I'm going to climb onto an airplane today to travel to Houston, Texas. The San Diego airport was recently equipped with the new “nudie” backscatter X-ray machines, so there's a good chance that I'll either be asked to submit to a virtual stripping, or to a groping of my nether regions. Neither possibility appeals, especialliy when I know that all of this is just “security theater” – it wouldn't even discourage a real terrorist.
This led me to thinking about Israeli airport security, which I've experienced first hand. They manage to accomplish two things that the TSA fails miserably at: (1) they actually add real security to their airports, and (2) they minimally inconvenience the innocent travelers. How do they do this? Well, here's a good summary. Why don't we do the same thing here? Damn good question. Our progressive ninnies would have some problems with the overt profiling, but surely that can't be the entire explanation. Another such factor must be the general ignorance of the American public with respect to the efficacy of the current security measures (many people believe they actually do something useful). My instinct is to follow the money. Where's teh money? It's in the inspection machines and in the TSA infrastructure. I'd be willing to bet that there's a money trail between those two things and the politicians who put it all in motion.
A housecleaning is in order, I think. Probably something drastic is required, like disbanding the TSA entirely, and putting the entire effort back into the airlines' hands, like it used to be...
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