The problem with independent security firms (agencies??) is accountability. Creating another agency will just create another TSA-like operation that sucks taxpayer money away and creates a drain on liberty and dignity.
IMO the solution is very very simple, however not profitable for these agencies.
1. Nice thick ****pit door. (this is already done)
2. Allow pilots to carry personal firearms.
3. Mandatory firearms training and a .40 in the ****pit of all passenger planes. (this is already done)
4. Required number of flight attendants per flight to be equipped with and trained in the use of Tasers.
Tasers have been known to kill people in the hands of trained and experienced police officers who aren't panicking about some perceived threat that they think will bring down the plane. What happens when they keep tugging on that trigger because the person keeps jerking around?
5. Allow law-abiding citizens to carry non-destructive personal defense tools on board. Items like OC spray and Tasers being the obvious choices.
Wtf? Cue random idiot citizen with a taser shooting some random dude for doing something.. Or spraying and ****ing hitting everyone in his aisle in the eyes.. Did you see "get smart"? The guy was scraping gum off his shoe and people took him down. With a taser this same "guy" could get killed.
6. Beef up the screening of cargo to detect bombs. I do not mind TSA workers rummaging through my bag to check some stranger powder, as long as they dont break it and dont steal stuff. It means they're doing it to all suspicious baggage.
7. Continue screening of carry-on baggage for explosives.
8. Keep metal detectors. As libertarian as I am, I can live with not having my pocket knife or my firearm on me for the duration of a flight, if it means other strangers on the flight wont have firearms and pocket knives. Yeah, and charge those ****ers.
Keep hearing horror stories about people going through security and noticing those scanners are set to "low" or not even charged when they notice the ****ing TITANIUM and LOTS OF IT making up chunks of their leg bone making it through without causing any beeping. Only on some days, the article said.
Pretty simple. I don't care if some guy wants to blow his foot off or light his underwear on fire. If that's what they want to do then there's really no stopping them.
Newsflash: There aren't any known explosives that one could hide in the sole of a shoe (PE?) or in underwear powder (TATP) that are capable of threatening the integrity of a modern airliner. Sure you could singe the passenger beside you and cause smoke in the cabin, but one could do that with a $2 bic lighter. Wrong there. They could fit enough thermite in shoes and underwear that could, with a (censored
), burn through plane fuselage. You could probably still land the plane though, but there could be cabin depressurization/crash landing.
Those methods are too logical, too simple, and not profitable enough. Think of all the jobs that would get lost if you drastically simplified airport security... All those people rail against changes and are the ones calling for ever-expanding security measures. It means lucrative jobs for their friends, nice government contracts, and expanded budgets. Such is life when you have access to unearned money courtesy of the hard work of the taxpayer.
When the people making decisions love money and power they make corrupt choices.
Regarding the TSA. They are a mess because they can be. If their budget relied on their efficiency and quality of service, then they would become a very efficient and non-aggravating agency. This is not the case with government agencies, trust me I know first hand. Government agencies and government contractors are encouraged to spend as much as possible, and--while not encouraged--are rewarded for being inefficient. Their budget for 2011 will be dictated by how much they spend in 2010. If they are very efficient, cost-saving, and provide a high quality of service in 2010, then their budget for 2011 will be low. If they are inefficient, throw money around, and have a bumbling and offensive quality of service in 2010, their budget for 2011 will be higher.
This is just the way government agencies in the US run right now. In many ways it's irritating, and it will change over time.
TSA scanners give you the equivalent radiation dose of about 5 minutes of air time at 35,000 feet. So if you go through that scan and your flight at 35,000ft is 1 hour long, your radiation dose will be equivalent of having a 1 hour and 5 minute flight at 35,000 feet. It's not much, but it is measurable.
There's been some debate on the safety of this by various experts and not-so-experts. One objection I've heard is that the xrays being concentrated at right below skin level may be cause for alarm, and it hasn't been tested, after all. And, over time, "it's not much" could cause more cancer deaths than 9/11.
To me that is not the issue though. It is the dignity of being stripped down to your skin and bones to prove you aren't a terrorist or hiding a pair of nail clippers.
Yeah. And the children. Think of the children!
Reverse onus it is called, guilty before proven innocent. You're guilty, as a citizen, of being a potential terrorist and before you can fly you have to prove that you aren't going to be a terrorist. Clearly one has to be reasonable with air travel and expect a certain amount of security vs. liberty. However the steps listed at the top of this post give a simple way for liberty to be harnessed to prevent terrorism, instead of liberty being quashed to prevent it.
Give the pilots, flight attendants, and passengers the ability and tools to deal with miscreants on board, and let the TSA do their job of preventing explosives on the plane.
Neither are qualified. Neither can be expected to be fully successful. Arguably, the number of attempts made are low enough that this is a nonissue.
I would be happy to fly on a plane where it was a duty of mine and other law-abiding citizens to take down 'terrorists' with non-lethal devices like OC spray and tasers, with the help of flight attendants. If for some reason that failed, the pilot could land the plane safely while the co-pilot sat with his .40 aimed at the door.
And I might be happier to fly on a plane without worrying about the guy 2 seats from me having an ego and having watched too much action movies spraying some arab guy that he thinks is acting funny and getting me in the face... Not talking about you per se but take no training and add stupidity/excitability and that's a flammable ****tail.
Your nation was founded on the principle of Liberty with Responsibility. Inject some of that onto airplanes. You have your liberty and dignity of not getting felt up by TSA workers, and of carrying your personal defense item, and the Responsibility of taking care of any threats to yourself and others on board.
Of course, where's the profit in that?
