The Laughing Wolf

Airline Insecurity

Over at Instapundit, this story brings forward some items that give me great concern. While I have some reservations about the original story, the behavior cited that causes at least one person to question if it is true or not is one of the reasons I do believe it.

The fact is, as a frequent flyer and as someone who flew not too long after 9-11, I have seen flight attendants break the rules before when they felt that such was the best alternative. I have little doubt that a flight attendant might tell someone that there were air marshals aboard – even if they were not – in order to diffuse a situation. Besides, for someone with an office that is not half packed and who has a few hours to put into it, the story should be fairly easy to prove or disprove by calling agencies and people cited by name to see if they exist, if they said what is quoted, etc. That is journalism 101 and I hope someone will do it.

We face some serious problems. The PC anti-profiling rules are still in place, and they will cost us lives. When security has to spend time harassing a 90-something Scandinavian grandmother from Minnesota rather than taking on an Arab male – even when same is exhibiting suspicious behavior – so that they are not attacked by government and the media for being evil racists, there is a real problem. I don’t recall too many grandmothers flying planes into buildings or butchering flight attendants on 9-11.

It is acknowledged that terrorists are actively trying to recruit non-Arab males for use in attacks on airplanes and other targets. It is acknowledged that efforts are underway to find new ways to do things to and with airplanes. In the rush to be seen to be doing something, we have TSA and procedures that do something, but not necessarily the right thing. I and others have pointed out that the screenings are not necessarily effective, and I know that a number of proposals for solid security have not been implemented.

It is also important to remember that the security screeners used before 9-11 did exactly what they were told to do. One experience I had with TSA included getting to observe one of the new civil servants spend a lot of time bitching about how he was not being treated fair and how the rules would work in his favor, while he was doing a less than stellar job and being incredibly rude to passengers. Oh, yes, it made me feel real safe.

The time has come to set aside the pre-9-11 PC rules and to get real about airport and airplane security. There are a number of ways to improve such without a loss of individual liberty and without a massive government security force. As pointed out before, the rules have changed and we need to be sure that the government’s rules change as well so that they prevent incidents rather than foster them.

LW

UPDATE 1: The talented Michelle Malkin, as noted by Tammi in the comments, has made the calls. I agree that some caution is still warranted, it is always, but it still stands that We Have Our Warning. The only question is, will the bureaucrats heed it in time? Based on past experience and current operations, the answer is sadly no.

UPDATE 2: Courtesy of Instapundit, comes this story which looks at potential positives within the story. I wish I could buy fully into it, but can't. The alleged multiple air marshalls may or may not be normal out of that hub, for obvious reasons. The problem remains that they and all the LE at the other end are entirely reactive. The problem remains that the Government is preventing security through failure to provide proper screening, refusing to let the airlines take realistic measures, refusing to arm the pilots as they have agreed to do, working to discourage passenger involvement, and otherwise dragging their bureaucratic butts and failing to do what they are supposed to do. I really do hope that all the points raised in this article are true, and that they ARE doing the job, but I see too many failures of leadership to put any faith in it.