DHS Plans Changes in Air Passenger Screening

narramissic writes "The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday announced plans to revamp its Secure Flight program, with the agency no longer assigning risk scores to passengers or using predictive behavior technology. In addition, the Transportation Security Administration, part of DHS, will have direct control of checking domestic passenger lists against terrorist watch lists, instead of the airlines, said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. Just the same Marc Rotenberg, executive director of privacy advocacy group the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), notes, air passengers still can't see the reasons why they're targeted for extensive searches or kept off flights, nor can they correct bad information on the terrorist watch lists. 'The problems with the watch list are still valid and are not going away,' said Rotenberg."

Comments

I'm still not understanding that.

[khasim]

The "terrorist watch lists" ...

You're too dangerous to be allowed to fly ... but not dangerous enough to be arrested ... even with the "enhanced" authority of the PATRIOT Act (I & II).

So wouldn't any real terrorist just try to get on a plane to see if the government knows about him? If he gets on with no problem, he knows they don't suspect him. If he's turned away, he knows to drop communications with the other terrorists.

This is just stupid. No matter how you phrase it.

Re:I'm still not understanding that.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is just stupid. No matter how you phrase it.

You misunderstand the purpose of the lists. It is not to "protect" anyone from "terrorists". It is to instill a climate of fear and paranoia on a daily basis, in an effort to "justify" the creep of fascism to the sheeple.

Random searches and detentions where the victim had no way to confront the charges were one of the key hallmarks of the Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union both.

Re:I'm still not understanding that.

[Jafafa Hots]

Exactly. It's a total scam, especially since they STILL aren't screening cargo that often goes on the VERY SAME FLIGHTS.

Also, with the ridiculous passenger screening... taking shoes off, limiting liquids because of some bullshit half-imagined liquid bomb plot. Its all to scare the passengers, or perhaps to make them FEEL like someone is doing something.

Meanwhile, none of these measures would find a glass or obsidian (sharper than a razor) knife strapped to your leg. Which is just one thing I thought of off hand. I sure hope all terrorists are idiots. I just don't think they are.

Re:I'm still not understanding that.

[lawpoop]

Also, with the ridiculous passenger screening... taking shoes off, limiting liquids because of some bullshit half-imagined liquid bomb plot. Its all to scare the passengers, or perhaps to make them FEEL like someone is doing something. Or, it's just to get people used to random and crazy searches by the authorities as a normal part of daily life, without a peep of protest.

Re:I'm still not understanding that.

[TheGratefulNet]

Or, it's just to get people used to random and crazy searches by the authorities as a normal part of daily life, without a peep of protest.

I worry that the next generation (maybe even the current high school kids, now) won't even KNOW what they're missing in terms of basic american freedoms ;(

all govs, everywhere, rejoice when they get more control and keep their citizens in check and in fear. once started, they all jump on the bandwagon. I see it over in europe and even australia. lots of restrictions and oppression from the gov to the citizens. if all the govs are doing it, you can't GO anywhere to find a breath of fresh air anymore.

I remember the 60's and the revolution that was going on, then. now we have a different revolution, but its being held BY the governments and its to keep its people in fear. greatest control stems from fear. (see Religion for more on this subject.)

really - I worry that over the next 20 yrs, people will have forgotton what going on an airplane and NOT having to take shoes off was like. ahhh, the good old days when your own foot odor was your own business ;)

Re:I'm still not understanding that.

[Torvaun]

The knife is because he read Snow Crash. On the other hand, it wouldn't be a difficult task to turn a cheap Airsoft handgun (made of plastic, shoots little plastic BBs) into a cheap plastic .22 handgun. Don't think for a second that it's impossible to get bullets past checkpoints.

