You didn’t have a bomb in the cooler or in the van. The inspector was able to figure this out by means other than search and chose not to waste your and his time by conducting an unnecessary search of personal effects.
Is it possible an elite squad of granny commandos could social engineer their way through such a checkpoint with several cubic feet of plastic explosives tucked in amongst the pimento cheese sandwiches and grape soda? Sure.
Is it probable? No.
Individuals aren’t very good at hiding the fact that they have a secret. Most people don’t pay enough attention to how they (or others) act normally to recognize how they’re acting abnormally when trying to hide something. It becomes pretty obvious when you’ve spent most of your working hours looking for anything abnormal in a continuous stream of normal actions and reactions.
Throw in random/periodic search requirements and you have personnel doing a single isolated section of a search because the requirement has come up. They find nothing. No flags are raised. The individual passes through with no further inspection beyond the required action.
“But they didn’t even look in the cooler!”
The one place I’ve been concerned about whether I was on the right plane was bizarrely in that bastion of chaos, Switzerland. Two flights, to Manchester and Madrid, were listed as boarding from the same gate, the latter being delayed and so ended up about the same time as ours. Both involved a bus to the plane, with no signage as to which one to get on, just a surly driver mumbling ‘Mmia…’. Only when the Manchester Evening News was an option among the newspapers handed out was I fully assured I wasn’t ending up in the wrong country.
On my last set of flights back in December/January, I almost lost the two P38s attached to my key chain. Both are original issue Vietnam war era I got from my brother, and I’ve had them for about as long. The young whippersnapper TSA crewcut snotnose raised an issue with them, but before I could plead my case, his co-worker glanced at them and waved me through. His coworker had the right amount of gray hair to indicate a degree of wisdom or commonsense, if not personal experience, if you catch my drift.
I could never understand why one would need to confiscate a P38 when scissors with four-inch blades (and pointed tips!) are perfectly acceptable in carryon.
I nearly abandoned my eldest niece in the airport when she was like five or six. The two of us were flying down to meet her parents and younger brother who had driven down to Florida. I thought I had it pretty slick really. So we get to the airport, and we’re at the security checkpoint. I get through fine, but the screener pauses when she comes to my niece’s bag.
“Will you take responsibility for this bag?” The obvious answer to this is Hell no, but I’m a trusting sort, and I just wanted to get on the plane so I nodded. She pulls it forward and unzips it. Out comes a huge pair of kitchen shears.
“You can’t take these on the plane.” Very deadpan. I was impressed.
“I don’t want to.” So my sister lost a pair of good scissors, but they let us on the plane.
-Lil
This thread has pretty much convinced me I will never be able to fly again (haven’t been on a plane in about 8 years). I’m normally a pretty well-tempered guy, but I don’t do well with people asking me personal questions just for the sake of asking.
Odds are the first thing out of my mouth to the question “What is in this bag?” would be “None of your fucking business”. I don’t do well with security who isn’t me.
I took a ferry to Ireland not long ago, for the first time in ages. I think they were operating at a heightened security level for some reason. Every car was searched, including luggage, engine compartment etc, and every driver was being questioned about their journey, ownership of the vehicle, and so on. On the other hand, it might be that this is the norm nowadays (somebody might be able to confirm or deny that).
Either way, what made it not seem like the hassle of the airport x-ray line was that the security staff were all pleasant, able to banter and take a joke.
My MiL collects keyrings. I gather she regularly swaps them around so he keys are attached to a differant bizzare object each week.
When we all flew over to Spain my MiL had a pair of pretend scissors attached to her keys. About an inch long, non-opening scissors. The end wasn’t exactly blunt, but not sharpened to a point either. And they wouldn’t let her on with those. They’ll post it back for a fee of £10.
£10 to post an object that a first-class stamp would cover ?
When you see that kind of unreasonable money grabbing behaviour introducted along-side ‘security measures’ you start to doubt they’re taking the security that seriously. Which leads to doubting the point of the whole system
1)One way ticket.
