Oh Yeah, I Feel Safer Now

I spent a good part of 2004 in airport "security" screening lines...you know, the ones where they make you take off your shoes "just in case". I have also opened my luggage to find inside a letter stating that my bags were searched after they were checked in by airline personnel. Well, according to this story, these screening people aren't doing such a good job: Yahoo! News - N.J. Airport Security Spot & Lose Fake Bomb

So they planted a fake bomb on a flight to Amsterdam, and the "security" personnel couldn't find it. The fake bomb made it all the way to Amsterdam, where I suppose airport officials were notified that the bomb was fake. This was a test...and the Transporation Security Administration (TSA) failed miserably. The spokeswoman says the result of the test "really underscores the importance of TSA's ongoing training". Well, duh. Great spin.

In the meantime, millions of passengers are standing in line as I write this, many of them barefoot, waiting to be "screened" and allowed to proceed to their flights. And while they wait, someone could be secreting a not-so-fake bomb into the luggage compartment.

Look, if the system is not working, FIX IT. Or get someone who CAN fix it.

More later...
Paul