It seems that the Department of Homeland Security and the Obama administration has abandoned the silly and counterproductive non-profiling mantra that has been hindering airline security since 9/11. The government is instituting heightened screening for a group of 14 nations.
It’s rocket science! Every recent terrorism attack seems to have come from individuals who have come from one of the these countries or who has been to one of these countries.
Passengers traveling from or through nations listed as “state sponsors of terrorism” — Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria — as well as Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen will face heightened screening, an Obama administration official said.
Other passengers flying to the United States will be randomly searched while citizens and those passing through these 14 predominately Muslim countries will face pat-downs and luggage searches.
Finally a more-reasoned response to the problem of terrorism. Let’s not treat the white-haired grandmother flying from Sweden with the same suspicion as the 23-year-old Muslim man returning from Yemen to the United States.
Sorry, Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, but get your own security act together and find a way to control these heartless zealots and maybe, the restrictions will be removed.
At least this is a beginning. Rather than patting down every piece of hay in the haystack, security personnel can focus on those whose profile shows they may be intent on doing our nation harm.
Airlines can go back to functioning, security lines can be reduced and the effort at uncovering terrorists will be improved.
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I question whether the “heightened screening” will actually do anything useful. Still, kudos to whoever in the DHS/TSA bureaucracy listened to the person who thought of it. That person clearly must be outside the DHS/TSA, since the concept of focusing on likely groups instead of mindlessly punishing everyone indicates a level of thoughtfulness and intelligence that can’t possibly exist within the DHS/TSA.
Amazing – our government puts out a policy that actually makes some sense. Let’s just hope that the profiling stays “intelligent”. This doesn’t apply to domestic flights or flights leaving the US, so I’m curious to see what they come up with there.
I have to say I’ve shifted my view on this to the “profiling” camp. I think the resistance to this point has been due to historical disasters–slavery/racism, Japanese internment camps and other low points in humanity. However, we have come a long way in terms of evidence gathering, intelligence surveillance etc and the reality is that Swedish grandmothers, 5 year olds from Kansas or the Australian surfer dude are simply not as likely to cause mayhem in the skies as a person from (or having traveled to/from) a known terrorist harboring country is. Treating everyone as a threat only clogs the system and allows for greater likilihood of error.
Well people are still discussing using FBSs (full-body scanners)
as a primary means of screening. I think given the level of detail these scanners reveal, they should be used solely for secondary screening, not as a replacement for primary screening. The use of FBSs for primary screening is now being advocated by many, including Los Angeles Airport Police, and local and national legislators. Even with these country specific flags in place, the focus from a screening level, should be on persons of interest. As long as profiling is abstained from, even when warranted, “security theater” will continue. It is a waste of time, and effort, to screen the majority (90 % plus) of American citizens in these FBSs for primary screening. It is good to narrow things down, the focus could still be even more logical however.