more on TSA Releases New List of Banned Items

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Glenn Fleishman <glenn () glennf com>
Date: December 22, 2005 6:07:13 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] TSA Releases New List of Banned Items

Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> wrote:

> A 3.999 inch set of scissors can be much more lethal than a one-inch
> knife blade.  Hey, and you can even bring on a seven-inch long
> screwdriver now!  But a small pocketknife remains verboten.

I heard the strangely frank head of TSA on NPR this morning--perhaps  
he forgot he was speaking to the public?--talk quite honestly about  
what I would describe as "yield management for risk."

Basically:
* The pilots are now protected, so the plane won't be weaponized even  
if many passengers were to die on board.
* Passengers will overwhelm someone armed with relatively minor  
weapons, even if some passengers die. That's acceptable risk.
* A lot of stuff on planes can be used as weapons already (he didn't  
elaborate).
* The evaluated risk of smaller knives is low in their testing --  
meaning whatever air marshalls wear for protection will resist  
punctures from smaller knives.

He said the focus is now on explosive detection.

What this means, and I'm glad he was being so frank, is that in the  
event of an attempt to hijack a plane, a passenger's individual life  
is less important than the ability of the plane to be used as a weapon.

That's not a bad risk strategy, and it's at least honest, even if not  
straightforward.

--
Glenn Fleishman
seattle . washington
unsolicited pundit . glennf.com
columnist . seattletimes.com/practicalmac
daily wireless networking news . wifinetnews.com


-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/