TSA security measures are only optional, says Mica by Milota Sidorova

If you don't want to be disturbed and bullied in a plane, use a train or a bus or any other type of transport. That would be the core message of current and considerable issue in the U.S. Thousands of thousands of passengers using airplanes have been complaining on extending security measures that are beyond control, politness and effectivity. Full body scans or pat-down controls, copying datas from your devices and classifying object of daily use as „terrorist“ objects,well that wasn't a typical reality of American airports. And here, in the center of fights and polarized conflict, it's useful to mention several facts. The breaking stone creating an avalanche w! as 9/11 (despite the fact it was several times labeled as carefully prepared action with governmental ties), but from that time pressures for increasing security have been mounting. In 2002, Transportation Security Administration had only 13 employees, but after Democratic push, the very next days it increased and topped enormous number of employees counting 67,000. From that time TSA has been creating more and more security measures, but now 8 years after there have been grave reasons to doubt it they were a tool for violation of basic human rights and many now question their effectivity. One of them, Rep. John Mica who was one of the authors of TSA bill has been expressing doubts – at first he openly quoted that TSA was never meant to be a bureaucratical machinery with such low efficiency. Mica also said it was up to airports to choose TSA policies or not. Literally, the author of this machinery accepted that the „experiment“ went out of control and pass! engers as well as airports should be critical towards their po! licies. These days talks about security policies are reaching the highest positions and soon it will come to the day when airports will have to choose. Media reality is distorting the perception of reality itself– from everywhere we hear about 2009 case of arrested Nigerian citizen carrying a bomb in his underwear. But has anyone counted the number of all daily flights in the U.S. or in the world and compared it to this lonely action? How can this be an excuse or a goal? Some other statistics say TSA succeeded to catch around 24 people suspicious from terrorism. Really a good work for 8 years, one must say. Then media say something about security, fear, anger, policies, faceless enemies and fear once again... The place for opposition came out just few weeks ago when pilots expressed their anger towards humiliating checks. The checks are treating everyone as a potential terrorist – there is no exception not even for a President. And it seems that pilots were the breaking ! stone opening the discussion. The question is how long it will survive to improve things for better. TSA practices have gained a strong criticism even among the highest lawmakers – for example SPOT analysis – a practice to detect suspicious behavior. TSA argumented it took the model from Israel where it was really a successful tool and soon it adapted as its own. But the way it was working was absurd – at first the practice didn't have any scientific background and consisted from several observers who were at the airports and judged people as „suspicious“ and „non-suspicious“. But without any scientific key and revelant database of key signs and behavioral models, it was as subjective as it could be – not to mention the fact that people were observed without their knowledge. Not cameras, not scanners, but living agents observing the situation... Israeli version of SPOT analysis contained a person who was directly asking few q! uestions when passenger submitted the air ticket, so it was cl! ear who was observing. Mica's quote that it wasn't Israeli model, but TSA's screwed-up model now seems bitterly funny and tragic at the same time. However, another holidays are nearing and airports are expecing queues and lines of passengers. The situation of revolting passengers is their worst nightmare – and media statements and humiliation of people protesting against this pracices has began. What seems to be important, is to infrom people that airports can choose between security policies and that it has to be clear what kind of policies are acceptable and not doing inspections only for the sake of inspections themselves...

related story (sgx18658): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_ai! rport_security;_ylt=Al_gwgyQ...

by Milota Sidorova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

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