I feel a rant coming on…A failed terrorist attack has done it again. We are once again facing the prospect of airport security enhancements. While I do respect the authority under which these security measures are decreed, I disagree with the reaction to this incident by the authorities. There are a lot of reasons so let’s get in to it:
The Terrorist:
- Was a man on their watchlist
- His father contacted authorities leading up to this
- He bought a one-way ticket
- He paid cash for the ticket
- He didn’t have any luggage
Now granted, individually these things might not be of specific concern and could be refuted, however once things are put together it is seems odd that the airline would not have took notice of such an individual and flagged him for additional screening. This is a failing of the airline or of security individuals in the origin country, not of the security measures as they existed before Christmas 2009.
The Terrorist Attack Was Successful
Fortunately no lives were lost and the terrorist was apprehended, but those are the only two good pieces of news from this event. By adding on additional security checks and disallowing carry-on luggage this terrorist attack was a resounding success. As far as I know, the ultimate goal of the terrorist is not to kill all of the Western world, but to wreak havoc on their existence. So with the millions of dollars being spent, and hours of lives disrupted as a result of the increased security measures, it is irrefutable that they have succeeded in havoc wreaking as a result of this event.
A Measured Response
This was a clearly a knee-jerk reaction by the TSA to appease the worried masses. Rest assured that the only people they are appeasing are the ones who are likely to only take one flight per year. Whereas the weekly or monthly flyer sees this as another loss of liberty and a great inconvenience.
I’m not entirely convinced that an objective analysis of the event was conducted prior to releasing the new draconian security measures. With one simple question we could evaluate this situation. Could existing security measures have detected this attempted bombing? Yes. However, the security officials were not as vigilant as they should have been. In my opinion, the right call would have been to place a heightened adherence to existing security policies. Increase the number of random checks, and have additional screening for every person on the watchlist, no matter what level of the list they are on. Adding additional rules has inconvenienced all and not brought additional security to any.
Furthermore, these new security measures only serve to further the terrorist cause. It creates a spectacle that gathers media, and exposure to their organization and furthers their goals of disrupting our lives. Also, I’m aware of the fact that this blog entry only further serves to gather media…a risk I took to state my case.
Passenger Profiling
I was shocked at the number of people commenting on news stories that said it was time for passenger profiling (racial, religious, etc.). This is not good news and shows that we as a society still have latent discriminatory tendencies as much as we consider ourselves inclusive. I do not at all support passenger profiling. What I do support is strict adherence to the pre-existing security measures that have effectively dissuaded or caught would be wrong doers.
Economic Impact
The business traveler is the cash cow of the airline industry. Every time that one of these tremendous inconveniences is placed on the airline industry they get slammed big time and every time, the business traveler begins to look for new ways of doing business remotely. Video-conference and tele-presence system are gaining significant ground and overcoming most technical and cost hurdles to becoming viable options for conducting face to face meetings. For business travelers that require flights, many will be turning to companies like NetJets to avoid many of the hassles of pedestrian air travel. Either way it is taking revenue away from airlines that can’t run on personal/vacation travel alone.
So there’s my rant in all its ranty goodness. What do you think? Do you welcome the new security measures? If they make you sleep sounder at night I’d like to hear about it!
Some closing quotes:
One comment I snagged from a Globe and Mail article
“All it took is one man to cause such commotion in the West. He is more effective than the thousands of troops and the billions we spent over there.”
“They, who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin 1775
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