True story: My grandfather used to take a walk every morning down to his local shooting range. He'd pick up trash, and sometimes brass for loading his own cartridges. On this particular morning, he happened to find a .243 cartridge that was live, someone must have accidentally dropped it. He put it in his pocket, and went on his way. Later that day, his daughter (my aunt) was flying out to England, and from there to India. He took her to the airport, and went through the security checkpoint to walk her to the gate. He set off the metal detector, and they had him go through the process of emptying out his pockets of all the change, keys, etc. He reached in, and found that he still had that live rifle cartridge in there. He noticed that neither of the security people were paying attention, and he pulled out the cartridge and dropped it in his shirt pocket. When he went through again, he beeped, and got wanded. His shirt pocket beeped, and so did the other one. Being as those pockets were behind the metal buckles on his suspenders, they let him through.

An old man managed to beat airport security without even trying in the days immediately following 9/11. It has never entered my head that terrorists couldn't do the same.

Re:I'm still not understanding that.

[lawpoop]

I worry that the next generation (maybe even the current high school kids, now) won't even KNOW what they're missing in terms of basic american freedoms ;( I had a sad realization the other day. At the end of Bush's presidency in 2008, a 9-year-old who became a 17-year-old would really only have known Bush as a model for the president. How sad.

Human life and memory seem so short -- the generations turn too quickly. Now I understand how vitally important it is to teach history.

Re:I'm still not understanding that.

[Original Replica]

What good is a knife?

As good or better than a gun when you are talking about taking over a plane. Don't forget that the 9/11 hijacking were done with knives. You can incite much more terror and pain with some well placed cuts than with a gun. The only way that a handful of people ever take over a plane filled with over a hundred passengers is through psychological control. If they really internalised that the only way they would live would be to overcome the hijacker, then they would overcome the hijacker by sheer numbers, even if it meant attacking until the ammo ran out. But that will almost never be the case, just given the faintest promise of being let go if they coopperate will subdue most people, even making some passengers stop any attempt to over power the hijackers. As most authority today is ultimately achieved through threats and force, people are well conditioned to submit when confronted with a non-choice like "Open the cockpit door or I will have to cut this young lady. Don't make me have to cut her." From and outside objective view we can say that it doesn't matter if they are all going to die anyhow, and the only one making the hijacker hurt the young lady is the hijacker. But the people actually inside the plane are going to turn to appeasing the violent forces in hopes of survival. If offered something that looks like a choice, people will try to appease violence rather than combat it, it's been demonstrated thousands of times through out human history.

Re:I'm still not understanding that.

[karmatic]

Actually, they have a legitimate reason for limiting liquids - just not the one they tell you about. Given the strong oxidizer you would need to make an explosive, a liquid bomb isn't really an issue - especially considering we _still_ have nothing to stop a guy with a couple of sticks of TNT on his person and a matchbook.

OTOH, one of the ways drugs were smuggled was inside a bag, inside a liquid. It makes it harder for the drug dogs to smell it, as the scent is masked by the liquid. This is why you are limited to 100ml, in a clear plastic bag.

The more you know.

De Ja Vu

[Chikenistheman]

with the agency no longer no longer assigning risk scores to passengers or using predictive behavior technology.

 
This can only mean they changed something in the Matrix

It's really this simple

[Monoliath]

I no longer fly into the United States because of this kind of dog shit.

Your American airlines are losing my potential travel dollars because of your stupid government.

I hope the industry tanks.

Carnival Booth Attach

[slashqwerty]

The Carnival Booth Attack can turn any passenger screening system against itself making it do the exact opposite of what it is supposed to do. The one requirement for the Carnival Booth Attack is that the system remain unchanged between the time it is tested and the time it is exploited. By routinely changing the system (this is at least the third time in six years) they can throw a wrench into any prep work that has been carried out to circumvent the system.

