The View From North Central Idaho

I just finished up participating in a Vicious Circle episode. The supposed topic was Boomershoot. In fact we basically started on Boomershoot and mostly ended up talking about Boomershoot but as it the case with all Vicious Circle podcasts there was a lot of topic drift. Also discussed were:

• The Jews In The Attic Test
• Nationalized health care
• The perfection of Lucy Lawless's nipples and how to view them
• Yet another way to blow up a plane that the TSA cannot stop
• Total world-wide economic collapse
• The Texas Navy
• Screwdrivers
• Windows Phone 7 Series
• Narcissistic personalties
• Caleb
• How many boxes of .22 ammo it will cost for a virgin after the total world-wide economic collapse

There was also a lot of giggling--particular when I told them that Barb asked me if Alan edited out the naughty words.

And that is just the stuff I can think of off the top of my head.

Update: It is available now.

In response to the QOTD;

Ah, but Mr. Coolidge, and the Republican Party leadership, apparently never understood the game.  The assertion that building up the weak is the Left's goal is one thing.  Taking that assertion at face value is another.  It's the Big Mistake of the 20th century, and has resulted in perpetual confusion (to say nothing of the stagnation, decay and destruction around the world).  The preponderance of the evidence regarding the Left’s goals points elsewhere.  Their objective is statism for its own sake, and the tactic, stated openly in some circles time after time, is to bring down "The System" so it can be remade-- "Redistributive Change" in Obama's own words, and it's been said in other ways throughout the generations.

Republicans, as they occupy themselves trying to understand and argue the details, the costs and so on, of the "healthcare" bills, are demonstrating their utter cluelessness (or is it their complicity?).  "Why, this could end up funding abortions with taxpayer dollars, and that would be bad, and I'm not so sure we can afford this other bit over here..."

That's not the point, Skippy.  The point is, the whole thing is a massive power grab.  What more do you need to know, for crying out loud?

Weigh down the economy with debt, entitlements and restrictions, then blame what remains of the private sector.  Take advantage of the chaos and the public demands for an altogether new approach that they hope will ensue.  They're telling us every day; "Never let a crisis go to waste" is only part of it.  The other part is their understanding that they can manufacture the crises.  Chip, chip, chip, chip, and sooner or later even the hardest stone will crumble, after which (they believe) they can swoop in and take it all.

So far as I can tell, the Republicans have been playing along for decades.  "Oh, but you're crazy, Lyle.  Look at the differences between Republicans and Democrats!  Are you willfully blind, or what?  Surely you must be mad!  Look!  Just look!  LOOOOOOOOOK, MAN!"

Uh huh, and there's a world of difference between that "good cop" and that "bad cop" too.  The bad cop is a real, dangerously scary, out-of-control sonofabitch, but that good cop-- why, he's a sweetheart!  Look at him!  Just look!  He brings you coffee and food and he talks nice.  He doesn't like that bad ol', meany mean bad cop at all, either.  No Sir, not at all.  Such a nice fellow, and he really cares.  He listens.  He understands.  He's my advocate in this time of uncertainty.  I want to work with him, by golly gosh oh gee.  Yessiree.  No doubt about it.  Without him, that bad cop would have beat the living shit out of me by now, for sure.  Man, am I lucky to have Good Cop!  Wow!  Thank God!  This must be an angel sent from Heaven to deliver me from despair!

Right.  Both cops are working to take you to the same place after they're finished with your sorry, dumb ass.

OK; got that out of the system.  Now I'm all ears.

Via daughter Xenia.

TSA is really A Security Theater so its just common sense that a four year old on his way to Disney World would get treated like this:

SECURITY officers at a US airport have come under fire for forcing a disabled boy to remove his leg braces and walk through a checkpoint.

Four-year-old Ryan Thomas was flying from Philadelphia to Disney World in Orlando with his parents Bob and Leona when the incident occurred.

At the time Ryan, born 16 weeks prematurely with malformed ankles and low muscle tone in his legs, had only just begun to walk.

His parents wheeled his stroller to the security checkpoint then broke it down and put it on the conveyor belt.

They then walked Ryan through the metal detector. The alarm went off and the screener told them to take off the boy’s braces.

“I told them he can't walk without them on his own,” Bob Thomas told the Philadelphia News.

“I said this is overkill. He's 4 years old. I don't think he's a terrorist.”

Security also demanded Ryan walk through on his own.

I guess this shows the terrorists how determined we are... or something.

Chet sent me an email to this article about swabbing peoples hands for explosives. They decline to say what sort of explosives they are looking for but I'd be willing to bet they don't pick up on wheat flour or powdered sugar (which could make great dust explosions on an airplane) so the benefit from this is asymptotically close to zero.

Chet also notes that even the ID requirement is false security since you don't really need ID to get on the plane.

[I]t's always interesting to see provably secure cryptosystems broken.

Bruce Schneier
December 30, 2009
Quantum Cryptography Cracked
[Security can be a very, very difficult problem. It is like a chain in that it is no stronger than the weakest link. This is the reason TSA is A Security Theater. The same can be said about gun control--only several orders of magnitude greater in strength.

Quantum Cryptography is "provably secure" given a set of assumptions. Those assumptions include both known explicit assumptions and implicit assumptions which the prover may or may not be fully aware of. By making those assumptions invalid the proof falls apart.

No one seriously attempts to formally prove gun control provides benefits to society. The well informed anti-gun people frequently don't even make claims. They just point out all the adverse effects of gun ownership then announce their conclusions that there should be more gun control. This is not science. This is more like a witch doctor chanting around the fire and making pronouncements about the evil spirits.

If someone were attempt make a formal proof about benefits of gun control they would quickly find out that the anti-gun people make many assumptions which are provably false. Typically among these are that guns are "designed to kill" or "all gunshot deaths are illegal/evil/bad", or a prohibition on guns will work better with firearms than it did with alcohol and recreational drugs. With such assumptions so blatantly false the claims of there being benefits to gun control are laughable.--Joe]

Via Glenn Reynolds (via Say Uncle), I found out that TSA let a guy with a gun and a convincing demeaner put his "prisoner" on an airplane.

How can people put up with the security theater at the airport without a look of disgust and anger at the people pawing through their stuff and putting their hands all over them? It's all to make some people feel better.

If someone had the help a dozen people or so who knew what they were doing (here is a hint) the TSA could be thrown out on the street. It's wouldn't be pretty for a week or two, it wouldn't be legal, but I think it could be done.

TSA, A Security Theater.

From Fan Security Will Be Tight At Super Bowl:

Bomb sniffing dogs and bomb experts will be fanned out around the stadium trained to spot the smallest explosive anywhere. "These K-9's, they have been trained in over 19,000 explosive components," said Hugo Barrera of the ATF. "They can detect almost anything."

If they actually did that the dogs would be worthless for the task at hand. So many ordinary things can be made to explode (matches, powdered sugar, flour, anti-freeze, fertilizer) that dog alerting on "the smallest explosives anywhere" would have so many false positives that probably a quarter of the people coming into the stadium would be searched.

All the bad guys already know the following so I'll tell you what many people don't want to know--the truth.

You can't make a stadium (or airplane) full of people safe from harm in this manner. What security experts call "The Threat Surface" is just too large. And it's trivial to overload the system with false positives which gives the security guys two options. 1) Shut down operations by investigating each "alarm" by doing a thorough investigation of each "alarm" (do you have a latex allergy sir?) or 2) After the backlog of impatient and irritated customers gets too grumpy they let them bypass the security protocol.

If you want to get something past security in these types of environments you can intentionally create false positives. False positives can bring down almost any security system where there is a modest amount of anonymity and backlog of "angry customers".

For example: The main ingredients for a common suicide bomb in the mid-east are acetone and hydrogen peroxide (both available at your local drug store in the "beauty" section). Covertly spray one or both of these chemicals in "the smallest" amounts on the ground/floor where people will walk on it prior to being screened. Everyone who walks on it instantly becomes suspected shoe bombers when they are screened. What happens then? Sometime before the 100^th false positive in a row the security people ignore that particular "alarm" and let people on through. The 110^th person actually does have a bomb in his shoe and walks through security without incident.

Another example: A car alarm that goes off every couple of hours every night without apparent cause will probably have the alarm turned off by the third night.

Super Bowl Security is just Security Theater.

I wonder who slapped their wrists:

In the wake of public outcry against the Transportation Security Administration for serving civil subpoenas on two bloggers, the government agency has canceled the legal action and apologized for the strong-arm tactics agents used.