2) Arabic on and in my passport
3)Multiple entries into the US from Middle East Countries
4)My laissez faire attitude at check in and security lines.
My worst experience was going from Reno to Seattle then on to the Middle East. I had 4 bags and two cat carriers with cats inside. TSA need me to get the cats out and then pat down the insides of the carriers. Ok, it was 6 am the TSA guy was an real wanker. He starts squeaking that his was allergic to cats. Not my problem . I told him if he had to look in the carriers get someone who isn’t. That set him off. Grabbed a co-TSA’er and I hauled my little furry kids out of the carriers, they were patted down as well as the carriers. After they were ‘passed’ I told the second guy, that I needed to talk to a supervisor. All this time I was very polite. Supervisor said the guy #1 was allergic to cats. I said I understood that but I didn’t need to be treated badly because he couldnot do his job. Maybe he should take a benedryl. The TSA’er in Seattle was just as unpleasant when I had to recheck them. Cat haters!
eenerms – patted down the cat-- now that’s hysterical!!
1010011010, I’m still having trouble following the logic. At first you confirm that unknowing carriers are a likely means of transporting and placing a bomb.
And later you amplify and reiterate this position.
You’ve pretty well convinced me that our vehicle should be given a thorough search. A van full of dupes could indeed be transporting a bomb, unawares. And I said as much from the beginning. You don’t (yet) mention the cooler specifically, but I would assume that inspection thereof would be part of a thorough search. Us dupes might not notice a bomb if it was encased in ice or inside an (anonymous) personal lunch box. So inspecting the cooler seems to be a requirement of a thorough search. It seems at least as likely a hiding place as the undercarriage. (Or, courtesy of eenerms, the living body of a cat or the inert walls of a cat carrier.)
But in the very same post you go on to say:
You’ve created a new scenario, with dupes replaced by terrorists and the cooler now holding Stingers instead of a bomb. Apparently, since we all kept our composure during inspection, we cannot be terrorists. And if we can’t be terrorists, the cooler can’t contain Stingers. So inspecting it is a waste of time.
What if we aren’t all terrorists, but mostly dupes with one terrorist who is a good liar? Or what if we are (return to scenario the first) all dupes after all? And the cooler (instead of the undercarriage) contains a remotely detonated bomb? Since the only “evidence” you have to differentiate between these scenarios is the role playing ability of the players in the van, I submit that you have insufficient evidence to make a determination between the scenarios. And therefore you have a duty to look in the cooler.
I repeat that there is as much reason – and as little reason – to look in the cooler as anywhere else.
To which you reply
So the passengers are assumed to be irrelevant regarding a search of the vehicle itself (“You have to search.”), but our reply to a question about the contents of the cooler (“Lunch!”) will be accepted at face value?
Sorry, I just don’t buy it. But you later justify this and explain:
And the proof of this technique is that we have had no bombings at the Cape. Just as the proof of airport inspections is the lack of terrorist attacks on airplanes. Sorry, I don’t buy that either.
I accept your thesis that a highly trained and highly motivated individual can frequently (though not 100% accurately) identify high risk behaviors through observation and limited interaction, using the keen insight and deduction of, say, a Sherlock Holmes. I believe this summarizes your Paragraphs 3 and 4 above. You seem to have relevant experience in this field, and you yourself may indeed be such a person. If so, my compliments and thank you for your service. But I submit that you are the exception rather than the rule.
The “inspectors” at the Cape are neither highly trained nor highly motivated. They are Park Rangers who have had a seminar on “Homeland Security” and subsequently assigned to additional duties. Their keen Holmes-ian insight and deductive abilities are dulled by youth, inexperience, boredom, and heat stroke. And their motivation is tempered by the same mental calculations we have all made. “Of all the possible targets in the world, what are the chances of it being this one? Slim. And of all the possible instants in time, what are the odds of it being exactly now? Even slimmer. Slim times slimmer equals infinitesimal.” So they do a dull, boring job in a half hearted manner. The “inspection” is perfunctory at best, and could easily be overcome by determined terrorists using any of several obvious techniques.
