So, in a post that will certainly get my blog noticed by all those taxpayer-funded people being paid to keep us safe (Hi Brenda!), allow me to report a bit on the state of airline security from the view of a passenger.
Today, I left for an overnight trip to Microsoft’s SVC campus in Mountain View, CA. I just packed a backpack with a change of clothes and my laptop and some toiletries, printed off my boarding pass at home, and off I went. Now, normally I wouldn’t think twice about anything, except perhaps to make sure I didn’t bring my pocketknife. But in our new super-safe world, I had to wonder if I should bring toothpaste and deodorant, and if so if I’d have to check my bag, adding really just a ton of wasted time to my trip.
I got to the airport, parked, walked to the security line, and walked through it in a timely 30 minutes. Amusement park lines are shorter. It’s a Sunday morning, not a super busy time, but everything is jammed up because people have to take off their shoes and take out their hair gel and let the nice TSA guy see if the name on the prescription matches the person who is carrying it. It’s utterly ridiculous.
And what’s worse, it makes us less safe.
Why does this make us less safe? Well, let’s take this recent no liquids / gels / whatever rule. First off, there are exceptions, such as prescription medicine. Think it’s hard to get a bottle with your name on it as a prescription and put something in it? It’d be easy enough to print out your own label nowadays anyway — not like theres some magic anti-tamper sticker that’s harder to forge than a driver’s license, which are also pretty easy to forge (ask any 18-20 year old kid at college). Then, there’s the question of pockets. If I were carrying some liquid or gel that was an explosive, I could just put it in my pocket. Or stuff it down my shorts. Or put it in a condom and insert it somewhere in my body. Then, I walk right through that metal detector and off I go. Metal detectors don’t detect liquids or gels.
Look, the government doesn’t seem to be doing a better job than normal stopping drugs on a plane. Why would anyone believe that they could stop a determined terrorist?
However, by banning liquids and all that, the government is simply trying to both instill fear and angst into the population (”Be vigilant! There are terrorists, and they’ll use LIQUIDS to blow you up!”) as well as instill confidence that the government is on the base (”Don’t worry! We’ve banned liquids, so they can’t blow you up!”).
So people are angry and inconvenienced, but not vigilant. And that’s why we’re less safe. There’s no real security against people carrying on liquid-based explosives, but because we’re doing more for security, people are less vigilant.
Update: I didn’t post the above until after I returned. Going through the San Jose Airport, the line was thankfully much shorter (perhaps something to do with flying on 9/11…). The lady ahead of me got her bag searched… turns out she has some liquid anti-inflammatory for her throat, and her nail polish wasn’t allowed. Yup… boy, was I feeling so much safer now that this woman’s nail polish was safely discarded.
