[...]here are some links to a site that we link to because we think they are worth visiting, as we use their service against spam links with success[...]……

Pilots go through extensive background checks with the FBI and that thousands of pilots are deputized Federal Flight Deck Officers who are authorized to carry arms, scanning them for concealed weapons seems to be pointless. John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, objected to the unnecessary scrutiny of airline pilots and flight attendants, who, unlike TSA’s own employees, have already undergone background checks and who have been cleared to enter the cockpit. Pilots have already been trusted to operate the most dangerous potential “weapon” aboard any aircraft– the plane itself. What contraband could they could possibly conceal on their person that would be of greater concern?

Pilots and flight crews are security screened. Baggage handlers, cleaners, mechanics etc. aren’t. They swipe an access card and are in the secure area. Yet they have unlimited access to airliners to leave behind anything in any place. The TSA’s answer- ‘Its too inconvenient to search them!’

There are actually registered sex offenders on the books who have done far less than what the TSA is doing to air travellers right now.

Also, there have been attacks within airports; Israel comes to mind here, though I don’t remember the specifics. There may be other examples also. So, protecting the airport itself seems important. I cannot see this being done by just a single airline. It calls for a collective effort. Unless we are now talking about separate terminals for each airline.

Complexity, is what Nietzsche meant. Chaos, otoh, is what you get from star chamber “standardization”.

And just what do you suppose was the mechanism that imparted those lessons to Whitney? It wasn’t the federal cotton gin gin….

You’ve just inadvertently proved Ms. Akers’ point. Airport security is dangerous because it’s ineffective, and it’s ineffective because the market process has not been allowed to discover which security protocols give the customers the sense of safety they need in order to most confidently fly. Why would we expect a security monopoly to perform better than any other monopoly?

Just imagine an airline that required, as a condition of ticket purchase, that one’s bags could be searched by any other ticketholder or their hired agent at any time, and provided only nominal security otherwise. An example of a solution that sounds absurd, but is only really unthinkable as a business model because it’s impossible to test out as long as a monopolist in charge.

With that said she goes from the sublime to the ridiculous by offering that the solution is a complete deregulation of security.

Do I think TSA is the answer? No. However the problem is that a lack of standardization leads to chaos and a breakdown of customer service. I am less concerned when that means Starbucks hands me the wrong cup of coffee but relatively more concerned when it means the guy sitting next to me has O. Bin Laden on his suitcase tag.

For instance, a significant step forward in curbing the cost of health care could have been achieved by commissioning a committee of insurance reps and doctors to standardize the paperwork so it doesn’t take an entire herd of clerical staff just to get paid. The lessons learned by Eli Whitney and his cotton gin do not only apply to mechanical systems, they apply to bureaucracies as well. Standardization = Efficiency and Consistency.

If we allow air carriers to implement their own security we’ll end up with a system that ranges from James Bond to Barmy Fife. If I decide to go through the 007 line I don’t want my plane put in jeopardy by some rent-a-cop wannabe earning minimum wage from a discount airline that lets in Mohammed Mohammed Al Mohammed on his way to claim his 70 odd virgins.

Security is for the airport, not the airline. Comprises in the security of one could affect every plane in the airport. I shouldn’t need to get naked to achieve a reasonable level of confidence that one of the passengers isn’t going to light his BVD’s on fire but at the same time I shouldn’t have to worry that some high school dropout looking for beer money is running security because they need to offset an increase in the cost of aviation fuel.