We've all been there. Arriving at the airport in plenty of time just to endure the nightmare that is the TSA screening process. We are looked up and down, scrutinized, our baggage searched and manipulated. Most of us don't think twice about this procedure. This type of TSA screening has become commonplace since 9/11 and any grumblings are swept aside by the thought of "hey, it's for our safety". But what this whole process actually is is an elaborate theater production that gives the public a false sense of security while lining the pockets of big business.
It goes without saying that 9/11 changed the perception of security in this country, and more specifically, airport security. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks measures were instituted to protect us more thoroughly. While some of these, such as extensive explosive scanning of checked baggage, were long overdue, the majority have nothing to do with the attacks themselves. The failure of 9/11 had nothing to do with airport screening and has everything to do with the failure of the FBI, CIA, and our intelligence community as a whole. The fact that these terrorists had boxcutters on the plane is irrelevant. As anyone who has watched a prison show will tell you, it's easy to make a weapon out of just about anything and smuggle it around with ease. Most likely even a threat of a bomb would have produces the same outcome. What they had working to their advantage was surprise and an antiquated thinking of hijacking. Up until that point when one thought of a hijacked airplane thoughts went to a plane being diverted to foreign soil and a hostage negotiation breaking out. Now, the hijacking paradigm has changed, and even if Mark Wahlberg isn't on your plane, the potential hijacker most likely won't get halfway down the cabin before they are tackled by the passengers. The element of surprise is gone.
Despite this we continue to spend billions of our tax dollars on preventing an attack that has already happened and likely will not happen again. Chief among these are the full body scanners. These are machines that scan your body and essentially take an x-ray picture of your body, sans clothes, for the screener to evaluate. Removing the fact that these raise serious privacy issues, how likely are these to actually prevent a terrorist attack? They are not used at every airport or at every terminal. If a terrorist does approach a checkpoint where one is in use, they simply need to get in the line with the old fashion metal detector. We have spent billions on these machines and don't have anything to show for it, other than slower lines and the companies who manufacture them getting a huge payday. It seems to me a more cost efficient and more productive approach would be bomb sniffing dogs. They are effective and much less obtrusive then these screeners. And who wouldn't like to enter the eden that is the airport terminal with the sight of an adorable pooch sniffing around?
But one of the most egregious measures instituted by the TSA is the policy that all pilots and flight attendants must go through the same screening procedures as the passengers. These pilots, many of them retired military who flew multi-billion dollar aircrafts with payloads that could decimate an entire community, are subject to the same intrusive behavior from the TSA as everyone else. What makes this even more mind blowing is that the ground crews, baggage carriers, and caterers who work at the airports are fully exempt from this screening. That's right, no screening at all. I'm sure many are unaware of this, which is yet another glowing example of our media failure. This is a national embarrassment that these people who have unadulterated access to our aircrafts can literally just walk onto the tarmac while the people who are entrusted with our safety day in and day out are publicly humiliated. This is not to insinuate that baggage carriers and the like are potential threats, but the double standard is glaring and shows the ineptness and lack of rational thinking by the TSA.
Apparently all of this is now acceptable. If you were told of the procedures we would have to go through today in order board an airplane 12 years ago you'd most likely laugh. But that's not the case. A perfect storm of reactionary politics, fear mongering, and the willingness of the general public to accept anything, no matter how infringing or inconvenient, in the name of safety has caused this nightmare we find ourselves in. The TSA is a bureaucracy created quickly with enormous power and little accountability, and no doubt will view any form of restructuring as a threat to their authority and funding. There are common sense answers, such as focussing more on intelligence, explosive scanning, and on the person boarding the plane rather than their baggage. By implementing some of these steps and streamlining the system we currently operate under we will become safer and more efficient in preventing another attack. However there is no magic answer. All of the preparation and determination in the world will not stop an intelligent radical. Unfortunately, with the a silent public and neutered media, it is unlikely any of this will change soon. And if, God forbid, we are attacked again, I fear any progress we have made will be swept under the rug by panic and fear. More of our rights and liberties will be infringed upon and maddeningly unsuited policies implemented to appease these public fears. It's time our government stops treating us as children. We as Americans need to come to terms and focus more on the reality of the world we are now living in then fantasy the TSA presents. If not we may one day wake up no safer then we were and a lot less free.
