Schneier on Security: "It's not security, it's security theater"
A Buckdog reader suggested the following newer Schneier post:
"Hours-long waits in the security line. Ridiculous prohibitions on what you can carry onboard. Last week's foiling of a major terrorist plot and the subsequent airport security graphically illustrates the difference between effective security and security theater.
None of the airplane security measures implemented because of 9/11 -- no-fly lists, secondary screening, prohibitions against pocket knives and corkscrews -- had anything to do with last week's arrests. And they wouldn't have prevented the planned attacks, had the terrorists not been arrested. A national ID card wouldn't have made a difference, either.
Instead, the arrests are a victory for old-fashioned intelligence and investigation. Details are still secret, but police in at least two countries were watching the terrorists for a long time. They followed leads, figured out who was talking to whom, and slowly pieced together both the network and the plot."
Schneier on Security: Last Week's Terrorism Arrests (August 13, 2006)
Mike over at Rational Reasons has some really good references on the whole security as theatre issue in a post titled: From the real experts on security
"Hours-long waits in the security line. Ridiculous prohibitions on what you can carry onboard. Last week's foiling of a major terrorist plot and the subsequent airport security graphically illustrates the difference between effective security and security theater.
None of the airplane security measures implemented because of 9/11 -- no-fly lists, secondary screening, prohibitions against pocket knives and corkscrews -- had anything to do with last week's arrests. And they wouldn't have prevented the planned attacks, had the terrorists not been arrested. A national ID card wouldn't have made a difference, either.
Instead, the arrests are a victory for old-fashioned intelligence and investigation. Details are still secret, but police in at least two countries were watching the terrorists for a long time. They followed leads, figured out who was talking to whom, and slowly pieced together both the network and the plot."
Schneier on Security: Last Week's Terrorism Arrests (August 13, 2006)
Mike over at Rational Reasons has some really good references on the whole security as theatre issue in a post titled: From the real experts on security
Thanks bruno!
Posted by
Mike |
5:58 pm, August 14, 2006
At first when I read this I thought that this mostly deals with conditions for Americans but then I realized that even if we do live in Canada, our airports are now on rigourous alert as well. It is not a comfortable feeling to have to go thru massive security at a small airport in the middle of western Canada. When a little senior from Yorkton has to take off her shoes and give up a number of benign items before she can even fly out of Saskatoon, well the fear sets in.
Posted by
A servant of the servant of the Lord |
9:39 pm, August 14, 2006