Travel writer and photographer Steven Frischling, who was served with a subpoena by two TSA agents on Tuesday, told Threat Level that he received a phone call Thursday evening from John Drennan, deputy chief counsel for enforcement at TSA, telling him the administration was withdrawing its subpoena.

Frischling was told the TSA would no longer be pursuing the investigation into how he received a security directive that he published on his personal blog, Flying with Fish, on Dec. 27.

Being a critic of TSA apparently is frowned upon by the government thugs:

Two bloggers received home visits from Transportation Security Administration agents Tuesday after they published a new TSA directive that revises screening procedures and puts new restrictions on passengers in the wake of a recent bombing attempt by the so-called underwear bomber.

Special agents from the TSA’s Office of Inspection interrogated two U.S. bloggers, one of them an established travel columnist, and served them each with a civil subpoena demanding information on the anonymous source that provided the TSA document.

The document, which the two bloggers published within minutes of each other Dec. 27, was sent by TSA to airlines and airports around the world and described temporary new requirements for screening passengers through Dec. 30, including conducting “pat-downs” of legs and torsos. The document, which was not classified, was posted by numerous bloggers. Information from it was also published on some airline websites.

“They’re saying it’s a security document but it was sent to every airport and airline,” says Steven Frischling, one of the bloggers. “It was sent to Islamabad, to Riyadh and to Nigeria. So they’re looking for information about a security document sent to 10,000-plus people internationally. You can’t have a right to expect privacy after that.”

The bloggers report of the incident is here.

I keep wondering if I'll get a knock on my bunker door next. Apparently I haven't been trying hard enough to be at the top of the list.

As I have said many times before. It's A Security Theater.

Here is proof:

A passenger on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight tried to detonate an explosive device that was strapped to his leg and later told investigators that he was trying to blow up the plane and had affiliations with al Qaeda, according to a senior U.S. official.

The passenger was identified by authorities as Abdul Mudallad, a 23-year-old Nigerian national, according to Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican who is the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The device was technologically advanced and potentially devastating, Mr. King said. "This was not a firecracker," he said.

And what is the response? As expected, more stuff that cannot possibly help but will further restrict our freedom and make air travel more of a hassle:

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that airline passengers should expect to see additional screening measures put in place on both domestic and international flights.

Update: After the shoe bomber we had to take off our shoes when going through security and the security experts told us that we should just be glad that he didn't try to blow up the plane with a bomb hidden in his underwear. I think you should be able to extrapolate the "additional screening measures" we can soon expect to see without my assistance.

The TSA document I mentioned yesterday has raised quite a stir (via an IM from son James). They want to make it illegal to post the document.

This reminds me of a story about a psychology professor who asked his students to write down on a slip of paper and put in an box short phrases marketers had used that made the students one to buy a product. He then drew them out of the box to discuss them. The first one out of the box was "Under 17 not admitted without parent or guardian."

They don't want people to post it and they don't want you to have it. What do you think that is going to accomplish?

Yeah, I thought so too.

Get it here if you don't already have a copy.

A week ago I received an email from a TSA worker asking how to better be able to detect bombs and explosives. I considered the possibility that the person might actually be trying to get something by TSA rather than working for them. But as the conversation progressed it seemed less and less likely. I gave him a few links and apparently he read quite a bit on both my blog and others because he specifically mentioned Breda's adventures with the TSA.

In one long email he defended the TSA and the job they were doing. I asked if he would like for me to post it so it could get a little more exposure and he said he would like that. I then said:

Before I post it I would like to ask you a few questions. Let’s start with:

So given that I’m pretty sure I could get a few cups of flour in my carryon bag, and an ounce or so of black powder and matches on via a body cavity if nothing else. You know that I can bring down the plane with it, right (http://www.joehuffman.org/FlashTek/06-FFFFgFlour.mpeg)?

So if you can’t stop that then what is the point of doing 90% of the other searches and tests?

He responded with:

[Stuff that was apparently identifying -- so I deleted it.--Joe]

Obviously that doesn't really answer the question--what is the point of TSA if there is an easy way to defeat it? Security is a like a chain. It's only as strong as its weakest link.

I haven't heard back from him and that was over two days ago. So, even though I didn't get my questions answered I'm posting his defense of the TSA:

Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 6:19 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: Re: Hey Joe

I've been reading through the blogs about TSA. A lot of it seems to be first-hand experience taken to another level with speculation about motives, means, and why we do what we do.

Like ammo, for instance, our ETD's don't detect ammunition or residue. Come to us after a week of shooting and making home-made ammo and you'll only look dirty, but pass all of our security, as long as you don't have the ammo or the gun. We just work harder every day with testing and training to detect prohibited items and IED's, whether whole or in part.

Doesn't feel so good to see a lot of crap posted about you and your job without people being there to understand, and like I've said in the past, the only fully secure air travel is none at all, but while Americans travel the skies we'll be there to make sure they make it home to their families in one piece.

It is rewarding, because nothing blows up or goes down. Those kind of professions aren't suited for everyone because there is no actual number to be put up for security, and at the end of the month you can't see results unless you understand that the quiet is the result, however TSA isn't perfect (which is an understatement, as threats evolve we must evolve to detect and deter) but while there have been no major, or for that case, minor hijackings, shootings, killings, etc, that I know of and no terrorists on flights what-so-ever, I can see results.

It may not be easy, but while there are people on flights to or from my airport, I'll be giving 100% to make sure they get there safely. I could never live knowing something went wrong because I didn't screen people doing everything according to the SOP and then some. And while you work with the traveling public who will you hear the most, people who are satisfied, or those who have a bone to pick?

Want to be pissed because you have to take off your shoes? Thank Richard Reid.
Want to be pissed because you can't take your water? Thank those terrorists in England.
Most of what we can't say isn't because we don't want to, it's not that we don't trust you or want to talk down to you like a parent, like no-answers or 'because it has to be' or 'because we say so,' it's always a matter of security. Ask the troops where they are, what kinds of weapons they have and where they store them, how many people they have on guard at night, what the sensitive parts of the bases are, etc, and what will you get? Answers that don't make sence or no answers at all. Same thing. If we have an open forum where all of what we do comes out, who wins? The Americans who whine and complain, and the terrorists who just got all of our methods, sizes, and modes on a silver platter.

Doesn't mean we don't want to tell you everything, like why we have to screen your prosthetics, or what the ETD's look for, or what types of metal alarm the MD, etc. It's not up to us, and the ones who make the decisions say people will get hurt if we do talk freely, just like the military. We can't be armed with weapons, so we're armed with as much knowledge and electronic tools as the government can standardize and ship. Some of the best X-Ray and ETD machines in any country, and the world finest training for such a large force.

But, just when you hope we can do better, TSA accidently releases our Screening Management SOP, not ecactly how we do everything, but what to do with everyone. More like where the battles were and not how they were armed, but still damaging.

Should be hitting the web today or tomorrow, very not cool.

But anyways, I'm going to bed, try to have a nice day Joe.

Sincerely,

I'm almost overcome with the temptation to comment on and tear apart what he says but I somehow don't see that as quite fair.

I think the question I posed to him about bringing down a plane with materials found in nearly every kitchen (substitute ground match heads for the black powder) is sufficient rebuttal in the present context.

What can you really say to someone that demonstrates how to defeat $2 Billion a year spent on security with $2 worth of materials you can find in grandmas kitchen?

TSA has many layers of security to keep the traveling public safe and to constantly adapt to evolving threats. TSA is confident that screening procedures currently in place remain strong.

The TSA Blog
December 7, 2009
TSA Response to Leaked Standard Operating Procedures
[See also this article (via email from Chuck): Massive TSA Security Breach As Agency Gives Away Its Secrets--Online Posting Reveals a "How To" for Terrorists to Get Through Airport Security.

I received an email about it early this morning from a TSA agent but he asked me not to mention it until it become more widely known. I'm expecting to post an email from him on my blog about TSA in general within a day or so. We've been having a pleasant discussion for several days now.

In regards to the TSA statement I quoted above I would just like to say the Emperor has no clothes.--Joe]

It's not what I preferred but it's better than nothing:

Last week, the A.C.L.U. said it dropped its suit after the T.S.A. clarified its policies in late September. The agency told screeners that, while they were encouraged to refer any suspected criminal activity or illegal contraband discovered in a checkpoint search to law enforcement officials, their job was to screen for weapons and verify passenger identities. “Traveling with large amounts of currency is not illegal,” the T.S.A. added in an internal directive on Oct. 29.

