handlers, they might just do it. But even the guy who stuff the explosive in his skivvies had had talks with the imam in Yemen first. So there's a better than even chance SOMEONE is going to use intelligence in choosing the bomb material. The shahid doesn't have to have brains, and blowing up an educated brain is a huge waste for them.

The bombers themselves certainly are stupid enough--but they're also too stupid to make the bombs.

I greatly admire Bruce Schneier as well as Applied Cryptography, and I agree with his analysis in general. But the only thing that the porno-scanners have any chance of actually detecting that would not be detected by WTMTs are ceramic and FRP knives, which have never been used in any attack. How one might use a plastic knife to destroy a plane/train/ship is beyond me, but supposedly the porn-scanners can see the plastic cutlery. Also this new expansion into train stations, subways, ports and god knows what else is not a response to any attack. So they are making an attempt to be proactive. I suppose they should at least get "credit" for that.

Maybe they will continue the trend and stop the stomach or intestine bomber before he strikes by full video boroscope examinations of the large and small intestines and the stomach. God bless America. The land of the enslaved and cowardly.

the game is to attack innocent people with a military that is on 700 bases, 60% of the entire world military expenditure for just the US. Then blowback ensues and we all are attacked by our own government this time. It's time to recall all the troops home, slash the military to just protecting the borders, and not give anyone reason to want to attack the United States in the first place.

That's what the real solution is, and it will come to pass eventually. Whether they pat us down or touch our genitals is really a sideshow as the main show is the US military attacking people, supporting puppet regimes (Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc.)...