Schneier on Security

"What if I am a passenger who does not have 3 ounces with me, but is confident I could produce three plus ounces on the flight?"

"or a gel"

Okay, THAT was funny!

That was hilarious!

3 oz is ok but 4 oz will blow up a plane?
We don't know yet.
...
So what if two different people bring a 3oz bag of liquid and then get together on the plane and combine them.

This is great stuff!!!

Thanks Bruce :) you made my work week all better now

Funny as hell. Greatings from europe!

Am I the only one still watching SNL in 'real time'? I wondered how long it would take for this to get mentioned here or on the RISKS list...

wait a sec.

this was a skit?

i coulda sworn it was a hidden cam video of the real TSA.

based on my experience at US airports, i detect no satire in this...

What happens if you use the name "Al Kyder" and "Terry Wrist"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LBAmLEG1bM

I am waiting for Alfred Yankovic to be detained for ties to "Weird Al-Qaeda".

Very funny.

I'm not an english native speaker, what does the guy say in the end: "But what I do know is that you can't say we don't know what we're doing as long as there is ... WHAT?"

Thanks.

"...as long as there's FEMA."

The line is 'But what I do know is that you can't say we don't know what we're doing as long as there is FEMA'. FEMA is one of the government agencies that screwed up during the New Orleans disaster after Hurricane Katrina.

Very funny. Thanks for linking it, Bruce.

Almost fell out of my chair laughing at this one! :)

"You are the ELITE!"

Guess who's now on the no fly list - They're subversives!

Quoth duerig:
"FEMA is one of the government agencies that screwed up during the New Orleans disaster after Hurricane Katrina."

I'm being totally serious when I say this: This meme supports a common myth: FEMA blew it.
FEMA and Brownie were scapegoated for failures that occurred in DHS, FEMA's parent organization. When FEMA became a part of DHS, and Congress and DHS subsequently published the National Response Plan, the overwhelming responsibility for disaster planning, avoidance, and recovery passed to DHS and ultimately to the President. When Bush declared a National State of Emergency on Aug 27, New Orleans/Katrina officially became an Incident of National Significance (according the the aforementioned original NRP). At that very moment, all emergency preparedness and disaster response officially became the responsibility of DHS -- and NOT the responsibility of any single subordinate federal agency, or for that matter any local agency. Furthermore, NRP officially states that all financial obligation for preparedness, evacuation, and cleanup is to be borne by the executive branch.
Just wanted to clear that up.

I'm sorry. That skit gives entirely too much credit to the TSA. They're nowhere near as competent as that.

@Govt Skeptic
The primary responsibility in an emergency goes to the locals. Unfortunately, neither Nagin nor Blanco handled the Katrina situation particularly well. Not to say that the Feds didn't screw up too, but the primary mistakes were made at the local level long before the Feds were even involved.

@derf
Actually, that's not at all what the NRP says. The primary responsibility falls upon the locals until/unless the situation is deemed an INS (Incident of National Significance). This happens when the locals request the designation of National State of Emergency or when that designation is made even without their request.
I agree that locals bear responsibility for trying to keep it together, but clearly this situation totally overwhelmed them. Also, in their defense, they followed protocol and requested federal assistance three days prior to Katrina's landfall in LA. It just seemed like the feds had no idea about their own NRP duties, and basically just screwed around until things got too bad to ignore, when they decided to blame the locals and scapegoat FEMA.
Actually, the NRP is a pretty good read, you should check it out. It would be nice to think about things actually working the way the doc says. I mean, imagine if something REALLY bad happened -- not just 9/11 bad or Katrina bad, but REALLY bad. Imagine what kind of incompetence the Bush unitary executive could display then.

@Govt Skeptic
If the locals had actually followed protocol, a mandatory evacuation would have been ordered 72 hours in advance of the storm (as the plan indicated and testing of the plan showed), the infamous drowned school busses would have driven everyone out of New Orleans in advance of the storm, and no one would have needed the Feds to save them from their rooftops.

The Coast Guard and military did an outstanding job with what they had to work with. Federal officials didn't do so well, but the locals created the most egregious screw ups. State police were the ones sending tractor trailers of ice and other supplies back to their point of origin, not the feds. State government turned away hundreds of volunteers with boats that drove down there to help with the rescues. Local law enforcement left prisons undermanned, not the Feds. Local law enforcement prevented people from leaving New Orleans while the Feds were busy plucking them from their rooftops.

DHS is no rose, but Katrina's mess was definitely local made.

Whoever wrote that skit is guilty of over-thinking the guidelines, in clear violation of TSA regulations. He or she is clearly a liberal who hates America, as only a liberal would make derogatory light of an essential Security Policy that will protect American aviation from a well-publicized threat.

The most unfortunate thing is that the NSA's domestic wiretapping program did not intercept communications regarding the writing and production of this skit, so that the FBI could take appropriate measures to prevent it from being aired. That only means the surveillance program needs to be expanded, and kept secret from liberals in Congress who impede its effectiveness by insisting that it's illegal. Whatever the President does to protect our country from Evil Terrorism is by definition legal, especially if Alberto Gonzales writes a memo explaining why it's legal.

I hope the perpetrators of this atrocity are now languishing in Gitmo, where all liberals who hate America belong.

God bless America, and Viva Bush!

This is funny as hell... I had a recent international flight and I was pissed off about the ridiculous airline security regulations. I think it is all smoke and mirrors. Britain seems to be far more paranoid about this than US (and far less efficient in the process).