Monday, August 14, 2006
A few (ok, several) words from Ms. Crankybutt, my alter ego:
As everyone is probably aware, there was another potential disaster averted in our "friendly" skies this past week. This time, the plan was to bring explosives onto commercial airplanes in ordinary-looking containers such as sport drink bottles and ignite them once the flight was nearing its destination. The targets were flights leaving from London and arriving in the US.
Following this discovery, there of course was the expected panic as emergency measures were taken. Many British flights were cancelled, and in the US, passengers were not allowed any carry-ons containing liquids or gels, such as drinking water, toothpaste, makeup, etc. All of this is perfectly understandable given the situation. But what about the future of security screening?
The pattern that is occurring is obvious: every time terrorists succeed or even attempt a new method of destruction a commercial airline, the response is to punish all passengers with new rules and searches rather than implement improved technology for screenings, technology which already exists but is not being widely used. We've had FIVE YEARS to implement proper security measures since the bombings in New York and at the Pentagon. Yet we'd still rather freak out about someone forgetting to put their nail scissors into their checked bag than put together a unified list of known terrorists. The attempted shoe bombing was also a few years ago, yet we're still being asked to remove our shoes, especially if they have gel inserts. Dan and I needed to fly somepleace when Dan was in a walking cast with a broken foot awaiting surgery. He was required to remove the cast, have it run through the x-ray machine, then walk through the scanner on a broken foot! And now we cannot take a factory sealed bottle of drinking water through security. This doesn't bode well for people like me with ailments that dehydrate them and require not only drinking water at all times, but also over the counter eye drops and a personal humidifier aboard the plane (you have to put water in the humidfier for it to work). And heaven forbid you should have to travel in a wheelchair. At times, I've been made to get out of the chair so it could be thoroughly searched by hand. Luckily, I was healthy enough to do so. But what about passengers who haven't the strength to get out of their chair?
At the rate we are going, terrorists are going to find a way to bomb a plane with ordinary clothing, prompting dress codes and/or searches requiring passengers to disrobe. I swear, TSA ain't gonna be happy until we all get strip searches prior to boarding a plane. Why not throw in free anal probes for good measure? I know, that was in poor taste, but I am fed up with the ineptitude of the agencies that are supposedly protecting us.
There are ways to individually screen each passenger without them having to remove a single item of clothing. I've seen demonstrations of the "puffer" devices that electronically scan a person for explosives. Very efficient. Yet there are fewer than forty of them in actual use. Why? The excuse is that they are expensive. There are also hand-held monitors that can scan the contents of anything containing liquid; these can tell the screener if a bottle of water actually holds water or something else. The fact is, the idea of using a liquid explosive on board a plane is at least TEN years old, yet the screening devices to detect these liquids are still in the testing phase.
I personally would be more than willing to pay, say, an extra ten bucks each time I fly to pay for the "puffer" scanners and the liquid ID monitors to be installed at all US airports. And I think most Americans would do the same. If each plane ticket cost ten bucks more, it would easily cover the cost of this technology. We're still paying "9/11" fees; why not go ahead and upgrade?
Yeah, I know my anger should be directed at the terrorists, but in a way, we're letting them win. I'm tired of being punished for it.
Following this discovery, there of course was the expected panic as emergency measures were taken. Many British flights were cancelled, and in the US, passengers were not allowed any carry-ons containing liquids or gels, such as drinking water, toothpaste, makeup, etc. All of this is perfectly understandable given the situation. But what about the future of security screening?
The pattern that is occurring is obvious: every time terrorists succeed or even attempt a new method of destruction a commercial airline, the response is to punish all passengers with new rules and searches rather than implement improved technology for screenings, technology which already exists but is not being widely used. We've had FIVE YEARS to implement proper security measures since the bombings in New York and at the Pentagon. Yet we'd still rather freak out about someone forgetting to put their nail scissors into their checked bag than put together a unified list of known terrorists. The attempted shoe bombing was also a few years ago, yet we're still being asked to remove our shoes, especially if they have gel inserts. Dan and I needed to fly somepleace when Dan was in a walking cast with a broken foot awaiting surgery. He was required to remove the cast, have it run through the x-ray machine, then walk through the scanner on a broken foot! And now we cannot take a factory sealed bottle of drinking water through security. This doesn't bode well for people like me with ailments that dehydrate them and require not only drinking water at all times, but also over the counter eye drops and a personal humidifier aboard the plane (you have to put water in the humidfier for it to work). And heaven forbid you should have to travel in a wheelchair. At times, I've been made to get out of the chair so it could be thoroughly searched by hand. Luckily, I was healthy enough to do so. But what about passengers who haven't the strength to get out of their chair?
At the rate we are going, terrorists are going to find a way to bomb a plane with ordinary clothing, prompting dress codes and/or searches requiring passengers to disrobe. I swear, TSA ain't gonna be happy until we all get strip searches prior to boarding a plane. Why not throw in free anal probes for good measure? I know, that was in poor taste, but I am fed up with the ineptitude of the agencies that are supposedly protecting us.
There are ways to individually screen each passenger without them having to remove a single item of clothing. I've seen demonstrations of the "puffer" devices that electronically scan a person for explosives. Very efficient. Yet there are fewer than forty of them in actual use. Why? The excuse is that they are expensive. There are also hand-held monitors that can scan the contents of anything containing liquid; these can tell the screener if a bottle of water actually holds water or something else. The fact is, the idea of using a liquid explosive on board a plane is at least TEN years old, yet the screening devices to detect these liquids are still in the testing phase.
I personally would be more than willing to pay, say, an extra ten bucks each time I fly to pay for the "puffer" scanners and the liquid ID monitors to be installed at all US airports. And I think most Americans would do the same. If each plane ticket cost ten bucks more, it would easily cover the cost of this technology. We're still paying "9/11" fees; why not go ahead and upgrade?
Yeah, I know my anger should be directed at the terrorists, but in a way, we're letting them win. I'm tired of being punished for it.
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