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Airport Security, Theatrics or Effective?

El Al operated Boeing 747-200's between the 19...

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Since the Sept. 11, 2001, security at airports (especially for US bound aircraft) has gotten infinitely more stringent. Is it effective or merely window dressing? You know the routine. Take off your shoes and put them in gray plastic containers along with toiletries. Remove your belt if it has a big buckle. Carry no more than three 3-ounce bottles in a plastic bag. Remove laptops from cases. Swab all devices for explosives. And so on.

Is it “security theater” or true protection for air travellers? Inconveniencing the passenger for hours and taking harmless liquids doesn’t make air travel safer. The secure cockpit doors make pointed object searches next to useless. Before 9-11 security couldn’t even find a fully assembled .45 in a briefcase with a pair of socks and a pair of underwear. Today there is no question they would find a fully assembled handgun. But what is the point of a hand gun outside of the secure cockpit doors? More of the immense manpower hours and tax resources should be redeployed into explosives detection. That is still a real danger.

Transportation Security Administration, an age...
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Uncaring and often hostile TSA screeners have a perceived power to get away with what ever they want. Passengers can’t object at the time of their nastiness for risk of detainment by law enforcement. They have that much power over the fearful, law abiding citizen. The question is, do the nasty, time consuming measures and attitudes deter the air criminal?

Security to board an El-Al flight is professional, effective, necessary and tolerable. Us enforcement efforts are laughable if it wasn’t such a serious bungle of bureaucratic smoke and mirrors at the tax payers’ and travellers’ expense.

Frequent fliers can often spot unsecured opportunities that others might exploit to avoid security at many major airports. The TSA is content to put up a front of smoke and mirrors instead of instituting real, effective security against air disasters.

Are air travellers over US air space really safer since 9-11?

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September 11th, 2009 | Tags: , , | Category: Airlines, Security

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