Security Pat Downs at the Airports

I can't wait for this issue to reach some supreme court or other. How outrageous that this is the best we can do as far as security? It feels like we're moving backward, not forward.

@Uraniumfish there are groups out there violently protesting and New York it seems is planing to opt out of the nude scanners.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/11/new-york-orlando-join-anti-tsa-rebellion-while-tsa-mounts-pr-effort.ars
But whats the alternative? pat downs for every passenger?? I usually fly out of Terminal 4 in JFK which is a zoo at most times as flights to Asia tend to leave from there. I dread to think of the delays and the chaos .. the stories of the pat downs have been pretty horrific so far and it seems even wires in under wired bras set of the alarms!!!gosh!

The alternative is that we all stop being so freakin' paranoid, because if someone really is out do so some serious harm, they will find a way to do it whether they have been patted down or not. And so we may as well stop making international flights such a gruesome ordeal and admit that the best we can do as far as security is just double check that there isn't anyone on board with knives and such, but that's about all.

You don't think if someone wanted to blow up a plane they wouldn't be able to find a way to do it using plastic explosives or whatnot that will pass through security? I think technology is probably pretty advanced.

This article kinda sums it up well when they say the TSA is not a flyer-centered system but a terrorist-centered system.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101121/ap_on_re_us/us_airport_security_backlash

@Uraniumfish the whole pat down issue has become huge and in fact some airlines like Delta and American have begun to refund non-refundable tickets for people who refuse to fly due to pat downs and screenings. That really is saying something for I am sure the airlines will now exert some kind of pressure on the TSA. I for one would be okay with the nude scanning , if I was sure that the image was not going to be transmitted elsewhere via the internet or some such medium.
I was talking to some visiting New Yorkers recently and as we were discussing the issue they were saying that we should learn from Israel how to handle this for everyone who boards an airline in Israel is personally interviewed before they are allowed on board but then Israel is much smaller country where measures such as this can be instituted. New York it self is so big and JFK Terminal Four from where I usually fly out is a veritable zoo at all times.

@uptowngirl I'm happy about the backlash because I feel like we're all being pushed and prodded and abused by the TSA, all in the name of security. However, I don't have the feeling that I am any more secure - all I am is pushed and prodded and abused. I flew internationally several times last year and each and every single time security failed to find something on me that should not have been allowed - one time it was a pair of steel nail clippers, another time a large bottle of contact lens solution. If it's that easy for me, then the TSA's measures are simply inadequate, and we all may as well admit as much and insist that we not be touched by strangers when we travel!

@Uraniumfish that's seriously worrying if you carried those objects with you wonder what other stuff goes undetected by the TSA and how safe are we really? The TSA agents however can be quite intimidating. I remember when I first moved to NYC I was flying out to London alone and was subject to a body search by a TSA agent who decided I needed one on the basis of the passport I was carrying . I was so traumatized and humiliated that I remember calling my husband from the airport in tears and telling him that I wanted to go home i.e. India. Ever since I have never had a bad experience on any of my flights and believe that the agents that man Newark airport are way more polite and congenial than those that serve JFK.

@uptowngirl Yeah, that's my point: we are all forced to endure these kinds of humiliating searches (as passengers and as security personnel as well) but what for? I seriously question whether these humiliating procedures make us all safer.

@Uraniumfish: These terrorist are such schemers that they place people on the inside to do their dirty work. One terrorist comes to the airport, hands a baggage claim guy (who is a terrorist in disguise) and leaves the airport. The baggage claim guy takes the baggage, with the bomb in it, to the plane, without it going through a scanner. So if a terrorist wants to blow up something, they can find a way to do it.

@hhusted that's what happened when the Air India Kanishka flight was bombed in 1985 by sikh terrorists. The flight was en route to London and Delhi from Montreal in Canada. Do you think with all this heightened security at airports around the world this can still happen? Nowadays passengers and bags are tagged and if there is an unidentified bag which is going onboard it is often offloaded.

Baggage claim guys are pretty well-vetted though, I'd imagine. You can't just turn up "diguised" as a baggage carrier in this day and age

@Uptowngirl: Don't forget the terrorist are very powerful and rich. They can pay off any employee at an airport and have the person do their bidding. So don't take them lightly.

@ajadedidealist Haaa - that sounds like something out of an 80s comedy.

@hhusted Most dudes who are part of terrorist organizations come from poverty rather than riches. The rich and powerful call their terrorist organizations "armies."

@BroadwayBk so true !