And Patrick Smith has a new article about this.

"An airline pilot who once flew bombers armed with nuclear weapons is not to be trusted, and is marched through the metal detectors before every flight, just like passengers. But those workers who cater the galleys, sling the suitcases and sweep out the aisles can amble through a turnstile unmolested?"

The TSA is over-defending against visible, political threats. They are not smart or motivated enough to do things more efficiently, or to guide the public to a rational evaluation of threats. So, the expense for "security theater" grows without limit, as real safety remains constant. They are always fighting the last threat.

A bureaucrat has only one fear, that he will seem to allow the same attack twice and be fired. He can spend any amount of money on any number of different mistakes without penalty.

A common complaint is that even pilots are searched. The point is, the TSA doesn't know that the person in a pilot uniform is really a pilot. Front-facing TSA security looks for things, not to identify people. They consciously ignore any information such as country of birth. They explain that identification cards can be forged or stolen.

The approach in Israel is to examine each passenger for identiy and demeanor. That system has done a great job without strip-searching everyone.

The TSA relies on ID cards when it applies security to airfield workers.

11/22/10 - TSA's double standard

== ==
[edited] All airfield workers are fingerprinted, and checked for a criminal background and against terror watch lists. They are subject to random physical checks by TSA.

However, a Kennedy airport worker told me:
"All I need is to swipe my Port Authority ID through a turnstile. The 'sterile area' door is not watched by TSA or any hired security. I have not been randomly searched in three years. We only see TSA people when the blue-shirts get food at the cafeteria."
== ==

Yearly Cost of Airline security:
Passengers: 615 million
TSA budget: $7 billion
Passenger Waiting time $30/hour: $20 billion
Personal cost of scanning and searching: ?

Cost per person per flight: $27 B / .615 B = $43.90

Most of the costs of airport "security theater" would be better spent on anti-terror intelligence. That would make us all more secure from all attacks.

From the Washington Examiner link below [edited]:
== ==
One concerned bystander in Newark, N.J., told an inattentive (absent, sleeping?) TSA worker that someone just walked right past him when he wasn't looking. That forced 10,000 people to go back through a security line, and shut down air traffic all along the East Coast.

Jeffrey Goldberg demonstrated that anyone who can print a fake boarding pass and carry a bottle labeled "saline solution", then enter our "secure" terminals with dangerous chemicals.
== ==

The security expert Bruce Schneier has collected links to his posts about the TSA and airline security
- schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/12/schneier_on_60_1.html

03/2010 - Forbes (Search for $20 billion)
- forbes.com/2010/03/03/airport-security-osama-leadership-managing-rein.html

01/07/10 - Washington Examiner (Search for $7 billion)
- washingtonexaminer.com/node/131941

> "An airline pilot who once flew bombers
> armed with nuclear weapons is not to be
> trusted, and is marched through the metal
> detectors before every flight, just like
> passengers. But those workers who cater
> the galleys, sling the suitcases and sweep
> out the aisles can amble through a turnstile
> unmolested?"

This isn't finely-honed as it sounds. The fact that you might have once have been trusted with nuclear force is not, can not, and should not be emblazoned on your forehead for all to see. And I'd presume that getting past airport security was not why the pilot answered that duty anyway. (No, I haven't followed the link.)

The question is more about whether any typical American deserves to be probed this way when flying. I say no.

In the Jeddah case, the lethal charge of PETN was concealed in the would-be assassin's rectum.
_____________________

Does Hitchens have proof of that?

According to this, he's wrong:

Sept. 2009 (CNN) -- The would-be assassin of Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, head of Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism efforts, hid his bomb in his underwear, apparently believing that cultural taboos would prevent a search in that part of his body, according to a Saudi government official close to the investigation.

The prince, head of Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism efforts, was slightly injured when the bomb exploded in the August attack. Several news reports this week have said the assailant hid the bomb inside his rectum, but according to the Saudi official, the government assessment discounted those reports, based on various factors.

Among them: When the bomb went off there was a flash of light, suggesting that the bomb was not hidden inside the assassin's body. Also, doctors consulted by the government judged that the toxicity of the plastic explosives would make them hard to hold for many hours inside the rectum, and the environment in this area of the body would make detonation "difficult," according to the Saudi official close to the investigation.

The Saudis said they think the bomb weighed 100 grams and was made with a plastic explosive, to avoid detection by metal detectors through which the would-be assassin had to pass before he was allowed to meet with the prince.

(snip)

Note that 100 grams, of water, is 100cc - a little over 6 cubic inches, about 3.5 ounces.

Toxicity? What, you cannot put them in a condom?

Come to think of it - can you think of another part of the anatomy which has a volume of 6 cubes?

And do you really think the screener touches everything, every time?

And you all can argue from now until the cows come home.

We may get planes blown out of the sky from the shoe and panty bombers. There will never be another 9/11 attack that isn't done by the pilots.

If it occurs -- the pilots will be the cause.

Everyone misses the point. From the Complete 911 Timeline that everything changed:

8:46 a.m. September 11, 2001: Flight 11 Hits the North Tower of the World Trade Center

9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001: Newark Controllers Watch Flight 175 Hit WTC

9:57 a.m. September 11, 2001: Passengers Begin Attempt to Regain Control of Flight 93

10:06 a.m. September 11, 2001: Nearby Cottage Destroyed When Flight 93 Crashes

It was less about an hour that the world changed. Reading all the good, and bad, from that day still can brings tears to my eyes.

It is probably similar for those who were around for Pearl Harbor. With WWII we had a solid target for us to "bring the wrath of god" against.

With the Islamic terrorists, they move shift and hide from area to area, country to country. What needs to happen is that the U.S., Canada, Europe, Russia, China, India and the rest of the civilized countries has to say fuck P.C. -- you and your ideas are unacceptable. If you want to live in our countries you have to conform, nominally, to our values.

Screw Sharia -- those laws are not in effect. I will not bow down to an Islamic god, or any other.

If all the countries said we will no longer host you -- they would die out.

The concept that the Taliban is a monolithic organization is the wrong concept. Some do agree with Al-Qaeda -- some don't. Others are "trapped" in their promises and pledges to the Al-Qaeda idiots. (Sometimes honor is about supporting your friends over your better judgment, unfortunately.)

I don't know where to go with this essay -- but giving in to the terrorists is not the answer.