I first wrote about it here.

Reading the swarm of comments over on Oleg's blog, it seems a lot of military folks, those with real experience, favor keeping people disarmed in barracks and around the base;

It may be hard for some to comprehend, but putting on ACUs doesn't make you a weapons proficient commando. If they let every cook, clerk, and nurse carry around loaded weapons 24/7 there would be many more "accidental" deaths than this per year.

Exactly what the anti gun rights activists say about the population in general, and it's been proven wrong.  We have more guns than ever, and the accident rate continues to fall.  Not weapons proficient?  Them train them, then arm them.  In that order.  Takes only a short while.  Put the second amendment back in force and more of them will be proficient, to some degree, when they arrive, which was of course the original idea, wasn't it, Skippy?

The average "soldier" doesn't shoot for a living and non-combat arms (the vast majority is support) troops are lucky to even see the range twice a year.

Poor training.  Basing policy on poor training is worse than just poor training alone.  So, we can afford billion-dollar bombers, and gazzillion-dollar satellite networks and all that, but a few extra cartridges for a week of training is out of the freaking question.  Even then, I assume there has to be at least a few in the barracks who know one end of a gun from another.  I know-- I just don't understand.  I'd understand if I were in the military, that you don't train too many people too well, 'cause that's "dangerous", even though I see every day here in the real world that that line of thinking is pure horseshit.  The more people equipped and trained in the use of arms, the safer your whole society, and the more versatile and effective your military.  If you people don't trust your own, you need to seriously get the f^#K out.  Now.

They would also have to lock the base down from un-verified (without prior clearance) civilian entry as weapons would be too easily accessed.

"Civilian entry"?  Like at my house, where there's infinitely more firepower than in military barracks?  Like at a gun store or a gun show, or a shooting range, practically anywhere in the country?  So then, it's fine to just let any stranger onto a military base so long as that base is almost as unarmed as a kindergarten-school-gun-free-zone, and it would be worse to let strangers in if people on the base were mostly all armed and capable of defending themselves?  That's hippie logic, right there, folks.  It's right out of Diane Feinstein's teeny tiny little bird brain.

Somebody (re)educate me here (haul me to a camp or something) 'cause I figure that if you're training an army, any time, any where, they should all know how to handle a weapon, from the nurse, to the cook, to the electrician, to the floor sweeper, to the truck driver, etc. (just like in the civilian population) all the way through to the actual combat units.  Falling short of that (because you're in the military and afraid of guns?) I would think that, at the very least, anyone trained in weapon handling should be well-trained, and should be hauling at the very minimum a sidearm around at all times (just like millions of civilians do every day already).

Barb and I made it through A Security Theater and are now waiting at the gate ready to board our flight to Orlando.

I'm wearing this shirt:

It seemed to get a smile from one of the TSA agents. I wonder if it was because he agreed with it or because he knew I wasn't carrying at the time--he and his co-workers had defeated me for the moment.

Why can't people just do what they're told? When we do our taxes do we ask why line 35 is subtracted from line 22? Do we argue with the judge when he makes a decision or a cop tells us not to stand in a certain place? No.

We are subjects of the government that is supposed to care of us. Whether the rules are stupid or illogical, do what you're told by authorities. The rules are for your own good.

Life will be a lot simpler if you do what you're told.

Anonymous
October 24, 2009 7:01 PM
Response to "Bag Check" Cartoon
[I'm just not quite sure if this person was serious or sarcastic. I'm about 80% sure it was serious. And that is extremely scary to me.

And the TSA has a blog? What a hoot! I wish I had the time to go play with them more. I left a comment at the above link but due to moderation it hasn't shown up yet. I essentially just left a link to What TSA really stands for. So it may be that won't make it past moderation.--Joe]

Update: The comment made it through moderation and I'm getting hits from it. There is also a automatically generated link to this post as well that is getting a few hits.

I appears there is an interesting new show coming soon to a security theater near you:

First it was shoes, then water bottles and snow globes.

Now dried baby formula, makeup, talcum and other powders have joined the long list of seemingly innocuous household items drawing closer scrutiny from airport screeners as potential security threats.

Federal authorities haven't banned powders toted by passengers or set limits on the size or amount they are allowed to carry on planes in their hand luggage.

But the Transportation Security Administration is now paying closer attention to common powders and has outfitted O'Hare, Midway and other airports around the country with new kits to test them for explosives. Passengers should be aware that after belongings are X-rayed, TSA officers may test a small sample of any powder in their possession.

I wonder if my post contributed to that. I know it got some attention by "government employees".

If it was my fault I'm not going to say I am sorry. One of the ways you get people to rethink their security systems is to overload them with false positives. If I could only demonstrate that it were relatively easy to bring down a plane by grinding up you hair into a fine powder and making an improvised explosive device out of it using a couple coins as tools...

Surveillance infrastructure can be exported, which also aids totalitarianism around the world. Western companies like Siemens, Nokia, and Secure Computing built Iran's surveillance infrastructure. U.S. companies helped build China's electronic police state. Twitter's anonymity saved the lives of Iranian dissidents -- anonymity that many governments want to eliminate.

Every year brings more Internet censorship and control -- not just in countries like China and Iran, but in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and other free countries.

The control movement is egged on by both law enforcement, trying to catch terrorists, child pornographers and other criminals, and by media companies, trying to stop file sharers.

It's bad civic hygiene to build technologies that could someday be used to facilitate a police state. No matter what the eavesdroppers and censors say, these systems put us all at greater risk. Communications systems that have no inherent eavesdropping capabilities are more secure than systems with those capabilities built in.

Bruce Schneier
August 3, 2009
Building in Surveillance
[Schneier doesn't mention this but the concept of "bad civic hygiene" has wider application than just surveillance technology. It also applies to the TSA, gun control, and even government provided health care (do you want health care decisions for gays made by people like Fred Phelps--or vice versa?). It's another way of expressing concern about failures of my Jews In The Attic Test.

Some people have a lot of concern about Microsoft contributing to this sort of thing. I have been, and am, involved in projects that have the potential to cause concern. I have been very pleased to see that not only the corporate policy is appropriate to protect innocents but also the attitude of the people I work with is on par with my standards in this regard.--Joe]

Via Ry.

As I have pointed out before it's not really possible to keep explosives off of airplanes. Of course it's not going to be any easier to keep them out of buildings on the ground. This obvious truth has just been demonstrated:

Government investigators smuggled bomb-making materials into federal buildings past the police agency charged with protecting those buildings and found numerous other gaps in security, according to a congressional report.

The Government Accountability Office said investigators carried bomb-making materials past security at 10 federal buildings. Security at these buildings and a total of about 9,000 federal buildings around the country is provided by the Federal Protective Service, a target of the probe.

Once GAO investigators got the materials in the buildings, the report said, they constructed explosive devices and carried them around inside. For security reasons, the GAO report did not give the location of the buildings.

It's Security Theater. I hope you enjoy the show because you are paying enough for it.

The ACLU has filed suit against the TSA claiming they are:

...subjecting innocent Americans to unreasonable searches and detentions that violate the Constitution, according to a lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU filed the complaint on behalf of a traveler who was illegally detained and harassed by TSA agents at the airport for carrying approximately $4,700 in cash.

The way I see it any search by the government without a warrant is unreasonable. When it was the FAA requiring the airlines to do the searches it was questionable at best. But as soon as it was a government entity doing the searches it was way over the line.

What the TSA is doing isn't nearly enough but it's far better to get a small win that a big loose in the courts and for their efforts in trying to make that happen I applaud them.

Unfortunately, I'm not King of the United States and able to send the TSA clowns to the dungeon for their costly Security Theater at tax payer expense.

Via email from Rob:

WELCOME TO TPA
(Terrorist-Proof Airlines)

We at TPA, Terrorist-Proof Airlines, are in the flying business!

We can absolutely guarantee no WALK-ON GUNS, KNIVES, BOX CUTTERS, SHOE-BOMBS or other weapons will ever be carried onto OUR FLIGHTS!

Book your next flight with TPA, the safest airline in the industry.

Image here (not safe for work).

The claims are a bit exaggerated but still it makes for an amusing presentation. It would be much more effective and cheaper than existing airplane security. But neither the government nor the general public are interesting in effective security. They only want the appearance of security. People are willing to spent billions on ineffective security but you don't even hear a hint of something like the above as part of the solution. Why is that? Is "modesty" that important to people? Existing security has been repeatedly shown to be a complete sham yet people are not willing to do away with it for fear of an attack--yet they will not even consider doing something much cheaper that is effective.

