I feel like TSA must know they're running a security theater operation, and this post was to defuse (no pun intended) any public concern about laptop batteries so they don't have to go and ban them too...
What would you do if you were charged with preventing someone from smuggling a weapon onto an airplane, while at the same not not inconveniencing people, and also while being denied, as illegal, the only tool that actually works (profiling)?
They are being given an impossible job. Not hard. Impossible. They don't have a choice except to do security theater.
I would install metal detectors, x-ray luggage, randomly search people and bags as often as my resources reasonably allowed, use bomb-sniffing dogs, and use law enforcement and intelligence agencies to try to prevent terrorist groups from showing up at the airport in the first place. I would train my security personnel to be on the lookout for suspicious behavior while recognizing that most acts of terrorism in the United States have been committed by white males, and that terrorism is a statistical outlier in every demographic.
That's just me. You're right, though, institutionally mandated racism would probably be way more effective.
And I'll bring a flour bomb on board, and your detectors will never find it. Or I could replace half the batteries on my laptop with a bomb, then seal it so the dog can't smell it, and the searcher will never realize it's there.
You are far overestimating how good detectors and searching is. They are already doing all your suggestions, so I guess you are happy with them.
Profiling is effective. Israel does it. If you are a family traveling with kids, they just ask you some questions. Alone? They check more. Arab an alone? Be prepared for a full search. Arab, but with a family? Not as much of a search.
Yes it sucks for the Arabs, no question about it. But it works. And it would never fly in the US. There are many things that work, but have enough drawbacks they will never be used.
You can say profiling has too many drawbacks, and I'll agree with you. But don't say it's not effective.
You are far overestimating how good detectors and searching is.
No, I'm not, which is why I'm doing all the other stuff, too.
They are already doing all your suggestions, so I guess you are happy with them.
Yeah, actually, I think a lot of what the TSA does is completely reasonable and, when executed properly, effective. The fact that some policies are stupid theater does not mean all are.
Profiling is effective. Israel does it.
The United States isn't Israel, we have extremists of all colors and creeds, and terrorist acts here by any one group are rare enough that particular instances can't really be taken as indicators of who will be exclusively trying to do it in the future.
