Yes, that’s right. I am going to defend the TSA. Shocking I know. While it’s obvious that I don’t agree with some of the things TSA pulled in the immediate aftermath of DL/NW 253, I have to acknowlege that TSA is in a damned if you do/damned if you don’t situation. They had to do something. And I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
This happened on a holiday weekend, and I can’t help but think that the pincipals were out of town on holiday. Yes, I know that no one is truly out of touch anymore, but I’m just sayin’….. Couple that with the fact that TSA remains without a permanent leader, and I can paint a mental picture of well-intentioned people going a little overboard and implementing certain processes that proved unworkable in the end. Thankfully, TSA seems to have recognized its error.
I support the idea of TSA, and I really do think that the overwhelming majority of TSA employees have the best interests of all travelers at heart. I also happen to believe that we as a country need to rethink our approach to transportation security. Our focus remains far too dedicated to finding objects and not finding people. We expend untold security resources on taking Barney Fife’s belt buckle shaped like a gun (seriously, I saw TSA take a belt buckle from someone because it had a shape of a gun on it) while some jackhole that we knew was a bad seed waltzes onto an airplane unimpeded? Come on!
TSA needs to proceed full throttle with deploying the latest screening technology that would’ve spotted the explosives our new terrorist friend was packing in his underwear. Privacy freaks are going to have to let it go…just a tiny bit. We can’t hope to make flying 100 percent free from potential terror attacks, but we surely can do a better job. I support sensible security and I know TSA can provide it. We as a country have to muster the will to insist that our elected leaders find a way to help TSA meet its mission of keeping the skies as sensibly secure as possible.
Yeah, personally, I have no problems with those “nakid picture” scanners. Certainly more pleasant and hopefully faster than getting frisked while my assorted stuff is sitting around in the area behind the xray machine waiting for someone to walk away with.
I guess I am not getting it. When I read “finding people”, to me that means more background checks, no-fly and other lists, etc. etc.
It seems to me there are basically two approaches or schools of thought:
1. Keep the bad people off the plane. Which means you have to know who the passengers are. Remember the days when we could fly without showing ID? That ain’t gonna work if you go this route. And lots of people, libertarians and others, have problems with the government tracking their travel (or restricting it).
2. Keep weapons/explosives off the plane. Which means more invasive screening of bags and passengers.
Clearly, the two are not mutually exclusive. All I was saying in my earlier comment is that I interpreted your “finding people” as emphasising approach 1, but then was confused by your pushing for more screening for stuff.
No worries Oliver. I think we’re probably both wanting the same thing, just stating it differently. I suppose a better way to think of it might be that I support better screening for things that blow up, but are not easily detected or detectable at all with a walk through metal detector.
Nicely done. It is a nice reminder that the TSA’s policies are not the decision of the person checking your bag and most people have genuine pride in their job.
But did you hear about them harassing Bloggers Flying with Fish and Chris Elliott? Don’t know if you can defend that 🙂 http://www.airlinereporter.com/?p=2677
One more comment I forgot: yes, it was a holiday weekend. So what — should we expect security to shut down on federal holidays? Did we forget that the shoe bomber incident also happened right around this time of the year?
Not an acceptable excuse for a somewhat erratic response, IMHO.
I don’t think it’s an acceptable excuse either. But I can’t help but think that it had an impact.
@MJ – aren’t you contradicting yourself a bit in that post? First you argue that we’re too focussed on finding (dangerous) objects instead of (bad) people. Then you argue that we need better scanning technology (to look for dangerous objects, right?).
Remember the days when 3-year-olds and US Senators were on the no-fly list?
Regarding “objects,” I was talking about knives, nail clippers, wine openers, big scissors, etc., that TSA routinely finds. I maintain that we expend too much effort looking for “objects” and not enough looking at people. I feel like investing in new technology that can detect explosives is a worthwhile effort.
Well said! Especially the part about looking for objects and not people. Regardless of the “severity” of whatever list someone is on, if you KNOW they’re connected to terrorism, thoroughly SEARCH them. I hope they get those full body screening machines up and out ASAP. We need more than metal detectors. Our luggage is X-rayed…we should be, too. It’s not like we’ll be naked. Just bare boned, lol.