11-21-2010, 08:33 PM
Support rational and effective security oversight and an end to this disgraceful farce which is the TSA.
That's the problem. For all the verbiage describing "outraged" thoughts and feelings, here's what it comes down to: a very blah, generic demand for something better, hardly even a talking point.
You, and many other "outraged" people have zero Plan B. How can it be possible to make access to aircraft safe for the public without some kind of search? Even if we all got naked, remember those body cavity bombs! This is a hard problem folks!
Yes, the Israeli behavioral scrutiny has been suggested, but the counter argument has been that it doesn't scale to the size of U.S. air traffic. Myself, I think they get so many false positives that they can easily catch bad guys. Probably, in the end, using the same intrusive searches that we are complaining about now. And do you see TSA employees becoming such observational experts?
So, if you're going to complain, at least let us know of your realistic alternative first.
Interesting, peteradams. How can you somehow know with certainty, as you assert, that I (and many others) have zero Plan B? Unlike some, apparently, I do not have clairvoyant abilities which allow me to know the minds of others without so much as even asking. A very useful superpower this would be; wish I had it.
What is your investment and angle on this, I wonder? Are you yourself a TSA employee or a family member of one such? The language in your critique of my comments is articulate yet seems shaming, the sort of comments which are used to kill any further dialogue rather than genuinely inviting a spirited and rigorous discussion.
If people need to provide a “realistic alternative first” as a precondition before they dare complain, then that does rather cut down on the size of the complaint box, I’d think. How convenient for those benefiting from the status quo. My “very blah, generic demand for something better, hardly even a talking point” is indeed that which could be expected from the average American citizen being taxed to pay for the TSA and whose civil liberties are being marginalized by the policies and personnel of that inept agency run amok, since most Americans are not security systems experts. I am certainly not. Yet, I hope most American citizens are also not undiscerning and timid enough to accept cynically Orwellian arguments.
In point of fact you are mistaken, peteradams, based on evidence: I do have realistic alternatives (as I will list here in a moment; ...if memory serves correctly then I may have even mentioned some of these suggestions before on Punaweb over the last several years). A couple of these ideas occurred to me independently but I have since seen them advanced elsewhere, while most other strategies I support as effective alternatives to current TSA ineptitude have originated from others far more qualified than myself to develop and put forward such plans. My main qualification to comment on all this is simply having traveled quite frequently both domestically and internationally since 11SEP2001 (including on 11SEP2002, 11SEP2003, 11SEP2004, and so on- for several years I made a point of flying on 11SEP simply because not flying on that date --when many others stayed home for fear of repeat attacks-- struck me as cowardly and collaborating with the intent of the terrorists). So, I have unfortunately had significant experience interacting with the TSA, provoking me to think about all this quite a bit while enduring “security theater” performances during travel. I also have the benefit of longstanding friendships with two commercial airline pilots, one professional air steward, one federal air marshal, and the owner of a multi-state travel agency who is also a consultant for a large commercial airline. Another person who is not exactly a friend (a family member with whom I am not very close, yet who is always responsive if an issue comes up) is an airport computer security systems specialist. These people have been very generous in responding to my questions over the years, giving frank feedback on various ideas. For the most part they agree with me, btw, regarding TSA ineffectiveness. The TSA spectacle is largely security theater: a big display to convey an illusion of control.
You ask “How can it be possible to make access to aircraft safe for the public without some kind of search?” It cannot, of course, and nobody ever suggested it could. The question itself misdirects; that which should more usefully be asked instead is “How can air travel be made safer for the public?” The exploration of this question can and does provide realistic alternatives to the TSA sham.
