The news about the “new” security rules that were rushed into being thanks to the would-be bomber in briefs is depressingly familiar. There will be more random searches, more bags will be swabbed for explosives, etc. It's the usual ratcheting up after a foiled attack.
International flights to the U.S. will get more scrutiny and a laundry list of countries whose passengers will get an extra frisking expands the axis of evil to include countries with no direct air service and few business ties to the U.S.-Cuba, Sudan, Libya, Yemen-as well as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and of course Nigeria, home of jockstrap jihadist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
International flights to the U.S. will get more scrutiny and a laundry list of countries whose passengers will get an extra frisking expands the axis of evil to include countries with no direct air service and few business ties to the U.S.-Cuba, Sudan, Libya, Yemen-as well as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and of course Nigeria, home of jockstrap jihadist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
By the way, this is not profiling, according to the definition I learned while working at the TSA. Singling out people based on ethnicity or religion is verboten-but it’s OK if it’s based on a person’s nationality.
The practical impact of this fine distinction means a huge number
people who ordinarily wouldn’t warrant extra scrutiny will have to
undergo pat-downs and time-consuming searches of their bags, because
few if any airports have the full-body scanners that could do this same
task in a matter of seconds.
Although Amsterdam is belatedly activating more than a dozen of these units it already had on hand, and Heathrow Airport is ordering them-it’ll take months if not years to get them to every airport with nonstop flights to the US (and Nigeria apparently said it would order them too, a rather remarkable turnabout from a country whose airport security is famously lax. )
All this simply serves to highlight how little we’ve advanced since 9/11 in the crucial area of passenger pre-screening. TSA, of course, doesn’t run the checkpoints at all the foreign airports that are now the front lines. The system thus depends on coordination among the airlines who have the lists of passengers, the TSA, which is supposed to help run the names before the flight takes off, local authorities, and the National Targeting Center. The point is that the better the information, the better the odds of identifying the people who truly merit more attention.
But exploiting the weak link is an obvious terrorist m.o.-and the fact that the Christmas Day bomber bought his ticket in Ghana with cash and then boarded in Lagos is such a classic step that it should have set off alarms at all stops along the way. On September 11, 2001, two of the hijackers of the first plane, including Mohammed Atta, began their trip on a commuter flight from Portland, Maine, to connect in Boston with the American airlines flight they were intent on using as a guided missile.
The hijackers correctly assumed they’d be able to breeze through security at the tiny Maine airfield-but they were wrong on one point: they apparently believed that they would not have to go through security a second time at Logan. Of course the second search was an ineffectual as the first-although the hijackers were flagged by a pre-screening system known as CAPPS likely because they were flying on one-way tickets. They were not searched and their bags were simply held until the airline was sure the passengers were on the plane. The assumption was, of course, based on the Lockerbie model-the unaccompanied bag.
And what about CAPPS 2, the new improved screening system that was supposed to take over this critical first layer about a year or so after 9/11?
We’re still waiting.
Related Stories
Announcing the Kermit Tyler Award for America the Unready
Fearing the Fear Related to the Dec. 25 Terrorist Attempt
What About the Baggage Below?
Who Really Picked Seat 19A?
Although Amsterdam is belatedly activating more than a dozen of these units it already had on hand, and Heathrow Airport is ordering them-it’ll take months if not years to get them to every airport with nonstop flights to the US (and Nigeria apparently said it would order them too, a rather remarkable turnabout from a country whose airport security is famously lax. )
All this simply serves to highlight how little we’ve advanced since 9/11 in the crucial area of passenger pre-screening. TSA, of course, doesn’t run the checkpoints at all the foreign airports that are now the front lines. The system thus depends on coordination among the airlines who have the lists of passengers, the TSA, which is supposed to help run the names before the flight takes off, local authorities, and the National Targeting Center. The point is that the better the information, the better the odds of identifying the people who truly merit more attention.
But exploiting the weak link is an obvious terrorist m.o.-and the fact that the Christmas Day bomber bought his ticket in Ghana with cash and then boarded in Lagos is such a classic step that it should have set off alarms at all stops along the way. On September 11, 2001, two of the hijackers of the first plane, including Mohammed Atta, began their trip on a commuter flight from Portland, Maine, to connect in Boston with the American airlines flight they were intent on using as a guided missile.
The hijackers correctly assumed they’d be able to breeze through security at the tiny Maine airfield-but they were wrong on one point: they apparently believed that they would not have to go through security a second time at Logan. Of course the second search was an ineffectual as the first-although the hijackers were flagged by a pre-screening system known as CAPPS likely because they were flying on one-way tickets. They were not searched and their bags were simply held until the airline was sure the passengers were on the plane. The assumption was, of course, based on the Lockerbie model-the unaccompanied bag.
And what about CAPPS 2, the new improved screening system that was supposed to take over this critical first layer about a year or so after 9/11?
We’re still waiting.
Related Stories
Announcing the Kermit Tyler Award for America the Unready
Fearing the Fear Related to the Dec. 25 Terrorist Attempt
What About the Baggage Below?
Who Really Picked Seat 19A?
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