[heavy sigh]

As I have said before, it's irrational to expect people to be rational.--Joe]

I mentioned this to Breda in chat at the Gun Blogger Conspiracy and she said, "....sigh well, I'm going braless next time". If it weren't for the extremely high risk of getting arrested I would go completely naked through the security check point just to make a point.

There is bill in the house (H.R. 2200) which would give TSA authority to spend $15.7 billion over fiscal years 2010-2011. That's $15.7 billion to spend on A Security Theater.

I guess this shouldn't be too surprising. The Democrats frequently spent tax money on the arts--including those promoting nudity.

From our friend Howard;

Friends:

Good morning (in your time zone) from Jerusalem. The biggest ever Civil Defense preparedness drill has begun.

Following clash Hamas called on its members: Confront PA as if you're confronting the occupation.

Words fail me too. Just thought you should know. It sounds all too much like the sort of thinking (or lack thereof) that's going on here.

Breda conclusively demonstrates TSA is nothing but security theater. As conclusive as that story is I could tell better stories than that--but the statute of limitations hasn't expired yet.

TSA, it's A Security Theater.

We in the pro-freedom camp (Americans) spend too much time arguing about safety.  Or rather, we argue safety far too often in the terms laid down by our enemies-- the enemies of liberty.  Though the statistics are often on our side, we're granting the basis for the argument (that government exists to promote the physical safety of the individual) to the enemy.

Wrong premise.

Too many police departments, for example, call themselves Departments of Public Safety and the like.  That's not their function, per se.  Their proper function is to enforce the law and the primary purpose of law, in the uniquely American sense at least, is to promote and protect your rights.  That this function has been corrupted over the years does not change the original intent.

The American Revolution was indeed fought for safety, but the safety so dearly bought therein was a rather different kind of safety from that promoted by the neo-Fascists.  It wasn't the kind of safety taught at your local public school.  It wasn't the kind of safety we're training for in a fire drill or in a drivers' education class.  That kind of safety is properly the responsibility of the individual or of private interests.

The kind of safety for which the Revolution was fought and for which the constitution was written is safety from government interference-- safety from the enemies of liberty both foreign and domestic.

Historically, out-of-control governments have presented a danger to public safety far greater than all common criminal activity and standard physical danger combined.  Some government or left-wing hack asserting that we need more government intrusion as a means of promoting "safety" is a bit like advocating mass sex orgies for the promotion of abstinence.

When we're arguing safety and public policy then, we need to make it clear beforehand which particular kind of safety we're discussing-- the safety of subjects owned by the government (the safety of tyrants and sycophants) or the safety of a free people.  They are near polar opposites.

A report from Breda who gets the rubber glove treatment because of her leg prosthesis.

I commented and gave her a link to What TSA really stand for and then I noticed that TSA is improving their security procedures:

Prepare yourself for airport security to get a little more personal. It's the first publicly noticeable step in a multi-phase government plan to help keep air travel safe. New rules for air travelers.

Starting today, in addition to handing over a boarding pass and ID in the security line, passengers making reservations will have to provide their full name, just as it appears on the government ID they plan to use when boarding the plane.

Travel agent Nancy Nemecek said "when you make your reservation you need to give your name exactly, and that means first name, middle name, if that's what's on your ID, and your last name."

It's part of a Transportation Security Administration program being phased in called Secure Flight.

"Secure Flight"? You have to use your full name on the ticket and that makes the flight secure? Yeah, right.

But the TSA is good for something. Penn and Teller can play with them.

This is an open letter to all the talk show hosts, pundits, party hacks, cheaters, scumbags, sick twisted freaks (you know who you are) and pro-freedom bloggers.  We could spend the rest of our lives cataloging the outrageous behavior of nasty, America-hating, ignorant, self-loathing, cultist, freedom-hating, anti-human, leftist politicians including Progressive Republicans.  We know they're bad, OK?  If there are three or four people who still don't get it, that's all right.

I'd rather try to figure out how we're going to get some principled Americans nominated so we're not always forced to choose between bad and worse-- between more socialism slower, and more socialism faster.  This last national election was a real puker.  The Republican Party is, at the moment, just as lost, dumbfounded, selfish and clueless as ever.  They're a herd of does, staring blankly into the headlights of an on-coming truck, and the worst part of it is; they don't even suspect that they're clueless.  They in the Republican leadership think they have some really clever answers, which amount to more of what got us into this mess.  I recently heard it described as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  That fits very well.  The Republicans have some really super great, super ultra smart ideas for rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  No really, listen...  (all the while we have this simple, proven model for success, and it's being ignored.)

We need to change that.  You need to change it.  I need to change it.  There isn't anyone else.  I suppose, since it's up to us, it will have to be on the local level for most of us, being as we're not billionaires.  That's OK.  We can still do what we can do.  A lot of people are jazzed up right now.  They just need somewhere to start.  Well, pick a place, a local issue or a local politician that needs a hand (or a very public spanking) and get to it!

That there are clueless people is not the issue.  There will always be the clueless.  They'll sit on the sidelines, worrying about who likes them and who doesn't, trying to figure out where the "center" is so they can position themselves in it and claim superiority for having done so, while someone else does the lifting.  Are you a sitter or a lifter?

I have a bad feeling that things could come to blows before this government is brought under control, and I really don't want that to happen.  Do you?  This country is far too important in the grand scheme of things.

And with that; I don't have much more to say on here, other than to repeat myself or talk about the weather and what I did last weekend, unless it's to tell you what I'm doing on the local level to influence politics.  Now I think I have some calls to make.

(Note that I placed this in nearly every one of Joe's categories. It's relevant to everything we do and every opportunity we want for our kids in the future)

This summer, I talked to security experts on both sides of the political spectrum, and had several conversations with Chertoff, in an effort to answer the following question: Is DHS achieving its mission of making us safer? My reluctant conclusion is that, although Chertoff has performed impressively in an impossible job, the department is hard to justify with any rational analysis of costs and benefits. On the contrary, it's arguably one of the most expensive marketing ventures in political history--an enterprise that seeks to make us feel safer instead of actually making us safer. The best argument for DHS is that the illusion of safety may itself provide tangible psychological and economic benefits: If people feel less afraid, they may be more likely to fly on planes. But even if conceived on these terms--as a more-than-$40-billion-dollar-a-year pacifier--the department is hard to defend, since there's no good evidence that it has, in fact, calmed Americans down rather than making us more nervous.

Jeffery Rosen
December 24, 2008
Man-Made Disaster--Six years on, the Department of Homeland Security is still a catastrophe.
[$40 Billion a year pacifer? Yup. That sounds about right for government work.

H/T to Bruce Schneier.--Joe]

Why be rational, when you can stoke fear instead?

Bruce Schneier
December 16, 2008
Buying Fake Nintendo Consoles Helps Terrorists
[This applies to so many things.--Joe]

Becky Ackers has the TSA's number:

But none of these facts seem to matter to the TSA. It needs something to justify its existence: Despite six years of patting down passengers, it hasn't reported uncovering a single terrorist. No wonder it latched onto the nonsense about liquid bombs. Ferreting out and confiscating everyday substances not only makes work for 43,000 screeners, it also fools us into thinking this protects us.

The TSA has always been a political, not practical, response to 9/11. It hassles us at checkpoints not because of penetrating insights on security or some brilliant breakthrough, but because politicians handed it power. Specialists in security didn't invent the TSA; the Bush administration imposed it on us. So we might hope the incoming president would abolish this absurd agency.

Unfortunately, Barack Obama wants to improve the TSA rather than send it packing. His suggestions for that improvement? Passengers still aren't screened against a comprehensive terrorist watch list, his website proclaims. Such a list must be developed.

Why? The watch list has already kept Rep. John Lewis (D) of Georgia and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts off planes: Will a comprehensive list bar Republican congressmen, too? That'll protect us about as well as unionizing screeners will – another change the campaigning Obama said he favors.

And the best part:

Becky Akers, a freelance writer and historian, is finishing a book about the TSA.

Remember what TSA stands for.

Via Bruce Schneier:

They both say there are organized rings of thieves, who identify valuables in your checked luggage by looking at the TSA x-ray screens, then communicate with baggage handlers by text or cell phone, telling them exactly what to look for.

