Homeland Insecurity Redux

So a Nigerian Islamist, named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was on multiple Watch Lists, tries unsuccessfully to detonate an explosive on a plane. How do we react?

Three hour waits in order to pat down women, children, and business people. Carry-ons limited to one piece only. No peeing in the last hour of a flight. No blankets. Nothing in one’s lap.

Hysterical and absurd are but two adjectives that come to mind.

Over a year ago, I blogged about how ludicrous it is for the DHS (from a policy perspective) and the TSA (from an implementation perspective) to treat every traveler as equal risks to safety and security (Homeland Insecurity?).

“C’mon…When was the last time a 70 year old fat lady tried to hijack a plane? Or a 45 year old high tech executive father of two? Or a high school student?...We live in a world where it is somehow deemed more acceptable to humiliate old fat ladies than it is to say out loud what we all know: radical Islamists are the threat, not my 14 year old son or the old lady next door, or me.”

“We lack the resources to treat everyone as a potential risk.”

Let me see if I’ve got this right…As someone who took over 150 flights last year, who has been screened by DHS multiple times, and who clearly is not an Islamist, I now need to arrive 2-3 hours ahead of my flight. I need to check my roll aboard, which will require that I wait at the other end for at least an hour to get my luggage. Do you think the airlines and airports are staffing up to deal with a 100% increase in checked luggage? Do you think they’re staffing up on the Customer Service side to deal with the inevitable surge in lost luggage? Do you think they’re budgeting for compensation claims due to baggage delays? Not a chance.

The joy of traveling was already largely gone, but now, thanks to the over-reaction by the DHS and TSA, it has totally disappeared.

Why should I be subject to the inconveniences, delays and costs associated with these absurd new procedures? Am I deemed a threat?

Why should you be subject to the inconveniences, delays and costs associated with these absurd new procedures? Are you deemed a threat?

Put some wood behind the arrow, but aim it at the bullseye, not at me and not at you.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and his ilk are the ones who should be subject to the inconveniences, delays and costs, because they are the threat.

Not you or I.

That’s my .02!

Martin Suter

martin.suter at iplicensing.net

Comments

[American in Oz]

You are so, 'on point' here! I roll my eyes every time I get pulled out of the line in security as I don't know of a single African American woman travelling with a ton of luggage having ever blown up a plane. . . On my last trip, the TSA seemed more interested in taking my $120 bottle of cognac that I'd purchased duty free than checking me for shoe bombs.

Let me just make sure that we are on the same page--are you suggesting that some form of racial profiling is appropriate? How do you ensure civil liberty in that case?

[Sunil]

Yea. I agree. What bs. America needs to get its head out of its a**, and get real in introducing a real security, or not. But just do not inconvenience me.