Before itemizing nuts and bolts, let us not forget to open our view widely and consider the big picture regarding how we got into this mess in the first place. How did America shift from being the most highly regarded if not revered nation in the world, to being attacked on 11SEP2001, and then finally to this unenviable place where we find ourselves today? That discussion will take awhile and probably never end, yet unless we engage in it, figure out some of the larger elements, and discern how they are best addressed then we can make airports into fortresses and America into a police state and there will still be no reasonable assurance of safety (even if Americans are willing to accept a much-demeaned quality of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness under such a grim regime). In a world where there are staggeringly inhumane inequities and vast disparities in quality of life there will never be peace, let alone safety. I contend, based on evidence, these inequities and disparities can be successfully addressed; there is no genuinely limiting long-term shortage of know-how, funding, materiale, and so on. There is, unfortunately, a critical shortage of vision, will, and intelligent leadership. Lest I be pilloried for complaining without first offering a realistic alternative, here is a good start toward such: http://www.truemajority.org/oreos/
That said, let’s examine how best to place a band-aide over gangrene, since this is apparently a precondition to complaining about the TSA.
Reinforce cockpit doors, expand pilot screening, and acknowledge that American passengers will never allow a plane to be commandeered by terrorists no matter what the cost (...and that even if the terrorists did somehow manage to gain control despite all this, the US Airforce would down the jet pronto).
This has all been done, already, and makes a huge difference. Such a huge difference, in fact, that airplanes are no longer viable targets for terrorists to take over and turn into guided missiles inside the USA. There are dozens of other, weaker, links if a hostile entity wishes to attack America in a way which does real and lasting damage. Devoting attention and resources to the TSA (note I am saying “TSA” and not “airport security” -they are two very different things) diverts manpower and money away from the soft spots where our nation and people are far more seriously vulnerable. What sort of patriot advocates spending billions on potentially unsafe and demonstrably ineffective backscatter radiation machines when there are many other dangerously vulnerable areas (food production, water supply, undetected dirty bombs in shipping containers targeting major port cities, et cetera) which could be strengthened instead? Please research this question in combination with keywords “Chertoff scanners” -Chertoff is a creature who, in my opinion, is no patriot.
Air marshals on every flight.
Instead of funding gangs of inept yet conspicuous TSA uniforms swarming ineffectively around the airport like ants on roadkill, use a fraction of the TSA cost to place a couple of highly trained and armed professional undercover air marshals on every flight.
Prescreen those frequent fliers who volunteer for deep background checks.
Like many others, my fingerprints and history have been scrutinized by the FBI and are on file in the national database, I am licensed to work in the public trust, yet I cannot be trusted to not try to take over a fortified aircraft in flight with nail clippers and a bottle of Snapple? Come on. This is absurd. People who fly frequently and who have demonstrated for decades they are not a significant risk simply lengthen the lines inspecting for genuine unknowns.
Use elements of the Israeli layered approach to airport security.
peteradams notes the “argument has been that it doesn't scale to the size of U.S. air traffic” -but this is mistaken. El Al provides this security at 48 locations around the world and there is no reason this approach which demonstrably works will not scale up even further. Keep some of the metal detectors, sniffer-machines, bomb-sniffing dogs (more of those dogs could be useful, actually), and suchlike infrastructure which already exists and is proven to do no harm while providing some possible good, but add genuinely effective layers so the rest is not just largely empty theater. Lose the ridiculous and maddeningly counterproductive procedures wherein small children, nursing mothers, frail old grandmas, and so on are accosted. If El Al does not need to gate rape children and allows cups of coffee aboard while maintaining the best record on the planet for decade after decade despite Israel being ongoingly at war, then they are doing something right while TSA is just being brutishly stupid and wasting money.
I could go on, and will if you insist, but there is really no need. This would do it -or so my pilot, air marshal, air steward, aviation industry, and airport computer security system expert friends and family tell me. Makes sense to me. I’d add one more though:
Completely erase the TSA brand. It is tainted. Replace the failed and disgraced TSA brand with a “rational and effective security oversight“ which has a different name, look, behavior, and set of approaches. Replace any and all of those among the 60,000+ TSA payroll who do not make the cut for providing actual security instead of mere security theater, too.
This change will not happen by we the people sitting on our hands and keeping quiet, though. Billions of tax dollars are being squandered on sweetheart deals and lobbyists are busy spending big bucks to make sure venal politicians remain bought and loyal to their corporate backers. Taking action by contacting elected representatives --and making sure they are not reelected if they are unresponsive-- is essential or all the rest of this is just a waste of time and energy.
