‘We have to prepare for attacks that don’t fit our procedures,’ TSA says
 

“We have to prepare for attacks that don’t fit our procedures,” such as the traveler who stuffed a block of cheese wrapped in wire into a checked bag, Transportation Security Administration Administrator Kip Hawley told reporters Friday.


More from MSNBC.

I feel so much safer knowing we're going to be protected from cheese..... :rolleyes:

You've GOT to read this one.... it has so many gems...

"In addition, screeners will get redesigned uniforms and police-style metal badges, the agency said"

“We have to assume that that is occurring,” Hawley said. “Our job is to pick up on the clue.”

It would be nice if Kip HAD A CLUE..........

Since I'm a big cheese eater....Should I expect more SSSS's???? Can this dope be any more out of touch with reality???? :confused: :confused: :confused:

Two problems here:

1) The assumption of omniscience. Not every attack can be anticipated and, therefore, prepared for. You can't design a procedure to prevent an attack you have thought of.

2) The assumption of intrinsic threat. A block of cheese wrapped in wire is just a block of cheese wrapped in wire. Appearances do not a threat make. Intention and plausibility matter in the determination of threat.

1) Agreed.
2) Partial agreement. How do you know it's just a block of cheese until you check it out. A block of anything wrapped in wires should be checked out. It may be just some wackjob, or someone testing the system. Appearances may be just that, once checked out. Or not.

Well this is good news:

Thusly, the rest of my paragraph: "Appearances do not a threat make. Intention and plausibility matter in the determination of threat." N.B. The reason I grouped four statements into a single paragraph (in point 2, upthread) was to indicate a complete argument. Had I intended each statement as a non sequitur I would have made them separate paragraphs.

That wasn't completely aimed at you. It was mostly a statement to those who screamed "Oh my god it was just a block of cheese!"

Sure it was, but that's something I want checked out.

Sure, have TSA check out blocks of cheese, but do not worry about checking all cargo carried on passenger airplanes. That makes great sense.

Ah, but when they recently said they would do just that, TS/S ranted against it:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=811214

I don't disagree that carry on luggage should be checked, but I'm willing to bet that a dozen or so pax carry on cheese every day. Why did the TSA had to make a national press blitz when they found a block of cheese or a blue ice brick? That just makes them look foolish.

But who carries a block of cheese with wires around/in it?

NOT normal.

Does any one rember the " block of cheese incident" that they are refering to? They put out a big alert about suspicious items going through screening. It turns out they were all benign items brought through by ordinary American citizens.
So the goverment is perpetuating it's own disproven story? If anyone doubts this I can post the link to the nbc and cnn video clips about the false alarm they raised last summer. I will have to dig around for the link though.

Hardly anyone. But cheese wrapped in wire is not intrinsically threatening.

"Normal" is a setting on a washing machine. Weirdness as such is not sufficient criteria for extra c/p scrutiny.

The rant was directed at the shift in screening responsibility from the TSA onto shippers. The mandate would effectively deputize private entities to do the agency's job -- and force them to pay for the privilege! Nobody had a problem with cargo being screened per se.

I assume the bag image looked really strange and only upon opening the suitcase did they discover it was cheese and not an explosive. That would seem perfectly reasonable to me. I don't think they saw the bag image and said "look, cheese wrapped in wire" and then proceeded to open the bag.

What I don't understand is how cheese wrapped in wire is a "threat" in any way.