Deal with it, we're in a war whether some of you realize or not, there will be some inconveniences to your normal life.
However, there is no need for inconveniences that provide no benefit other than security theater.
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Consider a ban on carrying liquids onto an airplane. The advertised goal is to prevent someone from bringing two liquid components onto a plane, and mixing them together inflight to create a bomb.
The protections we have in place provide the appearance of preventing this, without actually preventing this.
If someone is willing to blow up a plane, it is likely they are willing to kidnap an infant. If they bring the infant onto the plane, they can bring on whatever liquids they want, as long as the container is labeled to suggest that it is baby formula.
A female suicide bomber has the option of
adjustable breast implants. Fill each with a prohibited chemical instead of saline. The lavatory can be used as a location to drain the implants and mix the chemicals.
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Many of the TSA protocols are "security theater" rather than actual security. They provide an inconvenience to those who would do harm, but they do not prevent the harm. However, they provide a tremendous inconvenience and cost to honest travelers and the nation as a whole.
In 2010, there were about 632 million air passengers in the USA. If the average wage is $25/hour (rich people fly more often than poor people), and each passenger wastes in hour due to "security theater", that's an economic cost of almost $16 billion per year. That's not counting the additional cost on the back end of people who used to be able to carry on everything they needed, who now need to wait for checked luggage. Nor does is count the production costs of putting on the elaborate Security Theater show.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we shouldn't have security. I'm merely suggesting that the current policies contain many expensive and disruptive elements that are far more theater than they are security.
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Of course, flying today is safer than it was prior to 9/11. This is due to two highly effective, and inexpensive improvements that have been put in place.
First of all, they have reinforced the cockpit doors. This is a good thing.
However, the biggest improvement is security is a change in attitude amongst the flying public. Prior to 9/11, the average passenger felt that the best and safest course of action was to cooperate if the plane was being hijacked. If a flight attendant was held hostage, everyone would stay seated and not intervene for fear that the flight attendant would be harmed.
That attitude has changed. Today if a hijacker sneaks a ceramic knife onboard and takes a flight attendant hostage, I would expect a large number of people to rise up and attack the bad guy. Frankly, I think the flying public would be a lot safer if those passengers were allowed to have pocket knives.
