How SHOULD it be done?
 

We complain, we rant, we vent, sometimes we even whine. But only occasionally do I see rational, calm, unemotional descriptions of how air travel screening SHOULD be done to both give us an acceptable level of security and protect our individual liberties, not to mention make the process quick, efficient, easy, and painless.

So here's my thought - with all of the frequent fliers here, from all around the world, we should be able to come up with a group-think design for air travel screening, from booking to exiting the airport at your destination.

Open source works for computer software. In fact, one of the most impregnable pieces of encryption software on the market, TrueCrypt, is open source, and the FBI tried for two years to break it without success. Why wouldn't it work for other forms of security as well?

So give me your ideas. I'm not really interested in hearing complaints about current procedures, or descriptions of what is currently wrong, all I really want to hear is, how SHOULD it be done?

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Not being a frequent flier, my own ideas are rather vague and possibly incorrect due to insufficient information, but here goes:

* Airlines should be given direct access to DoD and DHS no-fly lists. No tickets should be sold to anyone on these lists. No persons on these list should be employed by any business which has access to the airport or planes.

* A system should be developed to allow those whose names are similar to someone on a no-fly list to verify their identity to the airline so they can book their flights and get jobs.

* All cargo should be screened the same as luggage and pax.

* "Sterile" areas in the airports should be kept to a minimum size. Smaller area to protect means fewer opportunities for bad guys to get into it.

* Procedures and policies should be standardized across all airports in the US, and open for public inspection.

* Surveillance of all public areas of the airport should be publicly accessible, both to allow pax to judge crowd levels and avoid bottlenecks, and to provide oversight in the event of officials violating policies, or even in the event of pax violating policies. Everything public should be fully documented.

* Nothing private should be documented. Pax should be required to show ID only once - at the gate.

* BPs should be standardized across all airlines, allowing automated access to non-critical sterile areas such as airline clubs, food courts, etc. If the BPs all have a standard barcode on them, then the barcode readers should be sufficient security for non-critical areas. Barcodes also make possible tracking of individualized BPs; instead of a person looking at a piece of paper to see if it has today's date on it, disposable bar codes can be issued for each BP and the readers can tell when that BP has entered the sterile area. Yes, that lets Big Brother track you, but it does so in a non-invasive manner that provides a genuine security benefit.

That's all I can think of right now.

Asked and answered many times in many threads. There have been previous threads dedicated to this very topic.

I'd suggest a search.

1) Focus on finding the terrorist not the bomb.

2) Common sense for inspections. A 6 year old goal wearing skin tight clothing, it is stupid to search this person unless you are going to do body cavity searches and if you aren't going to do that, there is no point.

3) Implement multivariate risk-based scoring models for increased screening.,
i.e., a child of, say, a parent that U.S. soldiers shot in Iraq would obviously be someone you would want to give extra scrutiny to. A well-employed male business executive with a family and 100 prior flights without issue is a very low risk, as is a 6 year old girl.

4) Consider the "terrorist creation impact" in all policy decisions. I.e., cut our conventional military by 75%, stop bombing cities full of innocent people, overthrowing countries and imposing dictators/etc. Stop doing things like sexually assaulting children going through airport security ... (this crap is just going to create real-deal domestic terrorists).

5) Possibly replace the TSA's idiocy with terrorism risk insurance. It is a difficult problem, but it has almost always been the passengers that stopped aircraft events (the TSA is like 0-17). The TSA is honestly completely ineffective, it would be better to just reserve this money for paying off of descendents/etc. A $10M check in the VERY unlikely situation that you lost a loved one is preferable to being irradiated and molested every time we fly.

You can't claim you live in a free country unless you actually do.

Free = has risks.

Everything in life has risks .... happens.

I definitely prefer being free than wasting all of this money on radiation and sexual assault (which has no substantial effect on security until they do body cavity searches).

My "TSA Top Ten List"
 

What to do with the TSA short term-

1. Full accountability of TSA employees. A Citizen Review Board should be established to investigate allegations of screener abuse. Initiate a focus on customer service training for screeners, instead of barking and asking “Do you want to fly today?”


2. Stop the use and deployment of body scanning machines. They don't see into body cavities, under folds of flesh, or detect explosives. They are an intrusion into privacy and needlessly add to cumulative lifetime radiation doses, and there are no peer-reviewed studies that back up the government's claim they are safe.

Properly procured and administrated use of Explosive Trace Detection Portals (puffers) addresses the technical shortcomings of the body scanners, while at the same time are non-intrusive and pose no health risks. It’s unfortunate that the Chertoff Group and other lobbyists that profit from the deployment of body scanners have no interest in ETP technology that is being used in venues as varied as nuclear installations and the CN Tower in Toronto.

ETP, coupled with Walk Through Metal Detectors and x-ray of bags, is real security at the checkpoint, without the need for genital gropes.


3. End the War on Liquids. The exemptions make it pointless, and even if there was such a Magic Liquid™ that could be used to create a bomb airside without laboratory conditions if you just had enough of it, just send ten guys through the checkpoint with their Kippie Bags and combine it airside.


