Going a step further, my first business trip after 9/11 was the day we declared war on the Taliban. The flight attendants were kind enough to wait until we were in the air before telling us. The solitary brown dude in a turban on our flight (I think he was a Sikh) must have felt incredibly uncomfortable given that 99% of the passengers were staring at him during the flight. For a good six months to a year, the security checkpoints were manned by uniformed Army Reserve/National Guard guys toting M-16s. TSA causes me zero stress. Research the rules before you fly this holiday season, don't try to take liquids or gels, avoid wearing a lot of metal, and take off your shoes. It is what it is. The TSA folks at the checkpoints are just doing their jobs.
One of the best flights I ever had was only 2-3 days after 9/11. I had to fly to San Francisco for work, and the airports were almost empty. No line ups, and the quality of service from the agents was awesome. I arrived at the San Fran airport, and was able to upgrade my hotel room (right beside the airport) to a suite for stupidly cheap... I think I paid $50 per night (all-in) for a week, because they had an almost 95% cancellation rate. The hotel was empty. The hard part was finding a rental car... seemed that everyone that wanted to fly had opted to drive instead. Motels along the highways were overbooked, and there wasn't a rental car to be found. Luckily I had a friend in the area that lent me an extra car of his for my stay. But to say that TSA are "doing their job", well, actually, they're not. They've taken it upon themselves to do MORE than their job, and that is where the problem really is. The TSA recently released an internal SOP document that was improperly redacted that is VERY interesting reading. I'll attach it. I can say, without reservation, that every time I've flown I've seen the TSA not follow these SOP's. (Not with me, but with someone that I've seen in line).
I only fly in uniform now. Last time I didn't, it was fucking awful. I got TWO random security screenings, where they locked me in a little plastic room and checked all my luggage for explosives. I showed them my military ID and everything, but they were not deterred. Those fat, lazy morons ruined my day. By the way, if your boarding pass says "SSSS" in the bottom right corner, you're going to get the super special screening. The TSA dipshits don't make anything safer, and I even caught one of them falling asleep at the airport in Houston.
I'm young, white, dress in a single layer and have nothing in my backpack but a laptop and a book, I have zero problems getting through airport security. That being said, it's completely a case of locking the barn door after the horse has left. When the next terrorist attack hits a stadium or a rail line, or an oil pipeline, or a port, or one of our uncountable completely vulnerable targets, we're going to feel like assholes for obsessing over airport security when door locks on the cockpit were all that was needed to make planes unattractive enough targets for terrorists to bother with.
I fully agree with you Aetius. I work at one of the most "prestigious" Universities in Australia and we get a heap of international students from all over the world but mainly China and other parts of Asia that we are now reliant on to keep the place running. In fact , education has become Australias second biggest export. As far as soft targets go ... we are one big fat juicy marshmallow.
I don't think you can compare air travel to any of the aforementioned targets. For one, there was already a security system in place at airports prior to 9/11. It may not have been as robust or strictly enforced, but it was there, and it was a cause (to a lesser extent) for travel delays. In terms of airport sucurity, the only things that have visibly changed (for me) is that I have to pack liquids in 3oz bottles in a plastic baggie, I have to remove my shoes at the security check, and I can't bring my awesome pocket knife collection with me to show off to the flight attendants. What causes the delay is the people who have a hard time following relatively simple rules. As it relates to a potential terrorist attack on a rail line, well, let's face it, we're fucked. Could you imagine if they implemented airport-esque security protocols on the subway system in New York? The whole point of that system is rapid transit. A 10 minute subway ride uptown would become a 45 minute ordeal. Locks on the conductor's door would do nothing to prevent a bomb scenario. The only way to prevent a rail attack (in a non commuter-invasive manner) is to know it's going to happen in advance, and that requires a substantially more sophisticated security detail. Same goes for the pipeline, or the port, or any other overly vulnerable target. What you're suggesting to some extent is that our obsession over airport security is mutually exclusive of our security concerns regarding other potential targets. The truth is, the only reason these security measures were put in place is because we reacted to actual events and used gathered intelligence to design a system that would prevent such events from happening again. If somebody hadn't been caught with a shoe bomb, would we likely obsess over shoes? If somebody hadn't been caught with a liquid bomb, would we likely obsess over 3oz bottles of hand lotion? No way. Can you blame airport officials for implementing such protocols? The difference is that these protocols are highly visible and highly invasive to us. Could you imagine if we had to go through all that to ride a 10 minute train to Midtown or to watch a 3 hour baseball game? With trains and sporting events, we have alternatives (i.e., taxis and televisions). With air travel, we do not have reasonable alternatives. 9/11 scared the shit out of me, but if I told my boss that I was no longer willing to get on an airplane, he'd tell me to take a hike. These security measures at least offer me a small peace of mind.
What unfortunate timing. You can kiss your new lax procedures goodbye. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/26/airline.attack/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/26/air ... index.html</a>