Re: Boarding pass scanners now at TSA checkpoints

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Stewart Baker <stewart.baker () gmail com>
Date: September 20, 2009 9:53:25 AM EDT
To: Russ Nelson <nelson () crynwr com>
Cc: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] WORTH READING Boarding pass scanners now at TSA  
checkpoints

Russ,

You're right that my sentence wasn't self-explanatory, but I think
you've fallen into a common fallacy of government critics in this area
-- arguing that iIf a measure doesn't address every conceivable risk,
it isn't worth doing.  That's plainly wrong; there's room for steps
that reduce risk and make attacks more difficult even if those steps
aren't complete solutions.

To address your comment more directly, I agree that IDs don't
magically prevent terrorism by themselves.  But good ID is part of a
comprehensible, and probably inevitable, screening system.  If you
know who you're looking for -- the no fly and selectee lists, for
example -- then you need to make sure the people you're looking for
can't easily change identities.  Hence a good ID system is crucial for
an effective screening system, at least one based on watching for a
few risky passengers.  (Of course we have other screening systems that
don't look for risky people, but look for risky stuff.  That's mostly
what the TSA magnetometer and x-ray checkpoint does.  I am guessing
you don't like that much better than the identity-based screening; the
ACLU, for example, usually refers to non-identity-based screening as
"treating everyone as a suspect.")

So, why didn't we catch the 9/11 hijackers if they used ID in their
own names?  Two problems:  we didn't know that most of them were
risky, and we didn't have a way to communicate the names of risky
travelers to the airlines, who were doing the screening for us.  We
have taken steps to address both of those problems, and as the
government finally takes over screening from the airlines, we'll do a
better job in the future.

Stewart

On 9/20/09, Russ Nelson <nelson () crynwr com> wrote:
> > From: Stewart Baker <stewart.baker () gmail com>
> > Date: September 19, 2009 11:59:10 AM EDT
> > To: dave () farber net
> > Subject: Re: [IP] Boarding pass scanners now at TSA checkpoints
> >
> > TSA has taken another couple of steps to improve air security.  For
> > starters, airline ID checkers are actually checking IDs
>
> Nahhhh, not worth reading, Dave.  Stew's train left the tracks after
> his second sentence, which, although physically antecedent to the
> first, does not follow logically.  A non-sequitur.  How does knowing
> WHO someone is, allow you to increase air security?
>
> I mean, we accuse governments of closing the barn door after the
> horses have left; of building a Maginot line.  And yet solving the ID
> problem doesn't EVEN prevent 9/11.  Those terrorists flew under their
> own names.
>
> The Maginot line at least worked.  It forced the Nazis to go through
> the Ardennes Forest.  This "security" system isn't going to stop the
> next set of terrorists flying under their own names.
>
> I can't wait until the TSA's employers start running our health care.
> Did I say "running"?  I meant ruining.
>
> --
> --my blog is at    http://blog.russnelson.com
> Crynwr supports open source software
> 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315-323-1241
> Potsdam, NY 13676-3213  |     Sheepdog


--
Stewart Baker
o: 202-429-6402
c: 202-641-8670




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