Wondering Aloud About the TSA: Not Just for Crazy Anarchists Anymore?

Becky, it’s not just you, me, and a bunch of freedom mavens who know that much, if not all, of the TSA procedures are, shall we say, closer to bovine excrement than legitimate steps to “keep us safe.”  Security expert Bruce Schneier used an apt description in his most recent TSA piece, in his 15-Dec-2010 newsletter, “Airline Security: A Waste of Money and Time.”  That sounds pretty clear to me.  Says Schneier:

There are two basic kinds of terrorists. The[re] are the sloppy planners, like the guy who crashed his plane into the Internal Revenue Service building in Austin. He’s going to be sloppy and stupid, and even pre-9/11 airplane security is going to catch him. The second is the well-planned, well-financed, and much rarer sort of plot. Do you really expect the T.S.A. screeners, who are busy confiscating water bottles and making people take off their belts — and now doing uncomfortable pat-downs — to stop them?

Of course not!  I think he spoke for us both when he said, also in that piece, “This isn’t security; it’s security theater.”

…at best.

Share

9:50 am on December 19, 2010