"This is a laptop here, VCR here and it's located in this area of the bag. Here's the color of the bag. They give them all the information they need to know."

"He was going through the bag like he was searching it? Yeah searching it."

Sky Nguyen knows firsthand. He took this picture of a TSA screener with his camera phone after he saw the agent steal his iPod.

"You saw the Nano in here? Yeah inside here between the glove and palm."

With 20/20 hindsight it makes perfect sense. With 10's of thousands of low paid people having access to property you normally have locked you have a huge attack surface (please excuse the geek talk).

As Bruce said:

Someone should investigate the extent to which the TSA's security measures facilitate crime.

TSA is a crime. It's government searching without a warrant. It's also nothing but A Security Theater.

The new machines being proposed for airplane security give results like this:

Never mind What TSA Really Stands For, that almost for certain it can never be effective security, and it costs billions each year that could be spent on something more effective, the response is:

After the machines were introduced at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport last year, officials there said they had few complaints from passengers, saying most approved because lines moved faster.

Sheep.

Via Bruce Schneier:

New Contest: Can You Out-Lame the TSA?

Last week, in response to my article about the idiocy of airport security, the head of the Transportation Security Administration, Kip Hawley, essentially conceded the main argument of my article, which was that America's aviation security system is not designed to catch smart terrorists, but stupid terrorists. Here's what Hawley wrote last week:

"Clever terrorists can use innovative ways to exploit vulnerabilities. But don't forget that most bombers are not, in fact, clever. Living bomb-makers are usually clever, but the person agreeing to carry it may not be super smart. Even if "all" we do is stop dumb terrorists, we are reducing risk."

Not quite believable. And yet he really said it.

And so, a contest: How would the Hawley Principle of Federally-Endorsed Mediocrity apply to other government endeavors?

...

So, go to it. E-mail your entries to Goldberg.Atlantic@gmail.com.  The Goldblog reader who comes up with the funniest application of the Hawley Principle wins a subscription to the Atlantic.

Here are my entries. They are probably too close to the truth to be funny but still I figure it's worthwhile to mock politicians in public anytime you get the chance:

1. Gun "buy-backs", restrictions on the type of guns, and carrying of guns don't slow down a violent criminal any. But getting guns out of the hands of small stature women, the elderly, and the infirm will at least prevent those people from being able to go out and commit violent crimes.
2. Hundreds of millions of meals are prepared each day in the U.S. by unlicensed food preparation people. These people prepare food for small children, the elderly, trusting family members, and unsuspecting friends. Food borne illness and accidental poisoning are exceedingly rare given the vast numbers of meals prepared without inspection by the health officials. Licensing and inspecting the professionals who prepare only a small portion of the total meals won't stop anyone but a minority of incompetent capitalists but at least it raising the cost of doing business will encourage more people to obtain their meals from those who are unlicensed and less tainted by capitalistic inclinations.

If Tamara enters I will concede--sight unseen.

Remember the post from last week? In the article I linked to they said:

It's not an image people would find invasive.

And:

It's not possible to save an image or get it out of the machine, it's physically not possible.

That was in Australia and this is the same technology being tested in Europe:

I wonder why the picture they share with us to demonstrate their technology is cut off the just below the breasts--NOT!

They are arguing about it now but I fully expect arguments that it is "for the children" or "the good of everyone" will prevail and within a year or so it will be back to normal Security Theater as usual with most everyone thinking they are safer when in fact they are not. But maybe it will save the little old ladies from getting their feet broken by TSA quite so often.

Update: Via a comment from Barron we now have more of the picture:

Nice, huh?

Jeffrey Goldberg tests TSA and finds it full of fail.

He does, and writes about it, all kinds of things that I knew were possible but didn't have the courage to do. Read it and laugh--or maybe cry.

TSA--A Security Theater.

George Orwell couldn’t have made this stuff up.

Jeff Soyer
October 20, 2008
Britain: More Police State on the Way
[On the state of affairs in Britain revealed by the article Passports will be needed to buy mobile phones.--Joe]

Heh. Mine will say "GET A WARRANT".

When examining the security of a system we have something called the "attack surface". This is the area exposed to threats. If the system being studied is a web site then among other things the attack surface is composed of the physical server, open ports, and the URL for the site. These "surfaces" can be attacked. For example the the URL could be attacked with alternate pages and query strings. If you get lucky and/or know what you are doing you can obtain access to configuration files (such as this one I just found) which frequently contain information that can be used to get unauthorized access. The larger the attack surface the harder it is to make the system secure.

In a free society the attack surface is enormous and we, consciously or unconsciously, have decided the benefits of an open free society out weigh the susceptibility to attack and/or the cost to defend the attack surfaces. For example the grocery store keeps all the fresh fruits and vegetables accessible for the customers to directly examine. This allows anyone to tamper with them for their own evil purposes. We don't have armed guards and security systems for the entire length of our water supply. We don't have the means to realistically protect our air supply from nuclear, biological, or chemical (NBC) attacks.

When an attack surface is so large that it is essentially indefensible the smart security experts will put their limited security resources into mitigate the risk. In the case of our water supply we have multiple systems and medical facilities which reduce the number of people affected from a single point attack and provide care for those that are affected.

These principles are well known and adhered to by security professionals. I must therefore conclude that TSA (A Security Theater) isn't concerned with real security. More evidence of this just came in:

The government has not been able to keep track of all the airport security uniforms and badges it issues, which makes secure areas in airports vulnerable to terrorists posing as authorized officials, according to an internal review released Friday.

The Homeland Security Department's inspector general looked at five airports across the country from October 2006 through June 2007. The IG found major deficiencies in the Transportation Security Administration's ability to keep track of uniforms, particularly after an employee leaves the job.

As some of us discussed at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous having a uniform and/or just being able to speak the language will get you access to places and things that should have been way out of bounds.

Another attack surface in airplane security is the process for screening materials that are allowed past the security check point:

If some copycat terrorists try to bring their liquid bomb through airport security and the screeners catch them -- like they caught me with my bottle of pasta sauce -- the terrorists can simply try again. They can try again and again. They can keep trying until they succeed. Because there are no consequences to trying and failing, the screeners have to be 100 percent effective. Even if they slip up one in a hundred times, the plot can succeed.

The same is true for knitting needles, pocketknives, scissors, corkscrews, cigarette lighters and whatever else the airport screeners are confiscating this week. If there's no consequence to getting caught with it, then confiscating it only hurts innocent people. At best, it mildly annoys the terrorists.

To fix this, airport security has to make a choice. If something is dangerous, treat it as dangerous and treat anyone who tries to bring it on as potentially dangerous. If it's not dangerous, then stop trying to keep it off airplanes. Trying to have it both ways just distracts the screeners from actually making us safer.

The attack surface the TSA is trying to protect is just too large. We should spend that money on alternatives. What we are doing now is just entertainment for those that enjoy security theater.

So what did you expect when the security theater people didn't improve security? Did you believe they would give up and spend the money on something effective? Of course not. Instead they make you the entertainment--Genitals, breasts not obscured in airport security trial.

This particular rights violation session wasn't as bad as some. As Barb said, "They were pretty good about guns here. Much better than Denver." I can't find where I wrote up my Denver experience but here is someone else's experience. I have to agree but it's still aggravating to be searched by government agents without a warrant or probable cause.

As I was researching this post I reviewed the TSA website again. I may have gotten lucky when TSA let me get through with three of my STI magazines in carry-on baggage. They saw them in the x-ray and pulled the bag off for further inspection while a police officer watched. They examined each of the magazines for ammunition, asked if I was law enforcement, and told me to have a nice trip.

The TSA says this about firearms parts:

You may only transport firearms, ammunition and firearm parts in your checked baggage. Firearms, ammunition and firearm parts are prohibited from carry-on baggage.

I guess it depends on what you define a firearm part to be.

An email from Molly H. over a month ago got lost in my in box and I just now found it while procrastinating about something else.

Remember those reinforced doors they put on the airplanes to help prevent hijackers from getting control of the plane? It turns out there aren't any restrictions on taking lock picks on board. And even if there were restrictions it is trivial to get them past security.

As Molly said, "More proof that TSA is just a security theater..." or as I like to point out the acronym TSA really should be AST for A Security Theater.

I think Kevin Baker has his problems with the TSA mostly fixed now. I'm pretty sure he is now able to avoid getting special treatment when he flies. But had the normal channels not worked he could have just changed his name. Apparently it works quite well.

