FlyerTalk Forums - What is SSSS?

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- - What is SSSS? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/practical-travel-safety-security-issues/425027-what-ssss.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMorris

I do not believe that as a whole the TSA actions really make the flying public safer, it is only to make us feel safer. I have also come across a few agents who appear to be on power trips but my path crosses people like that in many areas of life; state troopers when speeding, conference room showdowns, drivers in NJ, etc. It is just life, deal with it.

BTW, a box cutter took down the WTC.

No, a box cutter did not take down the WTC. A bunch of Islamic terrorist thugs used box cutters to take over planes that the Islamic terrorists flew into the WTC. This is a huge difference. No box cutter, or for that matter firearm, ever decided on its own to harm someone. A person has to wield the instrument or weapon in order to harm someone. This is the fallacy in the approach that TSA has taken, in hassling regular Americans just trying to get from point A to point B.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoyalFlush

Lets get back to the question the original poster asked in the thread title. What does SSSS mean? I know it’s a secondary. Common logic says it involves these four words:

SSSS = Secondary Security Screening Selectee

That order? Something else? Does anyone know for sure? Is it ‘public info’ ??

As some of you may be aware, I decided to take on some research in pursuit of hopefully kicking off this PAC. I definitely want to know...

SSSS probably doesn't stand for anything. I remember back in the early post-9/11 days (pre TSA) that one's boarding passes were sometimes marked with a simple "*S*" to signify extra harassment at the gate. Four S's are easier to spot than just one. :rolleyes:

Quote:

Originally Posted by AArlington

There is little that can be done to prevent another 9-11 scale attack. The fact that one has not happened yet should not be construed as evidence of TSA's success, but possibly rather the fact that those inclined to attack us are busy attackig soldiers in Iraq instead.

I read an interesting and troubling book last year, The Outlaw Sea : A World of Freedom, Chaos, and Crime by William Langewiesche, about the lawlessness and wide open nature of ocean freight shipping.

It is believed that Al Qaeda owns one or a number of freighters. If they don't, they can steal one easily- just have a half dozen terrorists work a couple freighter runs to learn the ropes, then all sign up onto the same ship, once they're in the open sea they throw the rest of the crew overboard and repaint the ship. That's how the pirates in the South China sea do it. Once they have a ship, load it with explosives and sail it into a port. Tracking and finding the ships is nearly impossible, since even many of the legit ships are registered under multiple layers of shadow corporations spread across multiple countries.

The TSA screening makes it unlikely that another 9/11 type hijacking will take place, but the terrorists will just do what they do in places like Iraq... when one type of target gets secured and hardened, they just shift to softer targets. They are flexible and creative (in a very sick sort and distorted form of creativity) and they look for simple solutions.