Air Travel Security - Finding a Balance

I fully agree with you Paschen.  It's hogwash and doesn.t address the real problem.

The problem that I see here is that he was "paying cash for a one way ticket, traveling without baggage, a canceled British Visa, a recent trip to Yemen and the warning by the bombers father" yet he was still allowed to board a plane....

If we can't point out a person that has 5 things that should flag him, then I don't see how the reported changes in security will help at all

If most of the terrorist are this inept, I would think that this would be a non-issue. But of course, they only have to succeed once to do society much damage...and our "security agencies" must get it right every time for most of us to feel safe..

The key words are "feel safe" that's all this is about, the governments aren't going to admit that it is only a matter of time before someone succeeds in crashing or blowing up another plane. If we really wanted to end the threat we would be serious about stopping all oil imports from the middle east (& Venezuela too..)

But we have not taken any real effort to reduce or otherwise stop our addiction to the oil under the middle east because the politicks think that we must have oil to live...

I'll get of my soap box now :) (gota get some work done)

I agree with all.  Excellent post.  The body scanners do not address that Farouk had these major flags and was not prevented from flying.  The oil addiction is actually evil,  in my opinion:  Evil because it lurks behind a smokescreen,  and is never spoken plainly.  Self sufficiency and new technology would indeed put an end to all the double speak.  

I think the new requirements are not only silly, but betray a lack of respect for the public: "We screwed up (again), so we'll just throw down some more security theater, the coach-class slobs can wait an extra hour, and we'll just hope it doesn't happen again" is their basic strategy here. It's not an effective strategy.

You can bet your bottom dollar there will be cultural groups who will protest undergoing scanning, based on religious differences and civil liberty lawyers all too willing to make a name for themselves.

And I agree with Paschen,. they aint gonna make flying any safer, but it will give us all a false sense of security, much like displayed by whats his name from Nigeria who proved it

Abdulmuttalab,the Nigerian suspected terrorist,whose entry was facilitated by none other than secret service agents.He had no advance booking,his ticket was paid for in cash at the last moment.

According to Kurt Haskell,a Michigan lawyer Abdulmutallab,the Nigerian terror suspect,approached the airline ticket counter in Amsterdam,accompanied by a well dressed man of South Asian origin,who told the North West ticket agent that this young man who is from Sudan needed to fly without passport.'He is from Sudan and we do this all the time',that older man told the agent.These men were directed by the agent to see the local manager of the airlines office.Abdulmutallab was denied extension of student visa by Britain as he was put on watch list.Why British intelligence and CIA didn't share information about this suspected terrorist?How was he allowed to board plane without passport.In normal circumstances the Nigerian and older man accompanying him would have been detained by security staff and thoroughly interrogated.Nothing of the sort happened,Nigerian was allowed to board the plane.Bottom line:it wasn't a security lapse;it is much deeper comspiracy to intervene in Yemen by US imperialists.

Wait, we're being played by politicans!?

Good story

Yes, I have heard about the 2nd man,  One of the people on the flight with Abdulmuttalab has told this to the media,  But the officials have said that after review of the video footage that there was no 2nd man involved.  In an interview the guy that was on the flight said he could have made a mistake, but until he was allowed to review the footage himself, that he will stick to his story.

Thing that make you go HUMMMMMM! ! !

Winslow T. Wheeler: Fire Them, Mr. Presidentfrom The Huffington Post by Winslow T. Wheeler

I listened on the radio this morning, mouth agape, as the journalist assigned to intelligence by her newspaper opined that President Obama sounded "too harsh" yesterday as he erupted about the rampant incompetence in what the apologists love to call the "intelligence community." Of course, it has proven itself over the years as neither particularly intelligent nor a community. Mostly, it has proven itself -- or rather its leadership -- expendable.

That horde of bureaucratic self-groomers (i.e., the intelligence community leadership) has been screwing up for decades. The consistency in giving its seniors in the White House what they want, rather than what they need, is truly remarkable. It ranges from the persistently wrong, grotesquely overstated estimates of the military capabilities of the old Soviet Union to completely missing that imperial bureaucracy's collapse to the habitual screw ups in modern (terrorist) times, the latest of which has been dissected endlessly since Christmas Day.

The only other thing the "intelligence community" seems to be good at (other than consistently missing trends of huge importance) is bureaucratic infighting. It does this, quite well, at two levels. The disparate elements have successfully kept themselves at each others' throats inside the US Government, refusing to interact even well enough to share computerized data -- a stunning accomplishment in itself. Effortlessly, it also warded off the feckless attempts of the famous 9/11 Commission to encourage it learn how to "connect the dots." Good work, boys.

Also, however, the intelligence community is to be noted for its success at keeping Presidents cowed at the idea of serious change, such as might result from firings -- especially of those at the top. You see, no one is responsible for the mistakes, some of them costing lives, sometimes in the thousands. It's processes that need changing, right? When you want to pretend to be reforming something, fiddle with the organizational chart, which relieves the people who should be held accountable, earns you their praise for being oh so wise, and gets you to the next screw up. Then, we'll get going on that re-org thing all over again.

Just as George Tenet told Presidents Bush and Cheney "it's a slam dunk" when they told him his briefing on Iraq was not quite right and what it should say, the intelligence community leadership in the Situation Room yesterday deigned to squabble over who was really responsible for the Christmas Day bombing attempt. Clearly, President Obama was upset enough for a head or two to roll, but knowing what he wanted to hear, they all promised to play nice.

It's all going to happen again, unless people, especially those at the top, learn they will be held accountable.

Winslow Wheeler is the first person from the Defense Establishment who has had the guts to say and write about what should be done. Kudos to Mr. Wheeler

Don't find the balance, catch the terrorists.

I noticed some of the folks touting the scanners have direct conflicts of interest as they are invested in the company that makes them.  At 150K per, someone is advantaged by heightened security

How can we tackle terrorism,a menace created by US empire in her quest for global occupation.Terrorism took off and crash landed in the desired directions only after Soviets Union's entry into Afghanistan.Jihad was rarely talked or written about in social or political discourse.There were terrorists even in 50s and 60s,Christian terrorists,Jewish terrorists,Muslim terrorists and terrorists with no religious affiliations or professors of any faith.

Security lapse is a hoax and humbug and sheer non-sense which is employed to fool the already fooled-general public.The whole act of terrorism is orchestrated by state agents with specific agenda,and implementation or furtherance of that agenda never calculates it's cost in terms of human life,some thing state is least concerned with.

 Abdulmutallab and his father could be on payroll of CIA.He is allowed to board plane without passport,let alone security check.How come?

Real security threat is a new modus operandi to curtail freedom and liberty of citizens,to strenhgthen hands of the state,orchestrator of all sorts of terrorism,to repress and oppress us in the name of security.Neo-cons,parents of all evils on earth, are real threat to mankind.Every neo-con is a born terrorist.

I agree t k.  The Red Army Faction, Baader-Meinhoff, the FLQ in Canada are examples of those organizations.  I think the difference nowadays is the global reach it has.