Airport security has drawn a lot of attention as of late. If you ask almost anyone who has flown recently, they usually have at least one complaint about airport security. They either had to wait in line for an inordinate amount of time or they feel they were wrongly chosen for a pat down or full body scan. There have been many complaints filed and even a few lawsuits for people feeling they were groped by airport security. There are even a few YouTube videos of two and three year old children receiving pat downs. Many people feel that this is a necessary evil to flying. If you want to get there you have to submit to these inspections. However many people feel this is in fact unconstitutional and completely unnecessary.
I did some research today and found how many terrorist's the TSA's screening methods have stopped. The number I continuously came up with was zero. I could not find one documented or reported case wear a terrorist was stopped and arrested during the screening process. A few people claiming to be from the TSA said they have stopped people but the information is classified and wont be released to avoid mass panic. My response to this is one of confusion. Currently the TSA is one of the most widely criticized and disliked agency's in the U.S. It has been constantly criticized for it's methods of body scans and pat downs. If just one instance was released of how it stopped a terrorist plot no one would have a real reason to complain, It had in fact saved lives. So are these searches necessary for all people. In my opinion, No.
I feel the security system has enacted these policies to help work around the handicap placed on them by our government. It is considered wrong to profile. It has been successfully implemented in many countries including Israel. A rather simple method that when done correctly could speed up most peoples time in the security lines. Now I'm not talking about profiling based solely on race or ethnicity. I'm talking about behavioral profiling. (for more on this you can read this link Airport Security Solution: Profiling Travelers?) With a few questions trained experts can read a persons behavior too determine if they are a threat or not. Now this may be controversial but I feel profiling isn't a bad thing even when done on the basis of age, race, sex, or ethnicity. For example I don't search out bears in the wilderness because they have attacked people in the past. Is this not a form of profiling? Profiling when based off statistical analysis of passed events and those involved in them can be a very effective tool. Now many say this is wrong and against the constitution. However is having your genitals touched and scanners showing your body without clothes to complete strangers any better? The current method hasn't even proven to be effective while other more streamlined methods have in many countries around the world.
Well-written and interesting points!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, and the fact more effective measures are in place, but only at certain locations should definitely be considered. The "0" number of stopped terrorists does undoubtedly cause some confusion, but in comparison to the ratio of actual attempts, even with a zero, it might not be a bad statistic. Since 9/11/01, I can only think of a handful, maybe only one or two incidents, that would be classified as "terrorism" on an aircraft. The TSA does provide a much more significant level of deterrence than not having them did prior to 9/11. Compare the number of attempts on that day with the number of terrorists actually stopped, which was most likely also zero and you would have 20 or so that made it through in one day as opposed to the handful in tha past ten years. Either way, security before 9/11 was more reactive than the proactive or, attempting to be proactive system of today. Nobody ever imagined that scenario and I'm sure there are others that have not been considered as well. Since learning from mistakes or incidents in the past is probably the most effective way of learning and correcting deficiencies, this system can never be 100% effective if we need to experience incidents before we know how to avoid them.
ReplyDeleteI liked it when you said that ZERO terrorists have been stopped by the TSA since it was created in 2001. Now I understand that there could be some information classified somewhere in files. But again, security measures have not proven for the public yet how efficient they are in protecting the industry thus the whole nation. Your link is a good piece of information about the profiling approach that you described.
ReplyDeleteNot to sure you would go back to my post and read what I wrote...SO I am doing it here....YOU DO sign your rights away when you accept the terms of the ticket that you bought.....Inside these terms is a clause which states something along the following, "You will comply with all safety and security policies set forth by the company and the Transportation Security Administration"....Guess what...By hitting "I accept" you now can be searched without a warrant you persons and property that you have brought into the airport, and there is nothing you can do about it. SO Sir, You are wrong. you do sign that simple right to privacy away....I hope you go through my line one day if I become a TSA agent (which I have an interview for next week). I will make you feel like your right to privacy never existed. Just because you will look "suspicious" to me....Thank you and good day.
ReplyDeletePS. Next time try not to bash peoples blogs with extreme right wing ideas that don't really exist anymore in today's age.
This way of reading people body language is very interesting, and they could be on to something here as far as security goes. I feel like it would take a lot of training to fill a spot like that, and though some questions are, is this accurate.
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued by your thoughts on profiling. There might be statistical data that shows one group of people to be more likely to carry out attacks. At what point do you draw the line where you are not infringing on somebody’s personal rights. I understand your argument for profiling but I don’t think that type of security would justify the right to do it.
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