Bruce Schneier on Terrorism

[attutle]

Is aviation security mostly for show?
"The best defenses against terrorism are largely invisible: investigation, intelligence, and emergency response. But even these are less effective at keeping us safe than our social and political policies, both at home and abroad. However, our elected leaders don't think this way: They are far more likely to

Comments

[docstrange]

I do think Bruce is right that the best defenses against organized or semi-organized terror attacks are intelligence-based (but also, he doesn't point out, they need to be supplemented and distributed, by an aware and capable general population). The point he seems to sidestep over and over is that "security theater" isn't "theater" for those who are subjected to it. As it becomes more extreme, it isn't "theater" for anyone, but more like, "being under arrest for the privilege of doing ordinary things (like using transportation)."

[siliconshaman]

The most telling analysis I've read is contained in this gizmodo article.

Security expert Bruce Schneier nails the core incompetency: "For years I've been saying 'Only two things have made flying safer [since 9/11]: the reinforcement of cockpit doors, and the fact that passengers know now to resist hijackers.'"

I.e...the rest of it, all that billions of dollars of security, is pretty much just for show.

[docstrange]

But that isn't entirely true. Intelligence cooperation (Pakistani/British) on the ground intercepted and blocked the large-scale, Britain-based plot to down airliners a couple of years ago. Of course the net result of that takedown was, for us, the liquids restrictions we all know and love (and not having airliners fall from the sky). The new restrictions part is reactionary, tail chasing and basically theater, as Schneier suggests; but the takedown was intelligence-based and actually worked. There have been other real attempts that have been blocked over the last few years, too. Not just the silly schmucks in the US that have made big press

[synk]

The really sad thing here is that even passenger vigilance didn't help (8 years ago, I think it would have). We're going to be flying naked, tranquilized, stuck in mobile shelving units and it still won't be enough. The best long term solution is to stop people from feeling they must kill and die for there to be justice. That's going to take several generations and it's going to be awful.