Air travel security is worthless

[jskiff]

I'm actually in the process of writing my senators and congressman a hand written, registered letter to tell them how ashamed I am of DHS and TSA. Yesterday, flying home from Orlando, I witnessed:

*The security line ID checker occasionally checking people's IDs, then turning around to talk to his co-worker and letting people pass, then randomly checking IDs.
*A second TSA staff member knocking on the glass trying to get the attention of a friend of hers, then making faces like you'd see kids do in high school
*A sporadic "take out all of your electronics" followed by "only laptops" followed by "only electronics bigger than your hand need to be removed from your bag."

Anyone who travels on a regular basis (I fly about 100,000 miles a year) knows that behavior like this is unsurprising, but I'm just getting to the point where I've had enough. If we're going to enforce security, how about actual enforcing effective security protocols rather than making sure that my shaving creams fits in a ziploc bag?

Re:Air travel security is worthless

[Octorian]

The way the US metal detectors are calibrated these days, I'm worried that I'll set them off if my blood iron content is too high. I almost feel like frequent travelers (which I've been in the past) could use a boot-camp course on rapid "remove the laptop, take off the shoes, remove the belt, wallet, keys... walk through the detector, reverse the process and continue onward".

A few days ago I was flying out of Tel Aviv on El Al. Yeah, that's right, the airline that cares more about *real* security and is a far more tempting target than any of these US airlines. And I didn't have to present my plastic bag, or remove my shoes or belt! (of course they do scan the baggage, and question each passenger a bit more thoroughly than they ever do in the US, but it was still a far more pleasant experience than checking back in with Continental in Newark on my way back.)

The TSA is all about making it look like they're doing something, instead of actually doing something. I once heard it said that you simply cannot apply logic to security policy, since then it will never make sense to you. I'm curious what the next hairbrained terrorist scheme will be, and what sort of totally senseless travel restrictions will be added as a result. Any ideas?

Sick? Vote for Ron Paul

[SonicSpike]

Yeah - that's why I'm voting for Ron Paul. Bush and Clinton are a joke (all 4 of them).

Check out Ron Paul's voting record if you haven't already. He is the most popular canididate on the Net.

Again, meh

[JW.Axelsen.Sr.]

I haven't been able to board airplanes since 2005. I was born in Denver, lived here all my life except for two years when I lived in Seattle, '00-'02. I'm of Swedish, Irish and German descent. I've flown to Europe a couple of times, but only to places like England, Italy and France. I used to fly a LOT for work, now I drive or take trains. Being put on some shitty little list has been one of the best things that's happened to me. I get to see things I'd never see while flying and I get to experience different local flavors that I surely would've missed out on in the past. I've never been told exactly why I can't get on a plane, but it can't be my appearance, I'm 6'4" with blue eyes and blonde hair. I look as Aryan as anyone can. I've never been a member of any political organization that would like to see the current government overthrown (not counting being a member of the general populace) and I've never been convicted of a felony. If the airlines are happy with participating in keeping away the tens of thousands of dollars I used to spend on flying every year, that's ok with me, fuck them and the tax money they generate. I don't know what I'm trying to say here except that I hope the flight industry dies. Let's get some fuckin' bullet-trains built. France has one.

Re:Again, meh

[noidentity]

If the airlines are happy with participating in keeping away the tens of thousands of dollars I used to spend on flying every year, that's ok with me, fuck them and the tax money they generate. I don't know what I'm trying to say here except that I hope the flight industry dies. Let's get some fuckin' bullet-trains built. France has one.

See, they're smarter than you think! They knew you were going to post this awful opinion of them on Slashdot today, so they put you on that list years ago.

Just because they say they won't...

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't mean that they won't.

I have a friend who had his house raided many years ago because of the chemicals he was keeping for making fireworks (not you're crappy little fireworks, but cluster shells and the whole shebang). Due to his age, if he didn't reoffend (which he did, but never got caught or charged) it was to be permanently wiped from his record once he turned 18.

He is now in his 20s (and has a second job in the pyrotechnics industry), yet every time he steps on a plane he gets the full bomb treatment, they even do mouth swabs.

So as I said, just because they say they won't doesn't mean it. And this is in Australia.