With all the recent security breaches at US airports, and those of other nations, it's making me more and more concerned I and my family are flying more than ever. In light of the apparent incompetence at the highest levels of government, and particularly those responsible for implementing effective measures, I can only hope the Federal government will wake up and take a realistic look at the way the Israelis protect their people and country. It's pretty obvious who are perpetrating the terror plots, but our paranoia regarding profiling probably makes Osama bin Laden laugh out loud. Our political correctness is going to get alot of people killed, over time. I've inserted some interesting comments from an editorial on the subject.
"How do the Israelis do it? For one thing, El Al puts at least one armed, plainclothes sky marshal on all its flights. One such agent foiled a hijack attempt over Holland in 1970. During El Al flights, the cockpit door, made of reinforced steel strong enough to repel fire from a handgun, remains locked. On the ground, the Israelis not only use the standard metal detectors and X-ray machines but also lean on teams of young agents, dressed in blue slacks and white shirts, who interrogate, to varying degrees, every passenger departing Ben Gurion and, in airports abroad, anyone flying El Al. The questions can include: "When did you book this flight?" "Who paid for the ticket?" "Why are you traveling?" "Whom did you meet while in Israel?" Business travelers are asked for documents proving they actually are pursuing a particular deal. Journalists are asked to reveal the stories they are going to cover. One agent will ask questions for a while, then a second will ask many of the same. The two will compare notes, and one or the other will ask a third batch of queries. This process often takes 20 minutes; it can take two hours.
The idea is to turn up inconsistencies in a terrorist's made-up story (or at least rattle him into a panic) and also expose individuals who may be unknowing accomplices. In 1986, El Al security at London's Heathrow airport discovered a bomb sewn into the suitcase of an unwitting Irish woman after she revealed that she had had a romance with a Jordanian, who had bought her the bag."
The Israelis seem to put their emphasis on screening individual people, rather than objects such as shoes, underwear, shampoo bottles, and my cigar cutter.
ANY COMMENTS FROM THE CBIDERS?
