Schneier on Security

Richard Steven Hack • March 7, 2011 4:06 PM

“Not only that Bruce doesn’t review comments on his blog, he doesn’t even take courtesy to review his own posts.”

You’ve obviously never been to Matt Yglesias’ political blog. Compared to him, Bruce is a model blogger.

By the way, to champion Bruce, I’m adding him to the pantheon of the Tao of Bruce.

What is that, you say?

The Tao of Bruce is the philosophy that whenever you don’t know what to do, you ask: What would Bruce do?

Bruce Wayne. Bruce Lee. Bruce Campbell.

And now I’ve added Bruce Schneier to that pantheon of Modern Masters.

Richard Steven Hack • March 7, 2011 4:38 PM

Offtopic in this thread, but…

At Least 27 Honolulu TSA Officers Under Probe
Some Checked Luggage Went Un-Screened For Months, Sources Say
:http://www.kitv.com/r/27048822/detail.html

Quotes

Baggage there was supposed to be opened up and checked for traces of explosives, but sources said many pieces of luggage were never checked. In some cases, TSA agents simply marked suitcases as having been screened when those checked bags had not been checked at all, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Sources said baggage checked on nine daily morning departures from Lobby 4 were not properly screened, a situation that could have lasted as long as four months, meaning thousands of suitcases went unchecked.

TSA spokesman Nico Melendez released a statement to KITV 4 News that said the agency “is taking appropriate disciplinary action against several TSA officers following an extensive investigation into allegations of improper screening.”

“We took immediate action [4 months later – My Note] and none of the personnel accused have been conducting screening duties since the allegations were made,” Melendez said. [Have they been fired? – My Note] “TSA is proud to hold our workforce to the highest ethical standards and will not tolerate a deviation from the commitment to carry out our mission to protect the traveling public.”

The TSA said the problems should be put in perspective because they happened at one of Honolulu airport’s 12 baggage security screening areas and the 27 or so TSA employees under investigation make up a small fraction of the agency’s 750 employees in Honolulu.

[I’m so relieved – my note]

Sources close to the investigation said two Honolulu TSA employees tipped off officials to the problems, starting the probe, which has lasted two months. [It took 2 months to prove what should have been visually obvious in 2 minutes? – My note.]

One source close to the investigation said TSA managers were unaware of the screening deficiencies because TSA officers would always do their screening work properly when management was present. [DUH! Has the TSA never heard of undercover investigators? – My Note]

But TSA employees point out two shift supervisors were in the lobby all the time and they had to know that checked bags were not going through the proper screening. [Roh-Roh! – My Note]

The TSA has been using overtime to cover the shifts of the accused employees who’ve been removed from screening duties during the investigation for the past two months, sources said. [More of your tax dollars – My Note] They’ve continued to be paid and have reported to work in their uniforms but have been doing “non-screening duties,” according to Melendez. [“Effectively”, I’m sure. – My Note]

End Quotes