My contempt for the TSA Security Theater is at an all time high. But there is a certain amount of truth to the claim that a great deal of security is about feeling secure rather than actually being secure. However this doesn't lower my contempt of the TSA, it just raises my contempt for sheeple and all government (redendency alert) idiots.

About 43,000 Transportation Security Administration officers are sporting new uniforms that make them look more like warriors in the battle against terrorism than baggage handlers.

 ...

The new look was rolled out today in Omaha and many other airports to mark the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The uniform shirts change from white to blue. Instead of an embroidered badge, the officers will wear a metal badge. Their belts will be wider to better fit with the uniform pants.

The 65/35 polyester/cotton blend shirts will stay cleaner and be more comfortable, according to the agency.

A new arm patch will feature an eagle and a portion of the American flag. The patch is intended as a visible reminder of the organization's roots in the 2001 attacks.

Joseph Morton
September 11, 2008
Airport security crews go blue, and you're paying for it
[I find it very appropriate that on this day, of all days, the TSA demonstrates what it is really all about.--Joe]

Sometimes I can hardly believe the stupidity of the people that get elected to national office. This guy is a prime example:

"It is my belief that federal law prohibits individuals from carrying firearms in all areas of an airport and that TSA has the authority to enforce these restrictions," Thompson wrote. "To do otherwise would hamper TSA's ability to keep our airports secure."

...

TSA's inability to protect the general public from individuals carrying concealed weapons into an airport would pose a serious and unnecessary security threat," Thompson wrote. "If TSA management believes that no current law exists to clearly designate areas of an airport within the control and authority of federal transportation officials, the committee may seek legislative action to correct this omission."

What does his "belief" have to do with reality? He can just look up the law and read it--unless he is unable to read. There are "secure" areas and there is everywhere else. Regardless of the reality of whether these "secure" area are really secure or not how can a firearm ban for the entire airport be enforced unless they moved the metal detectors and x-ray machines outward to include the ticket counters and baggage claim areas?

Did this bigot get his thinking skills from a dumpster behind the Violence Policy Center? How does he think all the hunters, people attending shooting matches, and training get their firearms to a remote location? They are transported as per the TSA rules on firearms.

Tam says she is going to drive to summer camp so the TSA goons won't grope her and steal stuff from her luggage. Goons seems to be an accurate description of TSA behavior I see here. The text of the story is here. It was all over a bottle of contact lens solution.

I'll bet they wouldn't bat an eye over five pounds of flour or powdered sugar which would, if properly applied, bring down any commercial passenger plane in existence.

What TSA Really Stands For.

The TSA should just give it up and let congress spend that money on something that would do some good.

Also note that in this video the morons interviewed think that somehow outlawing the "glass knuckles" will make society safer. Do they think banning sharp sticks will make society safer? These things are so easy to make anyone with a room temperature I.Q. could be taught how to make them. But then maybe the media morons and the people they interviewed should be given a pass because they don't have a room temperature I.Q.

Instead of screaming bloody murder about the TSA (A Security Theater) Gail Todd chides the victim. The background is here:

When reader Marlys Powers prepared for a flight to visit her daughter in Phoenix, Ariz., she purchased a vinyl see-through bag to hold all her toiletries. She packed the bag with 3-ounce bottles of shampoo, lotions and toothpaste, as well as her toothbrush and hairbrush.

Marlys thought it would make it easier for security to see what was in her carry-on bag. Security didn't see it that way. Because it wasn't a quart-size bag, they took the lady aside and placed her in a private room for a thorough pat down.

After confirming she wasn't carrying any concealed weapons, they told her they would have to confiscate all her 3-ounce bottles because they weren't in an acceptable-size plastic bag. Then one agent discovered something else: two sandwich bags filled with cookies and banana bread Marlys was taking to her grandchildren.

The agent told her if she could combine her treats into one of the bags, she could use the other to stow her plastic bottles -- which she did. The agent placed that plastic bag back inside her original plastic container and told her to have a good flight -- which she didn't.

Marlys had already missed her flight. And because all carriers were overbooked, she spent several hours standing by for a flight with an empty seat.

While packing all your personal items in a single plastic bag might sound like a sensible thing to do, remember that common sense is not a prerequisite for security rules. And if it doesn't adhere strictly to the rules, it won't fly -- and neither will you.

She goes on to inform her readers how to avoid this by following the rules exactly. It doesn't matter they don't really make sense and are totally ineffective at preventing weapons from getting on planes. But Ms. Todd apparently lives in or near Chicago so it's not too surprising that she uncritically accepts government tyranny as just part of everyday life.

It's not exactly a trend but it's a start. I think the TSA should mandated it. It would make more sense from a security standpoint than what they do now. And it would only be slightly more offensive to some people. Others, including myself, would consider it less offensive.

Fly naked on nudist holiday flight.

I think the TSA has an impossible job. I think they are way out of bounds on the 4^th Amendment. I think they are blowing smoke just to try and keep their jobs. I think they should be abolished and that $5,000,000,000 per year should go toward something useful. But I don't hate them.

This guy hates them. And I guess I can see his point. Here is a sample:

Hate is a pretty strong word. But it's not strong enough to express how I feel about the TSA -- the Transportation Security Administration or Thousands Standing Around, depending on your point of view -- which runs those security checkpoints at American airports.

I may fear the IRS, and I may dread the DMV -- but for shear bureaucratic stupidity and its affront to personal liberties, the TSA has earned a special place of loathing in my heart.

[...]

My family and I - which means all three kids, including the baby - were returning home from vacation last week and dutifully filed in line for the ol' "Papers, please" routine at the Honolulu airport. I handed our five boarding passes and our ID to the lone TSA guy who gets paid to look at boarding documents and, according to TSA chief Hawley, use them to root out would-be terrorists every day. But this genius couldn't find any of our names on the boarding passes and handed them back to me, demanding that I show him where the names were. Heck, I didn't know. It's not my yob, man.

[...]

Apparently there was something in our "behavior" and/or our "documents" which triggered the crackerjack TSA security guards' suspicions. Yes, a middle-class white family with three young children, including a 16-month-old baby, returning from vacation set off alarm bells in some bureaucrat's mind. So we were instructed to move to the side for "enhanced" screening while all of our carry-on bags, including the baby's stroller, were hand-inspected.

Out of morbid curiosity, I asked if this was simply a "random check" that we'd been so lucky to be honored with. The terse reply from the agent on the front-lines of the war against terrorists was a simple, "No." So our selection couldn't even be explained away by the stupidity of random selection; these people intentionally singled us out as a potential security threat.

Barney Fife then proceeded to get a female agent to pat down my wife and two daughters before feeling me up-and-down himself. At which point my wife was instructed to hold the baby out with outstretched arms like Rafiki did with Simba on the rock ledge in "The Lion King" for a pat-down. Absolutely ridiculous.

In the meantime, another crackerjack TSA agent was busy rifling through our carry-on bags, and lo and behold, he caught my wife trying to smuggle onboard a tube of skin cream which exceeded the federally-mandated 3-ounce limit. Goober informed us he was confiscating the potentially lethal tube of Lubriderm, much to the relief of the other passengers standing in line who clearly were worried it might be used to send us all to a watery grave in Davy Jones' Locker somewhere over the Pacific.

With one of our bags now 5 ounces lighter, we finally were allowed to leave Checkpoint Charlie and proceed to the gate. Now for the kicker.

When we finally get home and unpack, I discover that the girls had inadvertently packed a pair of metal scissors they found at the condo where we stayed in their carry-on knapsack. Neither the TSA's expensive, super-sensitive X-ray machine nor hand-inspection of the bag detected this pair a metal scissors - but they did find the Lubriderm! Don't you feel safer now?

And here is a video of someone actually sneaking a simulated bomb through security. Anyone that doesn't believe we need to explore different means for airplane security is either willfully ignorant or has some agenda they aren't sharing.

As I reported yesterday The American Jewish Committee says the government need to take our guns from us so it can protect us.

Here is an example of the government protecting us from a five year old child. I especially like the part about the mother not being allowed to hug him while he is being detained.

TSA -- A Security Theater.

Last Wednesday Bush signed into law a new restriction on our freedom which does nothing but create another bureaucracy. The Los Angles Times has a pretty good write up on it but the tone is "the Feds should have done more":

Ammonium nitrate regulated -- sort of

The fertilizer can be used in explosives. Some in law enforcement and counter-terrorism wanted much tighter controls than Congress passed.

