Stand Down, Calm Down. Relax.
   By Carl Bussjaeger, January 8, 2010

Oh boy, more full body imagers in the airports. More senseless* degradation in the name of making it look like we're doing something security, in the wake of the Christmas boxer bomber incident.

The point of "terrorism" is not to blow up aircraft; that's merely a tool. The point is to inflict fear that triggers an unpleasant reaction. That doesn't require weapons now. Recently, two multi-million dollar fighter aircraft were launched because an airline passenger wanted to hold a carry-on item instead of putting it in an overhead bin. (I'm not sure why; were they going to shoot the plane down unless the guy put away his stuff?) On the same flight, but different day, as the boxer bomber, a man triggered another bout of terrorism-anaphylactic shock simply by being ill in the rest room. Speaking a language other than English has also initiated panic.

Congratulations, frightened masses. You have reduced yourselves to the point where all an Osama-wannabe has to do is shout, "Boo!" to convince you to submit to more humiliation in the name of security. But tell me, how is a millimeter wave full body imager going to detect "boo"?

But let's assume that you've abandoned all pride: You line up, strip down to bare skin, bend over and cough, collect your TSA diaper, and board the plane. No carry-on or checked baggage. And Osama blows up or machine-guns the line waiting to get into the secured area.

Fine. Make the entire terminal a secure area, and line people up outside. Oops. Car bomb in the parking lot.

It's all security theater, as Bruce Schneier put it. All it can do is displace the terrorist act, not prevent it. It is perpetually playing catch up with what the terrorists dream up next.

Disband the Terminally Stupid Authoritarians. Redirect its funding to real intelligence operations. That means stripping out inefficient bureaucracies, and improving agency interaction, and building in accountability. It means disregarding political correctness and international favoritism and understanding why terrorists would even want to target America; that means realizing that America -- with an emphasis on the government -- hasn't always been angels. Once you understand "why", you'll be better able to focus on "who". Once your intel gives you a real "who" instead of a vague "someone might target something", you can stop him before he gets to the airport or train station. You can target him, and not disrupt the millions of non-terrorists.**

A little common sense would also help: If an important government official repeatedly contacts your embassy to report that his own son, whom you've already been investigating as a potential terrorist, is a terrorist threat, you should maybe pull his visa. Even if that means having to spell his name correctly.

But as is, so long as you're terrified, the terrorists are already winning, by definition. And it's a regenerative loop, the more frightened you are, the easier it is to panic you; hence F-16s in response to a carry-on, and full body imagers. Stand down, calm down. Relax. Don't panic into giving up your liberty.

The next time some idiot sets his shoes or underwear on fire, do what some sensible passengers did to Reid and Abdulmutallab: put him out, and beat him up. And laugh at him, and at his planners who thought incendiary panties were a good idea.***

But don't panic and demand more senseless restrictions on yourself.

* Millimeter wave full body imagers are fine for metallic or dense items, but typically perform poorly at finding low density stuff... like the explosive PETN. That's why they see through clothing. And a person who did well in high school chemistry already knows how to turn cotton clothing into an explosive. That the imager will look through.

** For the minarchists and ancaps: Yes, this could be contracted by the airlines to some non-governmental group like Rand. Airlines could do their own passenger screening.

*** C'mon, admit it. This clown got reported by his own father, set his underwear on fire, and got beat up by his fellow passengers. That's funny. We shouldn't be afraid of these nitwits; we should be watching their antics on YouTube.