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Baby Hummingbird
http://wimp.com/babyhummingbird
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
That's the problem. For all the verbiage describing "outraged" thoughts and feelings, here's what it comes down to: a very blah, generic demand for something better, hardly even a talking point.
You, and many other "outraged" people have zero Plan B. How can it be possible to make access to aircraft safe for the public without some kind of search? Even if we all got naked, remember those body cavity bombs! This is a hard problem folks!
Yes, the Israeli behavioral scrutiny has been suggested, but the counter argument has been that it doesn't scale to the size of U.S. air traffic. Myself, I think they get so many false positives that they can easily catch bad guys. Probably, in the end, using the same intrusive searches that we are complaining about now. And do you see TSA employees becoming such observational experts?
So, if you're going to complain, at least let us know of your realistic alternative first.
Interesting, peteradams. How can you somehow know with certainty, as you assert, that I (and many others) have zero Plan B? Unlike some, apparently, I do not have clairvoyant abilities which allow me to know the minds of others without so much as even asking. A very useful superpower this would be; wish I had it.
What is your investment and angle on this, I wonder? Are you yourself a TSA employee or a family member of one such? The language in your critique of my comments is articulate yet seems shaming, the sort of comments which are used to kill any further dialogue rather than genuinely inviting a spirited and rigorous discussion.
If people need to provide a “realistic alternative first” as a precondition before they dare complain, then that does rather cut down on the size of the complaint box, I’d think. How convenient for those benefiting from the status quo. My “very blah, generic demand for something better, hardly even a talking point” is indeed that which could be expected from the average American citizen being taxed to pay for the TSA and whose civil liberties are being marginalized by the policies and personnel of that inept agency run amok, since most Americans are not security systems experts. I am certainly not. Yet, I hope most American citizens are also not undiscerning and timid enough to accept cynically Orwellian arguments.
In point of fact you are mistaken, peteradams, based on evidence: I do have realistic alternatives (as I will list here in a moment; ...if memory serves correctly then I may have even mentioned some of these suggestions before on Punaweb over the last several years). A couple of these ideas occurred to me independently but I have since seen them advanced elsewhere, while most other strategies I support as effective alternatives to current TSA ineptitude have originated from others far more qualified than myself to develop and put forward such plans. My main qualification to comment on all this is simply having traveled quite frequently both domestically and internationally since 11SEP2001 (including on 11SEP2002, 11SEP2003, 11SEP2004, and so on- for several years I made a point of flying on 11SEP simply because not flying on that date --when many others stayed home for fear of repeat attacks-- struck me as cowardly and collaborating with the intent of the terrorists). So, I have unfortunately had significant experience interacting with the TSA, provoking me to think about all this quite a bit while enduring “security theater” performances during travel. I also have the benefit of longstanding friendships with two commercial airline pilots, one professional air steward, one federal air marshal, and the owner of a multi-state travel agency who is also a consultant for a large commercial airline. Another person who is not exactly a friend (a family member with whom I am not very close, yet who is always responsive if an issue comes up) is an airport computer security systems specialist. These people have been very generous in responding to my questions over the years, giving frank feedback on various ideas. For the most part they agree with me, btw, regarding TSA ineffectiveness. The TSA spectacle is largely security theater: a big display to convey an illusion of control.
You ask “How can it be possible to make access to aircraft safe for the public without some kind of search?” It cannot, of course, and nobody ever suggested it could. The question itself misdirects; that which should more usefully be asked instead is “How can air travel be made safer for the public?” The exploration of this question can and does provide realistic alternatives to the TSA sham.
Before itemizing nuts and bolts, let us not forget to open our view widely and consider the big picture regarding how we got into this mess in the first place. How did America shift from being the most highly regarded if not revered nation in the world, to being attacked on 11SEP2001, and then finally to this unenviable place where we find ourselves today? That discussion will take awhile and probably never end, yet unless we engage in it, figure out some of the larger elements, and discern how they are best addressed then we can make airports into fortresses and America into a police state and there will still be no reasonable assurance of safety (even if Americans are willing to accept a much-demeaned quality of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness under such a grim regime). In a world where there are staggeringly inhumane inequities and vast disparities in quality of life there will never be peace, let alone safety. I contend, based on evidence, these inequities and disparities can be successfully addressed; there is no genuinely limiting long-term shortage of know-how, funding, materiale, and so on. There is, unfortunately, a critical shortage of vision, will, and intelligent leadership. Lest I be pilloried for complaining without first offering a realistic alternative, here is a good start toward such: http://www.truemajority.org/oreos/
That said, let’s examine how best to place a band-aide over gangrene, since this is apparently a precondition to complaining about the TSA.
