Friday, December 21, 2007

No Proof Airport Screening Works

As I long suspected and numerous news reporters have anecdotally proven, "airport security" is an oxymoron. Reuters reports that a team at the Harvard School of Public Health could not find any studies showing whether the time-consuming process of X-raying carry-on luggage prevents hijackings or attacks.

In other words, there has been no quantitative study done on how effective the measures such as having passengers remove shoes actually is. The response from the Us Transportation Security Administration? The TSA told research teams requesting information their need for quick new security measures trumped the usefulness of evaluating them. Huh?

Basically, the team found that screening measures were implemented after news reports of threats leading me to the conclusion that they are mainly cosmetic measures meant to assure the traveling public. Additionally, I get the feeling the screening is meant to keep the traveling public scared. People who live and travel in fear are more easily controlled by government agencies. Conspiracy? Probably not, but still it’s easier to get more intrusive security measures passed through Congress when the public is afraid. Roosevelt’s quote was never more poignant than today. "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

No comments: