Excerpts from an article "Is Airport Security Useless?"

"Complaints about the state of airport security seems to have become a permanent part of the travel experience no matter what the purpose of your journey, however it appears to have been reaching a fever pitch in recent months. Just take Jeffrey Goldberg's article from the November 2008 issue of The Atlantic as an example. Entitled "The Things He Carried," Goldberg detailed his successful attempts at getting contraband utensils such as pocketknives, matches, rope, cigarette lighters, box cutters and other questionable propaganda through airport security. At times he was even able to make it through with a counterfeit boarding pass.

Which begs the question: if a well-intentioned journalist is able to make it through security with troublesome implements, who else is getting through with things they shouldn't... and are we really that safe? It all depends on who you ask.

"The system we have now, which basically presumes everyone is a terrorist, is'�t very efficient," says Gerald Sterns, a West coast-based passenger's rights attorney. "The real way to make us safe and secure is to profile, which -- of course -- is a dirty word in this country, and has caused a lot of problems. Most of us need to take a lesson from the Israelis, whose security is based solely on profiling -- looking at ethnic and religious types, physical movements, base actions... ethnic extraction doesn�t bother them a bit. But here, it�s considered politically incorrect. We need to change our perspective, because 99.9% of travelers are businessmen or families who aren�t security risks, not terrorists or criminals.�
http://information.travel.aol.com/ar...726x1200846018

There's this enormous infoposter from the Department of Justice in our training area all about how profiling is prohibited on so many levels. I don't think it's just politically incorrect.

The real way to make us safe and secure is to ensure nobody gets on a plane with credible weapons or explosive devices. That's what the TSA is supposed to be doing, instead of all their mission creep, ID fixation and other make-work activities.

We are safer than before (9/11 I assume) because:
a) flight decks are less accessible to passengers (again supposedly); and
b) crews and passengers have learned (hopefully) that co-operating with terrorists does no good at all so you may as well resist/atttack.

In other words, the places in which we are safer today have ZERO presence of TSA.

In a word ...... Exactly!!

Are we safer? Not particularly. And if we are, I believe it is spite of TSA and DHS, not because they exist.

i agree completely but remember, it's the kettles that always get interviewed

I'm in favor of air travel security, but NOT stupidity.

Come on, TSA:

- NO shoe carnival (except shoes that are known to alarm the WTMD)
- NO laptop carnival
- NO Kippie baggie carnival (although many stations don't seem to be enforcing anymore

- PROPERLY ENFORCED F/ELITE LINES AT ALL MAJOR AIRPORTS (I realize it's the private security folks' jobs to enforce these lines, but TSA could help by making sure that "black diamond" doesn't replace F/Elite lines)

Then I will be happy.

Absolutely, 100% safer than before. BECAUSE of TSA's treatment of me, I don't FLY any more. Mission accomplished, Homeland Jerks!

Thats sad. You let them intimidate you.

That's not begging the question; that's merely "bringing up" or "raising the question". Begging the question is:

1. p implies q.
2. Suppose p. Therefore,
3. q.

Begging the question, in this situation, could be:

1. Airports and aircraft are not secure if the TSA does not catch all rope.
2. The TSA did not catch this guy's rope.
3. OMG!!! Airports and aircraft are not secure.

You can put me on that list also. I only fly if there's no other option. I just got tired of standing there with an airline id & being treated like a common criminal.

I agree securing the cockpit door (plus the new cabin cameras so the flight crew can see in the cabin) along with passenger awareness means its unlikely there will ever be another in flight incident like 911. No crew would ever open the door and no future passengers would sit back and do nothing.

Targeting a shopping mall or high speed train would be a lot easier and just as effective. Its an oxymoron at Heathrow where shoes are removed for x-ray except when its busy (generally every two minutes or so) and the staff allow it to be bypassed. In fact in terminal three the far left immigration lane lane usually walks by most of the time as any frequent traveller (or terrorist) would know.

If you take the time to read about how to make a liquid explosive (widely available on the web) its completely implausible that could ever be a serious threat.

The best weapon if you are so minded is already allowed on board being duty free liquor. The obvious risk is having several hundred liters of flammable substance rolling around overhead lockers unsecured in glass bottles and the chance of bottles falling on passengers heads (I have seen this).

However they also make great clubs as demonstrated by the hijacking some years ago of an Air NZ B747 in Fiji whilst on the ground where the hijacker was clubbed and knocked out by the flight engineer with a bottle of duty free.

Breaking it on a galley/toilet edge would make a handy knife and it would be easy to make into a molotov cocktail. I guess airlines and airports make too much money from duty free sales to do anything about it so thats why they like to pick on grandmothers with nail clippers! Heaven forbid a rampaging 80 year old grannie on the loose with nail clippers.

The sad part is the guy is sitting in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan is no doubt laughing at the chaos we have allowed to be inflicted on ourselves and knowing we have inflicted on ourselves much more chaos and disruption than he could ever have.

Kiwi_FF:

Maybe I didn't notice close enough, but all the flights I've flew on lately hasn't had any cameras in the cabin? Has anyone noticed this?

Or he's simply unwilling to deal with TSA's BS so he travels by other means. I think it's the latter.