Reinforce cockpit doors, expand pilot screening, and acknowledge that American passengers will never allow a plane to be commandeered by terrorists no matter what the cost (...and that even if the terrorists did somehow manage to gain control despite all this, the US Airforce would down the jet pronto).
This has all been done, already, and makes a huge difference. Such a huge difference, in fact, that airplanes are no longer viable targets for terrorists to take over and turn into guided missiles inside the USA. There are dozens of other, weaker, links if a hostile entity wishes to attack America in a way which does real and lasting damage. Devoting attention and resources to the TSA (note I am saying “TSA” and not “airport security” -they are two very different things) diverts manpower and money away from the soft spots where our nation and people are far more seriously vulnerable. What sort of patriot advocates spending billions on potentially unsafe and demonstrably ineffective backscatter radiation machines when there are many other dangerously vulnerable areas (food production, water supply, undetected dirty bombs in shipping containers targeting major port cities, et cetera) which could be strengthened instead? Please research this question in combination with keywords “Chertoff scanners” -Chertoff is a creature who, in my opinion, is no patriot.
Air marshals on every flight.
Instead of funding gangs of inept yet conspicuous TSA uniforms swarming ineffectively around the airport like ants on roadkill, use a fraction of the TSA cost to place a couple of highly trained and armed professional undercover air marshals on every flight.
Prescreen those frequent fliers who volunteer for deep background checks.
Like many others, my fingerprints and history have been scrutinized by the FBI and are on file in the national database, I am licensed to work in the public trust, yet I cannot be trusted to not try to take over a fortified aircraft in flight with nail clippers and a bottle of Snapple? Come on. This is absurd. People who fly frequently and who have demonstrated for decades they are not a significant risk simply lengthen the lines inspecting for genuine unknowns.
Use elements of the Israeli layered approach to airport security.
peteradams notes the “argument has been that it doesn't scale to the size of U.S. air traffic” -but this is mistaken. El Al provides this security at 48 locations around the world and there is no reason this approach which demonstrably works will not scale up even further. Keep some of the metal detectors, sniffer-machines, bomb-sniffing dogs (more of those dogs could be useful, actually), and suchlike infrastructure which already exists and is proven to do no harm while providing some possible good, but add genuinely effective layers so the rest is not just largely empty theater. Lose the ridiculous and maddeningly counterproductive procedures wherein small children, nursing mothers, frail old grandmas, and so on are accosted. If El Al does not need to gate rape children and allows cups of coffee aboard while maintaining the best record on the planet for decade after decade despite Israel being ongoingly at war, then they are doing something right while TSA is just being brutishly stupid and wasting money.
I could go on, and will if you insist, but there is really no need. This would do it -or so my pilot, air marshal, air steward, aviation industry, and airport computer security system expert friends and family tell me. Makes sense to me. I’d add one more though:
Completely erase the TSA brand. It is tainted. Replace the failed and disgraced TSA brand with a “rational and effective security oversight“ which has a different name, look, behavior, and set of approaches. Replace any and all of those among the 60,000+ TSA payroll who do not make the cut for providing actual security instead of mere security theater, too.
This change will not happen by we the people sitting on our hands and keeping quiet, though. Billions of tax dollars are being squandered on sweetheart deals and lobbyists are busy spending big bucks to make sure venal politicians remain bought and loyal to their corporate backers. Taking action by contacting elected representatives --and making sure they are not reelected if they are unresponsive-- is essential or all the rest of this is just a waste of time and energy.
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Baby Hummingbird
http://wimp.com/babyhummingbird
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(