4. End the removal of shoes. The X-Ray machine cannot detect explosives, period.


5. Eliminate the gate screenings. The fact that this is being done in MCI, where each gate area pretty much has its own checkpoint to start with, is proof that this is nothing more than security theatre and workfare.


4. The wearing of metal “police” badges is stopped immediately, and replaced with the screener’s name and identification number that is plainly visible. Phase out the “police” uniform and replace it with something that reflects the fact that screeners have no law enforcement powers. Eliminate the TSA Honor Guard as there is no need for screeners to dress up in costumes and parade around. Stop trying to cash in on the respect that people that serve in the military have earned.


5. Get rid of the No Fly List. There’s no effective means of redress or oversight how the list is managed. If the people on these lists are so dangerous, arrest them.


6. Stop trying to encroach on privately owned aircraft and kill LASP dead in its tracks. The Inspector General has determined that private aircraft are not a threat. Personal Liberties — For the first time, the TSA’s regulatory activities would be extended to personal GA aircraft, historic and vintage aircraft, and operators, passengers, and pilots flying for personal and business use. As such, the LASP is a radical departure from anything the TSA has enacted to date. It would, in effect, require governmental review and authority before you could operate your own personal vehicle.


7. Stop the ID checks. The TSA has no need to know who I am or where I’m flying. This is nothing more than revenue protection on behalf of the airlines. The thought that I must “present my papers” to travel within the border of my own country is disgusting. Stop using the checkpoint as a dragnet. College kids with fake IDs, illegal aliens, or some common criminal wanted on a drug charge somewhere are not a threat to commercial aviation. We have other government agencies tasked for this.


8. End the mission creep. No more TSA appearances at sporting events, bus and train stations, or highways. Let the real law enforcement professionals tasked with these venues handle things without interference from the TSA. Why is the TSA showing up at thousands of non-airport venues every year when the own Red Team test score failures are "off the charts" according to Rep. Mica?


9. The junk science SPOT program gets the boot.


10. Stop any consideration of having screeners armed with firearms, or having any law enforcement powers. We hear of continuous cases where airport LEOs are the last line of defense against abuse by TSA screeners.



What to do with the TSA long term-

The TSA should become a part of the DOT. Actual screening should be done by private contractors with oversight by the DOT or FAA. Funny how we never heard the constant stories of mistreatment and harassment of PAX, organized rings of theft and general thuggery when this was being done by private sector firms.

How?
 

Let's try a little simpler...

How about we let the airlines themselves provide the amount of security they feel is appropriate. Then, the passengers can determine the amount of screening they are willing to accept before they make the purchase of the ticket to fly.

In this fashion, the airline and the passenger determine the level of risk each of them are willing to accept. If too many passengers determine the level is too lax or too strict, for the most part, only the airline suffers until they change their methods or another carrier provides an acceptable level. In short order (barring collusion), the free market would determine the amount of screening that is acceptable to the general public / frequent fliers.

August 9, 2006.

^^

I been saying all along that it is the airlines property and customers and the airlines/airport authorities should be responsible for the security.

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Wrong. September 10, 2001. Nothing the TSA has done since they were created has done anything to improve airport security.

9/11 happened for two reasons. Cockpit doors were not secured. Passengers and crews were trained to do what hijackers tell them to.
Both of those have been changed. Airport security had nothing to do with what happened.

Get rid of TSA. Either remove it from existence entirely, or cut it back to no more then 200 or so, and absorb it into DOT as part of the FAA. All 'TSA' should do is provide oversight and guidelines.

Return the checkpoints to the private companies. If needed, hire screeners from Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia to train the US screeners.

Nothing at the checkpoint besides WTMD/hand wands, ETD, baggage xray and the 'old' patdown to resolve alarms. No shoes off, no liquid limits, no feeling up passengers, no ID checks, no requirement to be traveling. Everyone entering the secure area is screened, traveling or not.

Ever been to FRA or NRT?
 

EVERYONE and EVERYTHING going into the sterile area gets searched. Pilots, delivery vans, and even passengers. America needs to understand that as soon as you let 1 (one) person in without due process, the integrity of the whole system collapses. During our tour of FRA, it appeared that their sterile area was in tact.

Simple and effective searches without attitude. This can be accomplished politely and efficiently. Both NRT & SIN come to mind. GET BACK TO THE BASICS of screening all who enter the zones AND PROPERLY STAFF them.

TRASH THE ID CHECKS. If you've properly screened passengers, there is much less risk. And if they have nothing dangerous, it doesn't matter who's ID they have.

YES! Though the airlines should also have liability, like any other business they can buy insurance. No need for the government on that end either.

Metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs. That is all.

No-fly list does little if anything to enhance aviation security. Once in a blue moon, it might prevent someone like the Times Square bomber from leaving the country but outside of that, the no fly list doesn't seem to be much effective.

For my money, I don't care if Osama Bin Laden is flying 1A between LAX and LHR. So long as he has been properly screened before being let into the secure area, he should be allowed to fly.

For me, I don't really understand the obsession with ID checks either. For the past 7 years, all my domestic flying has been done without showing ID to anyone. And no airplanes have fallen out of the sky.

If an airline staff wishes to check ID's before issuing boarding passes, or checking ID while boarding, fine. There's no need for anyone involved in passenger screening to be checking ID's