Solution options? Profiling (properly done) may be better than potentially/actually dangerous tech.
...And it's NOT any simplistic "pulling over people travelling while black or brown", which is stupid and which has been said to have already happened in the USA prior to these machines, as conducted by the usual non-highly-trained security grunts. (I've been on at least one flight where everyone of apparent Indian or Pakistani origin was asked to undergo additional carry-on screening at the gate (what, the regular baggage scans were useless?). Coincidence of ethnic group? I doubt it. And -surprise, surprise- these families turned out not to be terrorists.)
http://abcnews.go.com/m/screen?id=9476997&pid=80
Excerpts:
"Isaac Yeffet, the former head of security for the Israeli airline El Al, says the only way to secure the skies is to employ highly-educated, well-trained agents to question passengers. Forget bomb-sniffing "puffers" or scanners that can see through passengers' clothes. Yeffet said that he has seen many terrorists outsmart airport security over the years, and as technology improves, so do the terrorists' methods.
"We are dealing with a sophisticated enemy who knows how to beat our technology," said Yeffet"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Yeffet said profiling isn't about singling out one ethnic group but about asking intelligent questions.
He told the story of an Irish woman several years ago who flew from London to Israel. She had fallen in love with a man, was pregnant with his baby and was flying there to meet his family. He packed her bags, including a gift for his family. Her suitcase cleared airport security without a problem, Yeffet said, but when El Al agents started to question her as part of their routine checks, something just didn't seem right.
Even though she had nothing to hide, they questioned the situation. An inspection of her luggage found 4 kilograms of explosives -- a bomb, planted by her lover, that airport security scanners had missed. She was so upset that this man would try to use her to kill everybody on the 747 that she gave the police all the information they needed to prosecute."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When hiring people to do profiling, Yeffet said, they must be qualified staff, "very well educated people" with at least a college education and fluent in English and at least one other language.
"We test them always. Anybody who fails is fired. We have no mercy because we are dealing with lives," Yeffet said. "The problem with the TSA is that they don't have experts, they don't have qualified people."
The Transportation Security Administration did not respond to requests for comment."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
....Yeah, but college-educated highly-trained bi-lingual professionals who know how to ask intelligent questions cost so much more than grunts and thugs who can press buttons on radiation-emitting machines that still can't detect powders or "cavity hidden" explosive devices.
http://abcnews.go.com/m/screen?id=9476997&pid=80
Excerpts:
"Isaac Yeffet, the former head of security for the Israeli airline El Al, says the only way to secure the skies is to employ highly-educated, well-trained agents to question passengers. Forget bomb-sniffing "puffers" or scanners that can see through passengers' clothes. Yeffet said that he has seen many terrorists outsmart airport security over the years, and as technology improves, so do the terrorists' methods.
"We are dealing with a sophisticated enemy who knows how to beat our technology," said Yeffet"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Yeffet said profiling isn't about singling out one ethnic group but about asking intelligent questions.
He told the story of an Irish woman several years ago who flew from London to Israel. She had fallen in love with a man, was pregnant with his baby and was flying there to meet his family. He packed her bags, including a gift for his family. Her suitcase cleared airport security without a problem, Yeffet said, but when El Al agents started to question her as part of their routine checks, something just didn't seem right.
Even though she had nothing to hide, they questioned the situation. An inspection of her luggage found 4 kilograms of explosives -- a bomb, planted by her lover, that airport security scanners had missed. She was so upset that this man would try to use her to kill everybody on the 747 that she gave the police all the information they needed to prosecute."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When hiring people to do profiling, Yeffet said, they must be qualified staff, "very well educated people" with at least a college education and fluent in English and at least one other language.
"We test them always. Anybody who fails is fired. We have no mercy because we are dealing with lives," Yeffet said. "The problem with the TSA is that they don't have experts, they don't have qualified people."
The Transportation Security Administration did not respond to requests for comment."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
....Yeah, but college-educated highly-trained bi-lingual professionals who know how to ask intelligent questions cost so much more than grunts and thugs who can press buttons on radiation-emitting machines that still can't detect powders or "cavity hidden" explosive devices.