Seeking viewpoints on profiling of suicide bombers

[pjorourke]

Originally Posted by discreetgent

Agreed. However, as has been pointed out elsewhere this would require a significant upgrade of the workforce with a significant investment in training and a significant increase in the workforce to make it feasible in the US just in terms of the volume of passengers and the number of airports. And the Israelis do FAR more than just profiling.

How about:

Originally Posted by pjorourke

Two words: Registered Travelers

[DFW5Traveler]

Originally Posted by discreetgent

Agreed. However, as has been pointed out elsewhere this would require a significant upgrade of the workforce with a significant investment in training and a significant increase in the workforce to make it feasible in the US just in terms of the volume of passengers and the number of airports. And the Israelis do FAR more than just profiling.

This is assuming a continuation of an overly bureacratic government program. The private sector could acheive all of the items in your response at a cheaper rate.

[discreetgent]

Originally Posted by DFW5Traveler

This is assuming a continuation of an overly bureacratic government program. The private sector could acheive all of the items in your response at a cheaper rate.

Even if they could the cost would likely far exceed what TSA airport staff costs today just because of the extra expense for trained staff and the numbers that would be required. Combine it with a Registered Traveler Program that is done in a way that any regular traveler would be insane not to join it (and they account for a huge percentage of travel) and maybe ....

[Sa_artman]

Originally Posted by pjorourke

Originally Posted by pjorourke Two words: Registered Travelers:

Passengers will voluntarily pay a fee and submit to a background check to become a Registered Traveler...In order to prevent a terrorist with a clean background from compromising the system, the TSA requires that registered travelers undergo the normal TSA screening (baggage x-ray and personal metal detector), at the RT kiosk checkpoint. Additionally, Registered Travelers are not exempt from random secondary screening and may not bring prohibited items into secure areas of terminals.

So, we pay an additional fee on top of the usual air fare so we can be harassed? Now that's enterprising capitalism at work!

[TexTushHog]

PJ, what about the argument that the registered traveler program would create more problems than it would solve by allowing a Muslim extremist, either foreign or domestic born, to pass the RT test and therefore be subject to lesser screening when boarding? I think that is a compelling argument.

Frankly, I think we expect an unrealistic level of safety. There are just some inherent risks that we can't eliminate and maybe one airliner going down every four or five years is inevitable. But I'm not sure that a registered traveler program doesn't create more holes than it closes.

[discreetgent]

Originally Posted by Sa_artman

So, we pay an additional fee on top of the usual air fare so we can be harassed? Now that's enterprising capitalism at work!

Yeah, that why the Registered Traveler system never caught on enough. My point was figure out a way to do it so it saves time and gets RT out of those checks.

[pjorourke]

Originally Posted by TexTushHog

PJ, what about the argument that the registered traveler program would create more problems than it would solve by allowing a Muslim extremist, either foreign or domestic born, to pass the RT test and therefore be subject to lesser screening when boarding? I think that is a compelling argument.

Frankly, I think we expect an unrealistic level of safety. There are just some inherent risks that we can't eliminate and maybe one airliner going down every four or five years is inevitable. But I'm not sure that a registered traveler program doesn't create more holes than it closes.

That argument is bullshit! Okay, lets try a simple test. Given the fact that neither system is perfect, which is more likely to find a terrorist:

a) subjecting someone to an FBI background check; or
b) dweebs rummaging through peoples junk. Did I mention that these fucking assholes have NEVER found a terrorist in 10 years.

I'm going with a)

[pjorourke]

Originally Posted by discreetgent

Yeah, that why the Registered Traveler system never caught on enough. My point was figure out a way to do it so it saves time and gets RT out of those checks.

+1

[Rudyard K]

Jesus Christ people!! Reread this entire thread. We don't like the current TSA screening process. We don't want to be subjected to an FBI background check to get to be an approved traveler. We don't want to profile.

I guess what we really want is to go back to the old days of buying a ticket and getting on a plane. Folks like TTH will be licking their chops at that. Because when that turns out bad, they'll be the first ones standing in the court house saying "Somebody needed to protect this poor family that just got blown to smithereens".

"What about the argument that the registered traveler program would create more problems than it would solve by allowing a Muslim extremist, either foreign or domestic born, to pass the RT test and therefore be subject to lesser screening when boarding?"

Are you kidding me? Well here's the answer...Then that Muslim extremist will get on the plane, through the lesser screening process, and blow the MoFo plane out of the sky. Allrighty then!! Next question.

[WTF]

Originally Posted by TexTushHog

Frankly, I think we expect an unrealistic level of safety. There are just some inherent risks that we can't eliminate .

Exactly.

People want more security and smaller government. Those things do not go hand and hand. Frankly, I find the right wing the most hypocritical on these issues. The left seem to have no trouble with expanding government, the right screams they want one thing yet their actions point to something entirely different.

[Sa_artman]

Soon we'll all start ratting each other out, peeping out window shades, and oh wait...your not a Christian? Let me call the local thought police to haul you away. Maybe a registered travelers bar code we all have to have tattooed on our ass to make identification easy. Utopia here we come.

It's plain and simple. Current TSA practices have gotten out of hand, but nothing is going to stop a terrorist that is determined. Hell, they can practically walk their shit across either one of our borders.

[charlestudor2005]

Originally Posted by pjorourke

Two words: Registered Travelers

If we send the Registered Travelers Registered Mail then we boost the Post Office's budget. LOL

Originally Posted by TexTushHog

PJ, what about the argument that the registered traveler program would create more problems than it would solve by allowing a Muslim extremist, either foreign or domestic born, to pass the RT test and therefore be subject to lesser screening when boarding? I think that is a compelling argument.

Frankly, I think we expect an unrealistic level of safety. There are just some inherent risks that we can't eliminate and maybe one airliner going down every four or five years is inevitable. But I'm not sure that a registered traveler program doesn't create more holes than it closes.

OK, I can see both sides of this issue.

First, there ought to be a way for frequent travelers to start with a level of trust that allows them to short-circuit screening that not-so-frequent travelers go through. And the FBI background check makes some sense, but just because someone passes the background check at a certain point in time doesn't mean they don't change or will pass a year later. So, it depends on how the RT program is run and how often the background check is repeated.

Second, if we do establish a RT program, it will be one of the premier places terrorists will test. They will look for the weak spots in the system and test those weak spots until they succeed. So, it would probably depend on how the RT program is run whether or not it would be successful.

And I believe prior to 9/11, the last plane hijacked in the US was more than a decade before. And there hasn't been one since. So that's more than a decade before, and nearly a decade after.

[Sa_artman]

Here's a way to keep the budgets down...put security in the hands of soccer moms. Between a few levels of Angry Birds, they can rat out their neighbor.

http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/12/...ment-agencies/

[gnadfly]

Just forget the screening and background checks for Southwest Airlines. With their cattlecall seating process, the Texas passengers are pissed off and looking for a reason to wrestle another passenger to the ground - terrorist or not. There's a reason a SW Airlines flight has never been hijacked.

[I B Hankering]

Originally Posted by Sa_artman

Hell, they can practically walk their shit across either one of our borders.

I suspect they have. Or maybe they are too afraid of running afoul of the drug cartels.