TSA: Don't lock that bag!

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Trei, Peter" <ptrei () rsasecurity com>
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 17:17:55 -0500
To: "'farber () cis upenn edu'" <farber () cis upenn edu>, "'dave () farber net'"
<dave () farber net>
Subject: TSA: Don't lock that bag!

[For IP, if you wish]

It appears that if you check your luggage locked, and
the inspectors in their infinite wisdom decide to search
it, they won't ask you to unlock it - they'll just break it
open.

-----------------------------

http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=44&content=654
Press Releases

December 19, 2002 - TSA Updates New Guidelines for Passengers
Checking Baggage 
TSA 143-02

Thursday, Dec. 19, 2002
Press Contact: TSA Public Affairs   202-385-1800

Under Secretary of Transportation for Security Adm. James
M. Loy today updated Transportation Security Administration
(TSA) guidelines for checking baggage, saying they are
important to having secure and enjoyable holiday air travel.

Adm. Loy also urged passengers to leave their checked bags
unlocked, which will avoid the potential need to forcibly open
bags that require further physical inspection.

[snip]

---------------

Several problems strike me here. First, this is clearly an
invitation to theft. Second, how is outbound foreign
luggage handled? I might be so foolish as to trust that
the luggage handlers at JFK might not steal, but when
my bag arrives at the other end - Moscow? Nairobi?
Cayman Islands? it appears that I have to take my
chances. Will the airline or the USG (or even insurance)
cover valuables taken from an unlocked bag at an
overseas airport? I don't think so. How will foreign
visitors react when told that they can't lock their
outbound bags going home? How will they react when
they find that the USG has broken into their luggage?

Another problem: It's perfectly legal to
transport personal firearms in checked luggage,
but one of the Federal requirements is that they are in
a locked container. It's not clear how this
jibes with the "unlocked luggage" requirement
above.

--------------------

What the TSA fears, of course, is that a suicidal
terrorist will be quite happy to put a bomb in her
luggage, then get on the plane with it. Matching
bags to passengers won't solve this.

The only good solution I can see is to screen (and
possibly search) luggage in the presence of the
passengers, so they can lock/unlock it.

[Actually, the high level good solution would be to
have a foreign policy which doesn't generate so
many enemies around the world, but I guess that's
too much to ask for.]

Peter Trei




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