Comments on: Think the TSA should start profiling? It already does

By: Laptop seizures, babies, and evil tourists | Eccentric Intelligence Agency

Laptop seizures, babies, and evil tourists | Eccentric Intelligence Agency — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:09:21 +0000

[...] or their nation compromised by an MP3. Who could blame us for diligently preventing this by scrutinizing our brown tourists, and even a few yellow and off-white ones? It is obvious these tourists aren’t coming to the [...]

By: Carver

Carver — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:58:20 +0000

@Joe

I’m not comfortable screening people based upon their religion. That would effectively make Muslims second class Americans which I think is very un-American.

As I see it, we are at war with terrorists, regardless of who they are. Having said that, we know which countries/groups sponsor terrorism. Therefore, anyone who has spent more than a perfunctory amount of time in those countries or have associated with those groups should be profiled and given appropriate levels of screening.

However, I am for profiling.

By: naoma

naoma — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:20:02 +0000

I am curious as to what profile into which I fall. I’ve been pulled over because I wear 2 watches — one is jewelry; one for multiple time zones; I wear dresses that look like trench coats and have been ordered to “remove your coat.” Husband has shoes with wires and batteries in them — very special running shoes. He was asked about them when they went through the scanner and passed through. I am 5’3″ tall, blonde, elderly. Go figure.

By: Brooklyn

Brooklyn — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 17:34:59 +0000

@Barry Graham: I know an American journalist of Irish descent who was endlessly harassed by the Israelis while on assignment there because of this olive skin and dark hair. Profiling sounds fine if you don’t think you’ll be the one profiled, but it’s a bad idea because, by limiting the pool of people whose rights are being violated, it allows the authorities to get away with pretty much anything they want in the knowledge that the victims won’t have enough of a voice to be heard.

By: Joe Farrell

Joe Farrell — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:13:33 +0000

Carver – you simply ask – on the visa application. Or assume – since it is illegal to not be Muslim in many islamic nations. My siuggestion was to profile, search, whatever, non-citizen males between certain ages traveling to or from the United States. You need a visa to come into the US [except from certain nations] and a passport to leave along with the visa to enter. The process will be fairly simple.

You may not catch every one but to or from or through certain nations – along with asking on the form. Can someone lie? Certainly. But the overall policy will catch almost everyone.

By: Carver

Carver — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 07:30:48 +0000

@Joe

It is true that a muslim male can be from any country. Its equally true that a muslim male can be of any ethnicity. Therefore, from a logistical point, how you screen based upon religion. I don’t recall every identifying myself as a Christian on any government documents.

By: Joe Farrell

Joe Farrell — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:44:09 +0000

Don’t worry about Justin – he is against anything that might be effective. He called me a racist for opining that Muslim males between 15 and 45 need to get supplemental screening when coming to the United States. I might be a screaming bad religionist but race has nothing to do with it since Muslim males can be from all races . . .

Dog would work – maybe. There have been a few tests and dogs are not as reliable as one might think. And a piece of steak in ones pants can be sufficiently distracting to let someone else in. And its not just

By ‘profiling’ people automatically think racial or appearance or some other standard – which is w rong. Behavior profiling EVERYONE does, consciously or not.

By: karen

karen — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:27:29 +0000

As a 64 year old American woman who has had 4 joint replacement surgeries, I can definitely say that the TSA always profiles one group: older people in wheelchairs, who often can’t walk properly and have had operations leaving metal in their bodies. Even before the Christmas day terrorist, I’ve been handled in inappropriate places on my body, had my hands screened for bomb residue and made to get out of my wheelchair and try to walk, without being able to use my cane, so that I very nearly fell over. When will the TSA stop targeting seniors, wasting time and lots of money?The truth is that it is so painful to get a joint replacement that no one does this unless they definitely want to LIVE. Anything else is unthinkable.

By: Barry Graham

Barry Graham — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:30:25 +0000

Israeli security seems to be able to tell the difference between an Israeli and someone who isn’t, even though many Israelis come from the same countries as the people they are looking for.

Having a middle eastern look should not be a problem.

The only problem is that our security lines are not manned by Israelis.

Nevertheless this is still a step in the right direction.

By: Ronda Cantin

Ronda Cantin — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:58:26 +0000

@ paulette, The only flying i ever do is in Canada. So my experiance with TSA is through speculation. I’m not saying that the indivisual people of the TSA are all morons, but the organaziation as a whole are the morons. It only takes one or 2 morons at the top of a company, union, or organization to make the entire group look bad. But from what i’ve read through this site, msnbc, and through friends that do travel often to the states, the tsa collectively isnt organized, and has a one hand doesnt know what the other hand is doing complex.
The fact that the different government organizations arent sharing info with each other, ESPECIALLY concerning possible terrorists, is stupid, and needs to be rectified. The fact that the no fly and the extra screening lists go only by name is also rediculous, so many people have the same name that completely innocent poeple have to go through additional screening. (like that poor eightyear old who keeps getting screened) It needs to have a better system, because yes, on the one hand children are sometimes used to smuggle things cross country, but on the other hand. its rare.

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:53:34 +0000

@ Laurie

I mean “Medal”. Excuse my inability to type and sell at the same time!

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:52:42 +0000

*Medal…I can’t type…..Sorry, excuse my inability to type and spell at the same time!

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:50:32 +0000

@Laurie van Esschoten

I am sorry your client had to visit Dayton….I really truly am. He had to stay there three days also? He should get a metal. I am born and raised there (moved 1.5 years back), and unfortunately, Dayton falls into one of those EXTREMELY economically depressed areas. If you want to see what these stupid bank executives and mismanagement of car companies have done to America… Dayton, Detroit, and anything Midwest will open your eyes. Anyway, I am glad he got it worked out. Once again, I am so very sorry. At least the airport is semi decent and the 2 cities directly surrounding it. “Day” is actually in Vandalia, Ohio and not Dayton….Dayton itself….Well I’ll leave it at that!

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:51:56 +0000

@ Everyone…

As I said before….

Why isn’t the TSA using:

A) Bomb Sniffing Dogs
B) Explosive detecting devices as people walk through security.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/detecting-liquid-explosives.htm

C) A well Trained staff.

What is NOT ACCEPTABLE:

Full Body strip search scans that are INVASIVE to privacy. I would personally refuse and ask for a secondary scan. I don’t give a rats ass that I am white and do not fit the profile. I think that ANYONE dumb enough to trade their civil liberties for such a devise has shut off their common sense.

As Ive said time and time again. Nothing is a substitute for a properly trained staff and the likelihood of dying in an attack is about 50x less than that of being murdered.. Gee…

By: MeanMeosh

MeanMeosh — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:13:23 +0000

Abhi – I think your example shows the problem with our current system of profiling, though. If you’ve flown 126 times over the past 5 years, you clearly pose about as much threat to airline security as my cat (if anything, I’d say my cat poses more of a threat based on its ability to scratch and bite). There’s no telling why you’re always getting tagged, but it’s safe to say, the system that keeps picking you out is picking the wrong guy. You get harassed while Richard Reid and Abdulmutallab get through without a second glance. Why should you have to put up with wasting your time based on a flawed profiling system (though kudos to you for being such a good sport about it)?

We need to design a better system, but I don’t have much faith in the TSA to be able to come up with and implement one.