TSA, violating your 4th Amendment rights since 2004
- From: Curly Surmudgeon <Curly.is.not@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:05:17 -0800
From a TSA employee at the TSA website:
The TSA liquid policy is ludicrous and indefensible. It suggests that 6 oz
of liquid can blow up a plane but two 3-oz containers can't. In addition,
it was instituted in the wake of an impossible plot--the London bombing
plot in 2006 supposedly entailed the manufacture of TATP aboard an
aircraft with precursors brought aboard. But, of course, this is
impossible. Synthesis of TATP is difficult--as I learned long ago in
Chemistry class in a pre-9/11 world--enough in a laboratory, requiring
careful control of temperature, and many hours of drying time. It couldn't
be done in an airplane lav.
Furthermore, the rule does nothing to prevent collusion. Let's suppose
that there's a liquid explosive I can make on board from precursors (there
isn't, but we'll pretend). I can carry on a collapsible, nonreactive,
watertight container that would hold several gallons. Then, I need a
number of collaborators on the same flight, and we can now combine all our
3-oz bottles into the larger container to make an arbitrarily large amount
of explosive.
The liquid restrictions are nothing more than a classic CYA move that
perpetuates the "security theater" nature of TSA. It does nothing but
inconvenience travelers. It serves only to sow fear--essentially doing the
terrorists' work for them. It is a way for the government to be seen to
"do something" but it accomplishes no useful purpose. It fails to protect
against a phantom threat.
Kip has responded to these criticisms before by deflecting
them--essentially saying, "There's magic liquid explosives out there, but
we can't tell you what they are. Trust us." Trust me. Nobody believes you.
And finally, and most damning of all...like the military, the TSA is
preparing to fight the previous war. Terrorists WILL NOT attempt another
9/11. Look at what's happened over the past few years. Every time someone
acts up on a plane, passengers gang up and beat the tar out of them. It
would be impossible for terrorists to take over a plane for nefarious
purposes. 9/11 didn't occur because the terrorists had boxcutters. It
occurred because the CONOPS of the time were for the crew to comply with
hijackers' demands. The error of this was seen before the attacks had even
finished--one of the four hijacked flights figured this out during the
attacks.
The liquid restrictions need to be removed. They are pointless, and are a
major reason that TSA is the least respected, most hated government
agency.
In the interest of full disclosure, I work for DHS.
http://www.tsa.gov/blog
-- Regards, Curly
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Osama didn't win, Bush lost. Strike that,
Osama didn't win, _we_ lost.
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