US Governmental Security Measures

[Fisherking]

Is there anyone who doesn’t think it is totally ridiculous, not to mention humiliating?

Security measures are much the same the world over but the US seems to go out of their way to make it as unpleasant as possible.

It is actually easier to gain authorized access to a nuclear weapons storage area than it is to board an airplane or go to an appointment in a government office building. (Not an exaggeration)

If you have to travel abroad and need to visit a US Consulate or Embassy be advised that it is by appointment only. You must arrive an hour early to undergo a security check and the list of items you can’t bring is a very long one. It includes any item that may be electronic or have a battery. Pace makers excepted if proper medical documentation is provided but they must be notified ahead of time.

How is it that other countries are much more capable of not making you feel like a convicted criminal when traveling?

As I understand, Homeland Security would like to expand into bus and train stations, and ferry terminals.

To me it seems much more like a security state than a free democratic republic. I guess you can say if we have to do this, the bad guys have won.

[HoreTore]

Typo in your thread title.

"US Governmental Hysteria Measures" would be more correct.

Let's turn back the clock to the 80's, shall we? The time where the west faced an actual threat to civilization(and the soviets did the same). Which side broke human rights most? The soviets. Which side lost? The soviets.

The soviet union was defeated without major human rights abuses(aside from a few hiccups). The soviets massive human rights abuses, however, directly lead to its downfall. To suggest that our human rights needs to be broken more to defeat a few hillbillys hiding in caves than we needed to defeat one of historys major empires is, quite frankly, absolutely ridiculous.

To make it perfectly clear: islamic terrorism is NOT, in any way whatsoever, a threat to either our nations, our democracies or our civilization.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Profiling is the only way to go. Instead we get this.

[HoreTore]

It's easy to suggest something that will only have negative consequences for people other than yourself isn't it, Hosa?

Why care about the lives and dignity of others?

[Centurion1]

It's easy to suggest something that will only have negative consequences for people other than yourself isn't it, Hosa?

Why care about the lives and dignity of others?

you dont know the man he may be a well bearded man of arabic descent. Why not care about the lives and dignity of a 95 year old woman. Does she really need to be patted down and does she really have to remove her diaper for gods sakes.

also poor writing on that article they spelled trooper as trouper.

[Samurai Waki]

Every study ever made on the TSA has pretty concluded that they are useless. The reason why there hasn't been another terrorist attack has almost nothing to do with the TSA and everything to do with intelligence. The Times Square Bomber had made it almost effortlessly onto a flight bound for Yemen, and most likely would have made a clean getaway had it not been for the FBI who tracked him down.

[HoreTore]

Does she really need to be patted down

No.

See my first post. I also very much agree with Waki and Krazilec's posts.

[Hosakawa Tito]

It's easy to suggest something that will only have negative consequences for people other than yourself isn't it, Hosa?

Why care about the lives and dignity of others?

Jump to conclusions much? I'm speaking of the Israeli airport security system.

"The word 'profiling' is a political invention by people who don't want to do security," he said. "To us, it doesn't matter if he's black, white, young or old. It's just his behaviour. So what kind of privacy am I really stepping on when I'm doing this?"

Kinda like your knee jerk response, but by all means do carry on.

"First, it's fast — there's almost no line. That's because they're not looking for liquids, they're not looking at your shoes. They're not looking for everything they look for in North America. They just look at you," said Sela. "Even today with the heightened security in North America, they will check your items to death. But they will never look at you, at how you behave. They will never look into your eyes ... and that's how you figure out the bad guys from the good guys."

It's called behavioral profiling. Detect the bombers not the bombs. It takes specialized training, but some of the money being spent on high tech gizmos would be better spent on this effective training. We use it, on a limited scale, in my department.

[Major Robert Dump]

In the defense of the TSA, adult diapers are used occasionally to smuggle contraband, and suicide bombers have used wheelchairs in other countries. But this takes us back to profiling, in neither of the aforementioned cases were the bad guys little old ladies from Iowa.

I would also like to point out that the woman did not bring spare diapers for her mother. Had the TSA not intervened, she would have stewed in poop for the entire flight, and made everyone miserable. Perhaps the daughter should be investigated for caretaker abuse.

[Ice]

Jump to conclusions much? I'm speaking of the Israeli airport security system.



Kinda like your knee jerk response, but by all means do carry on.



It's called behavioral profiling. Detect the bombers not the bombs. It takes specialized training, but some of the money being spent on high tech gizmos would be better spent on this effective training. We use it, on a limited scale, in my department.

Good post

[Adrian II]

Profiling is the only way to go.

That, plus HUMINT (human intelligence) and old-fashioned police work. On the whole I agree with HoreTore, in that there has rarely been a worse overreaction to a perceived threat in modern history. The bad guys haven't won, but they have scored a point or two. Shame on us.

AII

[Kralizec]

Typo in your thread title.

"US Governmental Hysteria Measures" would be more correct.

Let's turn back the clock to the 80's, shall we? The time where the west faced an actual threat to civilization(and the soviets did the same). Which side broke human rights most? The soviets. Which side lost? The soviets.

The soviet union was defeated without major human rights abuses(aside from a few hiccups). The soviets massive human rights abuses, however, directly lead to its downfall. To suggest that our human rights needs to be broken more to defeat a few hillbillys hiding in caves than we needed to defeat one of historys major empires is, quite frankly, absolutely ridiculous.

To make it perfectly clear: islamic terrorism is NOT, in any way whatsoever, a threat to either our nations, our democracies or our civilization.

*applauds*

Great post. If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn I had written it myself.