ShadowGeek

The Transportation Security Administration was created after 9/11 to prevent 9/11.  It was the classic knee jerk reaction to events that had already occurred.  The proponents of TSA will point out that since there hasn’t been another 9/11 type of event since then, that TSA is working.  The opponents of the TSA will point out that terrorist can learn and perhaps they haven’t been trying to highjack airplanes since 9/11.  Either way, a lot of money and technology has been thrown at TSA, and it is debatable that it has been a good investment.

The Super Committee failed.  Our deficit is beyond reason and growing fast.  Our government is struggling with trying to cut expenses and raise income.  Perhaps now we can finally look at the TSA with an objective eye, and make some common sense changes.  Wired had a good article summarizing TSA’s performance as “Insider: $56 Billion Later, Airport Security is Junk”.  It is a good read and they make some excellent arguments.  For this discussion, I’m going to limit the discussion to TSA and airports.  They really have a responsibility outside of just airports, but that is where most of the easy changes can take place.

First of all, what is the objective of the TSA?  It should be to prevent airplanes from being highjacked, blown-up, or shot down.  This is good, but the reality is that you can never foresee every possible threat, and there is no way to prevent everything.  This is an effort in risk management, and the best we can hope for is to catch and prevent stupid and/or crazy folks that attempt to either highjack or blow-up an aircraft.  You may be able to prevent the stupid terrorist/criminals from accomplishing their objectives, and while doing so, you may raise the difficulty level for the more capable terrorists such that they target less defended targets (which exists everywhere).

So, what should we do with the TSA?  Here’s my recommendations:

1. Reduce passenger screening back to pre-9/11 levels.  Stick with the basics, an ID check and a metal detector.  Let us keep our shoes on, and allow liquids back on the plane.  Let me keep my laptop in the bag.  Focus on preventing a bunch-up of passengers which is a more attractive target than blowing up a plane.  Keep guns and large knives off the plane and prevent the obvious stupid and/or crazies from acting out on the plane.
2. Keep the hardened cockpit doors.  This is one of the few things that the TSA did that makes sense.  If someone can’t get to the cockpit, then they can’t highjack the airplane.
3. Educate travelers that it is still their responsibility to violently suppress anyone trying to highjack the plane.  The passengers and flight attendants are the first and last defense against someone acting out on an airplane.  After 9/11 this was clear and I even had pilots remind passengers of this… now, so many years later, we may be forgetting this.  Just put out some reminders, I think most travelers would understand it.
4. Increase the background checks of airport and airline employees.  Anyone that has unfettered access to the aircraft should be checked.  It is much easier to damage or sabotage an aircraft from anywhere but the passenger cabin.  I’d be more worried about a rouge employee than a crazy passenger.
5. Monitor the area around the airport better.  Here’s a hard one.  If someone was going to try to shoot down a commercial aircraft, they aren’t necessarily going to be on the airport.  They could be next to the airport, or even a few miles away.  They just need to be in the path of the aircraft when the aircraft is low enough to be hit by whatever they are shooting at it.  Accomplishing this effectively will be nearly impossible, so the best you could hope is to have some cameras monitor the likely areas and to dispatch folks to investigate if something suspicious happens.  So, when that van suddenly stops at the end of the runway and folks jump out, you send someone out to see what is going on.  The best you can hope for is to increase the terrorist risk so they don’t try it.  I wouldn’t put too much into this area, but you might be able to catch the obvious if you are lucky.
6. Most importantly, educate travelers that there is a risk and that TSA can’t prevent everything and that it isn’t going to try.  Just admit to the public that something bad may happen and that that sucks, but it is a fact of life.  If they understand that every dime spent on the TSA is a dime not spent on education, or another dime added to our deficit, they would understand.  The TSA doesn’t produce anything.  They do not contribute at all to our Gross National Product.  If people are treated like adults and they understand the risk and costs associated with minimizing every risk, I don’t think you’d get a huge backlash from folks when the TSA backs off from their very expensive tactics.

So, there are some of my ideas.  They pretty much match up with what others are saying.  I don’t know if the politicians have the willpower to dramatically reduce the scale and cost of the TSA without giving their political opponents the “they are soft on terrorism” stick to beat them up with.  It is simple common sense that addresses the reality of the situation.  It may be an uphill battle to apply some common sense here, but given our financial situation, it is worth making the effort.