more on sorry Congress may try retain airliner "scissors" ban

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Joe McGuckin <joe () via net>
Date: December 2, 2005 10:12:52 PM EST
To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] more on sorry Congress may try retain airliner  
"scissors" ban


(For IP)


This is getting ridiculous.

First the justification was to prevent hijackers from taking control  
of the
plane. Fine - that seems like a reasonable ideal.

Now that the cockpit doors have been strengthened - and more  
importantly - a
sterile cockpit rule is enforced and the pilots will not cooperate with
hijackers, these silly rules about not allowing nail clippers (but  
allowing
knitting needles) on board can be done away with.

Only now, the flight attendants are complaining that relaxing the   
"sharp
pointy item" rule would put them at risk.

The truth is that these rules didn't make anyone safer, they just
inconvenienced millions of travelers.

Even with the current regulations in place, a person could cause  
mayhem on a
flight. A BIC pen jammed into an eye would kill you just as dead as  
if your
throat had been cut with a box cutter. A sharpened credit card is  
just as
effective as a knife. A length of wire or heavy monofilament fishing  
line
concealed in a jacket lining makes a garrote. A sharpened belt buckle...

The list of weapons is limited only by your imagination.

Unless you want to make the passengers board in the nude and then  
shackle
them to their seats with arm restraints, you cannot get the risk level
anywhere near zero.

Even if you did that, there's still a risk that planes could be brought
down.

If someone can be motivated to put on a vest lined with explosives  
and blow
themselves up, then why can't another person be with the same level  
of zeal
be convinced to give up a lung and kidney and have it replaced with  
plastic
explosive. None of the most up-to-date technology would be effective in
detecting this type of threat. Backscatter x-rays, dog teams, air  
puffers or
even trace sampling would be ineffective. Nothing short of full body  
x-rays
would detect this.

Dave, I think you're absolutely correct: the TSA is pursuing the correct
policy of focusing on realistic threat scenarios and deemphasizing  
the very
unlikely possibility of hoards of terrorists trying to overtake a  
plane with
nail clippers and pliers.

Even though planes can still be blown up, the era of using an  
airliner as a
weapon is pretty much over.

Joe




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