More than 12 years after Timothy J. McVeigh used ammonium nitrate fertilizer to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building, Congress quietly passed legislation this month to regulate sales of the explosive.

But the Secure Handling of Ammonium Nitrate Act of 2007, part of an appropriations measure signed Wednesday by President Bush, falls far short of the strict law that some in the counter-terrorism community and federal law enforcement were hoping for.

[...]

Outside groups are asking for tougher action. "Congress simply didn't understand what it was doing," said Peter Stockton, senior investigator for one of the groups, the Project on Government Oversight, which is a watchdog on national security issues.

"Maybe they thought doing something was better than nothing."

The text of the actual law is here. Assuming I'm reading the version of the bill that was actually signed there is an exemption for people with an explosives license (me). The biggest impact I see to most readers of this blog is that if you want to buy Target Master Exploding Targets or Tannerite maybe you should do it now. Both of those products use ammonium nitrate as their primary ingredient.

This law also affects farmers in a big way.

Under the new law you will be required to register with "Homeland Security" before you can manufacture, sell, or buy, AN. The seller will be required to maintain records. If anyone violates these new regulations they can be fined up to $50,000 per violation.

There will be regulations implemented which will provide "guidance" on storage and sales which of course will do nothing but harass the innocent. Just like the regulations on firearms do nothing the terrorists that want to do evil will steal their materials or use a strawman. Or if they are suicide bombers they will just go through the registration process and buy it just like legitimate users. It's not that difficult to manufacture either. The chemical formula is NH₄NO₃. The elements to manufacture it can all be obtained from the air. Try regulating those precursor chemicals.

Like Stockton, above, I think they just wanted to "do something". And as I pointed out in my QOTD today even "experts" (I hesitate to call anyone who works for the government an expert on anything other than government) don't think it does anything for security. It's nothing but more security theater for the masses.

The truth is, regardless of how many pointy tools and shampoo bottles we confiscate, there shall remain an unlimited number of ways to smuggle dangerous items onto a plane. The precise shape, form and substance of those items is irrelevant. We are not fighting materials, we are fighting the imagination and cleverness of the would-be saboteur.

Thus, what most people fail to grasp is that the nuts and bolts of keeping terrorists away from planes is not really the job of airport security at all. Rather, it’s the job of government agencies and law enforcement. It’s not very glamorous, but the grunt work of hunting down terrorists takes place far off stage, relying on the diligent work of cops, spies and intelligence officers. Air crimes need to be stopped at the planning stages. By the time a terrorist gets to the airport, chances are it’s too late.

Patrick Smith
December 28, 2007
The Airport Security Follies
[As near as I can tell the only people that argue for the continued existence or claim effectiveness of the TSA are the people of the TSA. It's not that the people of the TSA are necessarily stupid or incompetent, its that it is an unsolvable problem. It's time we considered alternatives.--Joe]

I've been saying this for years, pointed out the TSA is engaged in illegal acts, they know they are illegal, they are stupid, even idiotic, security is a joke, and then I suggested some tests of better security concepts. Now the Harvard School of Public Health says:

Study: Airport Screening Process Pointless

Airport security lines can annoy passengers, but there is no evidence that they make flying any safer, U.S. researchers reported Thursday.

[...]

"Even without clear evidence of the accuracy of testing, the Transportation Security Administration defended its measures by reporting that more than 13 million prohibited items were intercepted in one year," the researchers added. "Most of these illegal items were lighters."

This is like the Brady Bunch crowing at how effective NICS is because millions of people have been denied the sale of a firearm. Never mind that some of those people were guilty of "crimes" like being in possession of a deck of cards having naked white women on them (the "criminal" was black) and that the Brady act has never been shown to have made the public safer (Just One Question).

"We'd like airport security screening to be of value. As passengers and members of the public we'd like to know the evidence and the reasoning behind these measures," Linos said in a telephone interview.

With $5.6 billion spent globally on airport protection each year, the public should be encouraged to query some screening requirements -- such as forcing passengers to remove their shoes, the researchers said.

"Can you hide anything in your shoes that you cannot hide in your underwear?" they asked.

A TSA spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

The British Medical Journal contributed:

There is no solid evidence that the huge amounts of money spent on airport security screening measures since September 11th are effective, argue researchers in the Christmas issue of the BMJ.

[...]

Despite worldwide airport protection costing an estimated $5.6 billion every year, they found no comprehensive studies evaluating the effectiveness of passenger or hand luggage x-ray screening, metal detectors or explosive detection devices. There was also no clear evidence of testing accuracy.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) defends its measures by reporting that more than 13 million prohibited items were intercepted in one year. But, argue the authors, there is no way of knowing what proportion of these items would have led to serious harm.

This raises several questions, they say, such as what is the sensitivity of the screening question: 'Did you pack all your bags yourself?' and has anyone ever said 'no'? What are the ethical implications of pre-selecting high risk groups? Are new technologies that 'see' through clothes acceptable and what hazards should we screen for?

While there may be other benefits to rigorous airport screening, the absence of publicly available evidence to satisfy even the most basic criteria of a good screening programme concerns us, they write.

Put this another way. If you were selling a product advertised as curing some disease and it, in fact, did no better in scientific tests than a placebo you would be at least fined and probably go to jail. If you sold a product advertised to allow your car to use water as fuel you could be sued when it didn't work. But the U.S. Government can get away with providing nothing more than comfort to those that want to feel more secure while actually decreasing the security of travelers at great expense.

Can you imagine a snake-oil salesman using the defense, "My customers wanted to feel they were doing something even if their disease was incurable. Therefore I did nothing wrong." Prosecutors would break out the victory champagne before the defense drew their next breath. And so it should be with the TSA. Either they are incredibly stupid or they are snake-oil salesmen who should go to jail.

I sometimes wish I could output snark like this:

The report follows recent news that screeners at Los Angeles International Airport missed 75% of the fake bombs that investigators tried to smuggle onto planes during tests two years ago. The excuse from TSA officials: The tests were difficult and designed to trip up screeners. Whereas Al Qaeda will doubtless hide its bombs in brightly marked packages.

But then I would probably want to use it for occasions that would jeopardize my job and marriage.

Nice. The TSA is a joke. Kip Hawley is the head of the TSA. He says airport security is good. Investigators do what I have been saying could be done. Hawley tries to put a spin on it in front of congress and gets slapped down:

Investigators used public information to make a liquid bomb consisting of a detonator and a liquid explosive. They made a firebomb using two common products.

To absolute silence in the hearing room, the investigators screened video footage showing tests of their homemade bombs. One clip showed the device exploding inside a car -- metal flying, glass shattering, car doors buckling open and a voice, off camera, saying, "Oh!"

The investigators then designed ways to sneak the components past screeners.

The airports tested were kept classified.

The GAO recommended improvements in personnel, processes and technology; more aggressive pat-downs; and possible restrictions on carry-on luggage.

"Current policies allowing substantial carry-on luggage and related items through TSA checkpoints" increase the risk of a terrorist bringing an improvised explosive device or improvised incendiary device onto a plane, the report said.

Hawley downplayed the tests, arguing first that the components did not get on the plane. "It did get on the plane," countered Gregory Kutz of the GAO.

Hawley then contended that the components the GAO smuggled were not the ones used in the video footage. The GAO's Cooney corrected him.

Hawley also noted that GAO investigators did not smuggle a complete bomb past the checkpoint. Cooney, seated beside him, said: "We could simply have gone into the lavatory and constructed it there."

They don't arrive at the proper conclusion but they are getting the proper data--which is a start.

It's a pleasant fantasy but the people offering these sort of solutions either don't understand the problem or don't want to face reality. From one of our wonderful government laboratories:

Los Alamos Lab developing liquid scanner for airport security

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory are developing a new type of scanner that can distinguish liquids blaring out a warning for bad ones, like explosives, while letting through good ones, like water.

...

They will be able to scan bottles as big as a "magnum-sized champaign bottle," Espy said.

"Apparently the whole duty-free thing is suffering, and people can't carry their liquor on airplanes anymore," Espy said. "It's been disruptive to commerce. So, that's one of the benefits of this."

Software upgrades could add new liquids to the device's detection list if any new threats arise, she said.

"The nice thing about this system is it's not tuned to any specific threats," Espy said. "As new materials of concern arise, it can be adapted to detect those."

