Que,
I may be the only one with this view but, regardless, it seems absolutely silly to have all these camouflage fatigued national guard walking around the airports, armed or not. The airports themselves have not been attacked, and are unlikely to be attacked, especially now.
Putting aside for the moment the question of chemical/biological attacks, it seems to me that the 9/11 airplane attacks are a clear example of a "one-off" deal. If the FBI/CIA/Police do just the least little bit of computer data management/neural network analysis we can be almost 100% sure this will never happen again. How would this work?
First of all: A T.I.C. (travel identity card) should be required of all air passengers from any U.S. airport point of departure. This TIC would replace the "photo i.d." requirement and contain, in smart card format, data concerning proof of citizenship (birth certificate, etc.), photo, fingerprint, visa status, residence, school or place of work, all with a scanner code such as is available at any decent country club or tennis club today. All airplane ticket purchases would require the TIC. This would allow the airlines and FBI etc. to track exactly who was on, intending to fly, each plane departing a U.S. airport.
2) Flight reservation data management system. This system would automatically track against history the reservation, purchase, confirmation and arrival at the airport of all passengers for every flight. For example, Boston to L.A. flights generally follow a specific reservation, purchase, etc. pattern with X number of people from Boston or its suburbs, X number of tickets paid for by credit card, X number of people with Irish, English, German, Arab, Jewish, Korean, Chinese last names (confirmable via the TIC). WHENEVER the pattern on a flight deviates substantially from the pattern it goes to a review level, where a further decision is made as to investigate. If the purchase pattern is suspicious (too many cash purchases) or the airport arrival pattern is suspicious (200 no shows for a 250 person flight) then the flight goes on delay. If after further investigation it is okay, it can fly, if not, then maybe a sky marshal, armed and in plainclothes, is put on the plane at the last minute. If it is really suspicious, then maybe the flight returns to the gate for "mechanical problems" and the 5 suspects are taken out of the waiting area to the investigation room. It seems to me that you can do all of this without infringing on constitutional rights. After all you have a constitutional right to free speech and to joke about hijacking an airplane, but that can get your ass arrested in 30 seconds flat if you do it on an airplane. Whatever constitutional rights you have to freedom of travel and movement have to be subject to the constitutional powers of the U.S. to defend and protect its citizens. These measures would clearly, to me, fall under reasonable security measures for the airlines and air security.
There seems to be no purpose, other than optical illusion (of safety) for all these visible security people at airports. As in investment, working smart, no matter how few the hours, is better than working dumb, no matter how many people and how long the hours.
As to future terrorist attacks, it seems to me that the INS and the FBI need to coordinate their efforts (again, the TIC will be key to monitoring where these nonresidents and green card holders at most times) and begin to deport, ASAP, those here in violation of U.S. law (the visa provides strict terms of continued presence here). Finally, we have to review who we let into this country and for what purpose. We're on notice that certain countries and certain ethnic origins are growing sleeper cell members (note the lack of Lithuanian surnames among the suicide bombers)--anyone from those countries should be required to comply with a full blown security background check, Interpol certificate of good behavior and full personal history. If there is a gap of 6 months (guess which Afghan training camp they were in) or association with organizations with terrorist affiliations (basically any fundamentalist school or mosque in the middle east) then it is our duty to deny the privilege of visiting or studying in the U.S.A.
Finally, we could also require any flight training, truck training, car buying, etc. to be monitored via the TIC system.
I think of these things at night when I can hear myself breathing and I'm wondering if there's a plane up there spraying anthrax somewhere.
Kb |
