HOW SECURE?
Any man or woman who expects the federal government to supply one-hundred per cent security is asking the impossible. The present situation is even more demanding because we don't know exactly who might be an enemy or a friend.
The path which has been taken by our National Defense authorities makes good common sense. The immediate concerning was to set about curbing the flow of persons crossing our national bounds. This irritates a good many citizens who do not see why they should be inconvenienced in their air, sea, or train and car travel.
Whatever is undertaken to attempt the ”get a handle”on the proper way co do a thing with maximum safety for all concerned will be greeted with contempt when suggested. You probably remember back when it was decided that we needed thousands of new workers who's job it would be to inspect the rest of us when we chose to board aircraft other means of public travel. Where do you get thousands of such people? Who will train them? How long will it take together such a force of inspectors to keep terrorists from taking bombs, box cutters,knives,guns or things that look like any of them on our planes? In just a few weeks we had a veritable army of such people jammed into hastily constructed check0out areas at our airports and every edition of every paper carried some stories of the gross ineptness of the “inspectors.” It developed over weeks of argument, that there was no requirement that such persons had to be citizens of the United, ought to be able to red and write or that they bathed frequently and who were schooled in working hours other than those they liked best. Turnover was terrific or a time. It took a while for everyone - inspectors and inspected - to settle into the new routines. We,in actual performance came to realize that no new plan is going to be perfect in every detail. Checking became spot-checking. Screening became scanning and inspections became a game of sorts.
Oddly, such a system works far better than one might imagine. The average American is not bomb-laden self-eliminator. Checkers learn to insect only those who express some sort of negative opinion, or someone who engages in suspicious actions. Years later we find that the many security concerns have been largely met with great improvements within the system. Inspectors have learned to work with each other, rather than to compete. They have found that much more can be done in preventative ways. With some exceptions, we hear far fewer stories about inept decisions made by inspectors. The most recent surge of complaints has, you may have noticed, come from more mature women passengers who are of the opinion that the “patting down” for firearms concealment is a bit too personal in nature.
A.L.M. January 4, 2005 [c488wds]
