Are full-body scans & pat-downs the answer?
As usual, I find myself in perfect accord with Carl Unger, regular writer for Smarter Travel, when he blogs about whether full-body scanners and full-body pat-downs by TSA agents are the answers to making flying safer for the traveling public (he says “no”). Mr. Unger interviewed five experts for the article. I’ve listed them and summarized their conclusions below. To read Carl’s excellent article in its entirety, click here.
- Dr. Andrew R. Thomas, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Transportation Security: “At its core, the transportation security strategy of the United States is overwhelmingly a law enforcement one. That is, what we do at our airports is inherently reactive and designed to prevent the last attack… The remedy…is to change the operational mission of the TSA and focus on risk reduction through pro-active measures such as broader intelligence gathering, knowledge management, and enhanced coordination with international partners… to take the emphasis of the TSA away from being simply a passenger screening organization…”
- Patrick Smith, pilot and author, Ask the Pilot: “[Scanners] are part of what has become an unsustainable security strategy: That is, treating each and every passenger… as potential terrorists, and attempting to inspect their bodies and belongings for each and every possible weapon. This simply isn’t a realistic approach in a country where more than two million people fly daily…We are literally strip-searching the entire flying public, from preschoolers to pilots, and rifling through their bags for things—knives and scissors—that are harmless in the first place. All of this while freight from overseas goes uninspected for bombs and explosives.”
- Robert Poole, Director of Transportation Policy, Reason Foundation: “Intrusive screening [by TSA]…treats all air travelers as equally likely to be a threat. The only feasible way to remove body-scanning (or the intrusive pat down alternative) …is to change TSA’s screening model to one that is risk-based. In practice, that would mean separating air travelers (other than those on the No-Fly list, who are automatically denied passage) into three basic groups: 1) Trusted Travelers, who have passed a background check and are issued a biometric ID card that proves (when they arrive at the checkpoint) that they are the person who was cleared; 2) High-risk travelers, either those about whom no information is known or who are flagged by the various DHS intelligence lists as warranting ‘Selectee’ status (the only ones facing body-scanner or pat down as mandatory, routine screening); and 3) Ordinary travelers—basically everyone else, who would go through metal detector and put carry-ons through 2-D X-ray machines. They would not have to remove shoes or jackets, and could travel with liquids. A small fraction of this group would be subject to random ‘Selectee’-type screening.”
- Fred Gevalt, Executive Producer, Please Remove Your Shoes: “Since we released our film, I’m asked quite frequently for a solution. Today my message to TSA would be simple: ‘Stop it. Just stop it.’ TSA has become a government jobs program… Let Americans travel freely at the airport, and let the CIA, NSA, and FBI do their jobs. We can handle risk. After all, isn’t this the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
- Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel, American Civil Liberties Union: “We need to focus more on explosives, less on looking for items like knives and box cutters that can’t really cause much harm. [The TSA] already has bomb-swabbing machines on hand, which can detect bomb-making material on hands and clothes. These are much less invasive than the scanners and pat downs, and actually address what is really the main threat against airlines… Basically, [airline safety] is a long-term issue, and it requires a process that focuses on true security threats while taking civil liberties into account.”
Well, readers, what do YOU think? How can we make flying more efficient, easier, and faster, while still maintaining safety?
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