Me on Airport Security
Yesterday I participated in a New York Times “Room for Debate” discussion on airline security. My contribution is nothing I haven’t said before, so I won’t reprint it here.
A short history of airport security: We screen for guns and bombs, so the terrorists use box cutters. We confiscate box cutters and corkscrews, so they put explosives in their sneakers. We screen footwear, so they try to use liquids. We confiscate liquids, so they put PETN bombs in their underwear. We roll out full-body scanners, even though they wouldn’t have caught the Underwear Bomber, so they put a bomb in a printer cartridge. We ban printer cartridges over 16 ounces—the level of magical thinking here is amazing—and they’re going to do something else.
This is a stupid game, and we should stop playing it.
The other participants are worth reading, too.
I also did an interview in—of all places—Popular Mechanics.
Mike James • November 23, 2010 6:26 AM
Nothing wrong with Popular Mechanics – its one of the few places you could have a sensible discussion with a group of people with a very broad range of interests.
Hope it or something like it makes it into the print edition.