As the OP said originally:
“Sir, on behalf of the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security I would like to thank you for participating in our little play-acting session today. I realize that not a damn thing we did today would prevent any terrorist with an IQ higher than 75 from brining your plane down [or bombing the Cape] on this fine afternoon, but we like to put up a good show.”
I simply say again, if we’re going to do it, let’s do it right. If we’re not going to do it right, then drop the play acting and leave me alone.
I also had a cat patted down once, in Boston. I was trying to carry him through the detector and set off an alarm. The screener shut down all the lines so he could train all the other screeners on how to wand a cat.
I think it was about 2002; I was going through security with my youth group for our mission trip to Germany. I was wearing a bandanna over my hair because we’d gotten up early and been on a bus for four hours to get to the airport.
They asked me to remove it. No big deal, but, what can I possible hide between my head and that fabric? They’d already patted my head (which I didn’t like as I don’t appreciate being touched, but whatever). Obviously I had a huge dent in my head that I had filled with various dangerous items.
That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Can you imagine? What situation would that happen i?
Your wife: OK sweetie, now when Mommy comes out of the scan I want you to tuck the bomb inside your hands, and run to me saying “Mommy!” and hug my legs, and then put the bomb inside the hole i have cut in my pants, ok?
Your daughter: Yes! The plane will never know what hit it when we bomb it out of the sky! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I actually just took a flight today from BWI. The screener noticed something in my bag and wanted to search it. So he did and he found my swiss army knife. I had completely forgotten that it was in my purse. The point here, though, is that this was my RETURN flight!
You would think it’s too stupid for words… but the TSA doesn’t. I was travelling with a very small child (less than 1 year, IIRC), and I was selected for SA. I said no problem, just let me give my husband the baby. MA’AM! DON’T TOUCH ANYONE!!!
WTF? Hubby wasn’t even allowed to pass me a pacifier, as the baby begins to scream at being poked and wanded. Fuckers. :mad:
Recently, my friend Nikki was travelling on business. She checked in at the desk, since she hadn’t been able to check in online the night before. The gal hands her the boarding pass and tells her to go to gate 5. She was asked to show ID to get the boarding pass.
So that was ID check #1.
Then, she goes through the security line, where the gal asked her for her boarding pass and ID. The TSA gal looks at both, marks a couple of things with a highlighter pen, and waves her through.
ID check #2.
Then, they ask again at the magnetometer, so she again hands over ID and boarding pass.
ID check #3.
Then, as the plane is boarding, she checks her boarding pass to see which boarding group she is in- the boarding pass has a completely different name on it! Nothing like hers at all! She goes up to the desk and they are astonished. Not only is Nikki NOT Carol Johnson, but “Carol Johnson” has checked in twice and been issued two boarding passes, and nobody noticed.
Not in my experience. Once was in Dublin, and that was the trip where I learned that even if you did sleep in the airport and are very very tired and desperately need coffee, you don’t want to use the phrase “jackbooted fascist”, nor “Molotov cocktail”. Especially not to someone who has the power to arrest you.
The second time was in Philadelphia (in fact, the same trip I mentioned previously). I’d actually bought the bottle of water within security, then had to go back out to the ticket desk, then through security in a different terminal. They said I couldn’t take the bottle itself, even if I dumped the water out. Even after I showed them the receipt proving I purchased it within the ‘secured zone’.
Something else that I have noticed, and it is so simple I was embarrassed that I hadn’t noticed it before- don’t be first in line to board!
At the beginning of boarding, the SA folks are just standing around, waiting to frisk somebody. So, in spite of wanting to be first, let someone else go ahead. Then, once you see that the SA people have their first victims, they will be busy for at least a couple of minutes and you will walk right onto the plane.