Aviation Planning Article

"The foundational flaw in our Homeland Security is that Congress, the Administration, the FAA/TSA and the rest of the Washington Peanut Gallery have yet to define, in clear and non-MBA terms, exactly what "security" really is.

Sorry, guys, but security isn't taking nail files, pocket knives, and hygiene items away from common citizens at airport screening points. Security isn't randomly awarding an "SSSS" on a boarding pass to give some lucky passenger a free upper-torso massage in front of the entire airport. Security isn't just trying to stop yesterday's terrorist attack. Security isn't tolerating liars, incompetents, and other lowlifes on the senior management payroll of the FAA and TSA, as is the case today, and one that we've pointed out earlier.

The fact is that what we're experiencing today from Homeland Security is mostly political theatre, not security. They've made the fatal mistake of confusing "safety" with national security. That's because they've never made the effort to define exactly what "national security" really is, beyond not having things blown up by crazy people. They have concluded that "safety" is "security."

I don't know about some of the quoted guy's "5 truths:"

Haven't heard too many large-scale credible threats from the "Aryan Nation nutballs" lately, and the whole fear of the "white militia" seems to have died down quite a bit after all the post-OKC attention from the feds and execution of McVeigh. Sure we need to be vigilant and they may come back, but wishing up hypothetical threats to the domestic USA from "white Christians" when there are real credible and immediate threats from Islamic wackos is just a form of political correctness.

I also don't appreciate this guy's apparent complete lack of respect from privacy because it is not specifically enumerated in the Constitution. Too bad most people don't understand or accept the whole idea of rights reserved to the people anymore, and too bad the founders didn't insist on an even longer list of rights.

The interchangeable use of "safety" and "security" has been one of my hot buttons from Day One.

The skill & judgment of aircrews, ground controllers, maintenance personnel, the NTSB, and FAA inspectors keep us "safe."

It's debatable who keeps us "secure."

The TSA could stripsearch and grope an entire planeload of people, but, if one of the engines decides to throw a turbine blade, the TSA (unless they prohibited a cargo container of turbine blades) had nothing to do with lack of safety.

I agree with your sentiment, though the author is technically correct about the progeny of the right of privacy as it is manifested in SCOTUS case law. And, if you believe the media hype, Bush's oft-repeated mantra of appointing justices who will "strictly interpret the Constitution" means appointing justices who won't find a Constitutional right where there isn't an explicit one in the text.