Even after the scanner is in place we still won't be able to take liquor on airplanes--unless they are going to allow ethanol on board. In which case I need to demonstrate how to make an "explosive" out of ethanol. It would be tough to get a true detonation but in the enclosed space of an airplane cabin it just won't matter whether the speed of propagation is greater than or less than the speed of sound.

And if they stop letting people take liquid hydrocarbons on board I'll demonstrate the same sort of thing is possible with bread flour, powdered sugar, or coffee creamer. And when they ban those let them build a scanner that is sensitive to powdered human hair.

And those ideas are all taking the direct "brute force" approach. There are lots of other, much more subtle, ways to defeat airport "security". TSA is backward for A Security Theater. It's time we considered the alternatives.

If some terrorist gets a bomb through security TSA (A Security Theater) is apparently going to tell them try again because they missed it the first time or three. But since it's coming from that liberal haven (read "logic impaired") of San Francisco it all sort of makes sense:

USA Today revealed that a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) report found screeners at SFO failed to find small bomb parts 20 percent of the time during a recent 12-month test.

SFO spokesperson, Mike McCarron, said the failure rate is unacceptable.

But McCarron said the TSA may have simply made the test too hard.

See also these news items on airport security:

• Report: U.S. screeners not catching bombs
• Airport security 'not where we need to be'
• US baggage control still lacking: report
• TSA: Turbans Don't Have to Be Removed

This last item is of particular interest because the TSA is telling everyone, "Hide your stuff here, we won't look there."

I've been harping on this for a long time and I don't see any evidence to invalidate my conclusions. It's time to consider alternatives to TSA because what we have now is just Security Theater.

I suppose its to be expected. You can't get more government contracts if you were to tell them the problem cannot be solved as long as they are headed in that direction. But what you can do is sell them millions and millions of dollars of technology that can be defeated with a few dollars worth of mu-metal and/or a Faraday Shield. I guess it doesn't matter. It's just government money. They have to spend it on something anyway, right?

Here are the details:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has a comforting prospect for the million or so daily passengers on U.S. airlines. Los Alamos National Laboratory is working on an alternative to the "sandwich bag" solution for carry-on liquids.

Passengers' ability to carry liquids with them during boarding has improved since the original total ban installed after a plot involving liquid explosives on transatlantic flights was busted in London in August 2006.

A total ban has given way to a partial ban because current X-ray machines can detect liquids, but they don't know the difference between Gatorade and a liquid explosive.

But the so-called "3-1-1" plan for placing smaller-than-3-ounce liquid containers into one separately scanned, quart-size plastic bag per passenger remains an annoyance for many airport travelers, a fact that has not been lost on the department.

Within a month after the London scheme was foiled, said Michelle Espy, LANL's co-principal investigator on the project, the laboratory had sketched out a "proof of concept" for a liquid-sensing instrument that has come to be called SENSIT.

In May this year, Brian Tait, a program manager in the Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency made a presentation on LANL's demonstration for using magnetic resonance technology to perform non-invasive "liquid and solid explosive detection at ultra-low field without radiation."

Espy said the technology is a variation on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a very low-field approach that the lab has been using for studying the brain in a technique known as magneto-encephalography, which is a way of reading signals emanating from the brain.

The sensor or magnetometer used in both the brain study and the bottle analyzer is known as a SQUID, an acronym that stands for Superconducting Quantum Interfering Device.

Comforting? I suppose you could say that. It will give some people a false sense of comfort. But then that's what TSA is all about anyway. A Security Theater that makes some people feel good.

Box Cutter Sails Through Airport Security

At least TSA put on a little bit of a show for their Security Theater. They make him pour out his coffee.

TSA head Kip Hawley (http://www.kiphawleyisanidiot.com/) attempts to explain the reason for the three ounce limit on liquids and why the rule is reasonable. He is deliberately obscure in places:

“This is something we thought a lot about. There’s a whole classified section to the answer, but in the unclassified part we are limited to discussing, with 3-1-1, the major focus was first, to stop assembled bombs,” he said.

“The nature of liquid explosives is that they are very volatile, unlike military-grade explosives that react predictably. With homemade explosives, while the benefit is that they are made of easy-to-get ingredients, the downside is that you get widely different results for the same quote-unquote recipe.

“If you’re going to use these explosives in the aviation context, you have to be very precise in the mixing because, as we found in the testing, minor variations in formula have a very dramatic effect on whether or not the explosives are successful.

“So 3-1-1- eliminates the ability to assemble the ingredients in a laboratory, using expert people to provide a finished bomb for somebody to use on a suicide mission on an airplane,” he said.

On a plane, mixing up a bomb in a suitable container “isn’t like mixing a beverage,” he said, adding: “This stuff is very volatile; it is very obvious; you can smell it a long way away. It’s very corrosive.”

The volatile stuff he's talking about would be the acetone used to make acetone peroxide. And yes acetone is very smelly. I have never made acetone peroxide and have no plans to. It's called "Mother of Satan" for a reason.

The "very corrosive" stuff would be nitric and sulfuric acids used to make nitroglycerin; probably the most well known of all liquid explosives.

Yup. Mixing up either of those explosives without being noticed would be difficult on a plane. The acetone in particular is very noticeable. Finger polish remover is frequently acetone. So if someone starts working on removing their fingernail polish don't be surprised if you see the flight crew getting a little excited about finding the source of the smell.

The problem with the whole explosives testing thing is that there are lots of things made out of stuff they don't, and essentially can't, test for that make the whole exercise just A Security Theater. That money would be far better spent on finding the bad guys before they ever got to the airport. But don't expect Hawley to tell you that. It's not his job to tell you his job is a sham. His job is to make you feel safer. Do you feel safe yet?

First a refresher course.

I don't know if he actually believes this or not. Maybe he does and just doesn't have a good imagination. Or maybe it's just that it's part of his job to comfort the sheepeople even if he knows he isn't telling them the complete truth:

Chief Troyer has been a driving force behind all of the airport security changes that has especially been focusing on removing items from people's luggage that could be used to make explosives.

But we get this doublespeak and I just get annoyed with him:

“I don't necessarily see it as being stricter as it is begin responsive to the threat,” Spokane International Airport Police Chief Pete Troyer said.

Whatever. The guy is just an actor in a security theater. What can you expect from someone like that? He reads his lines and he entertains the public.

You can make a crude stun gun from a disposable camera. A better quality flash unit will have a faster recycle time.

There is no limit the number and type of weapons that can be easily made and gotten past the Theater Security Agents (TSA). I've already mentioned making dust explosions with flour (powdered coffee creamer works too). It's long past time to consider some alternatives to existing airplane security.

Interesting. My most recent post about the TSA is getting more and more attention. Most recent is this mention in a forum:

If you really need to believe that you're safe when you get on a plane, don't read the above. If you want to realize what a bullshit fantasy "safety" through a "security" agency is, then take the red pill and click the link.

I like how he expressed that. Very nice. I remember one time not too long after 9/11 Ry was having Thanksgiving dinner with us and our extended family at my parent's place. Somehow Ry (software tester extraordinaire--finding flaws is what software testers do) and I started talking about all the vulnerabilities in our country that someone could use to cause us great damage. We were rattling things off so fast that someone had to raise their voice to get in a command to "STOP". People didn't want to know. They wanted ignorance. This is baffling to me, but whatever.

Anyway, on to what makes particular posts interesting...

Uncle and Existing Thing (via Uncle) linked to my TSA post. I was thinking Uncle would link to it when I made it. He links to almost anything of mine that is a little out of the ordinary (honest, I have only made him one offer for a free position at Boomershoot--which he hasn't acted upon. I don't think that constitutes bribery). Thinking about what makes a post interesting I made the connection to the recent career advice from Scott Adams (via Kim). I have expertise in more than one field and combining that expertise with a somewhat rare political viewpoint (pro-freedom) increases my "value". In this case it was my expertise in explosives and (computer) security.

I keep wondering if there is a way to combine all my hobbies in an interesting way. But at least for me guns, explosives, and sex just don't mix.

It is late at night and I got a little agitated reading some of the comments at Schneier's blog post about airplane security. When I'm tired my inhibtions drop and I write things I might not normally. Here's a duplicate of the rant I left in Schneier's comments:

Regarding dust explosions...

This is about 8 ounces of flour over an ounce of black powder (the original gun powder): http://www.joehuffman.org/FlashTek/06-FFFFgFlour.mpeg

That is in open air. In an enclosed room of an abandoned house a similar test brought the house down. Sorry, that wasn't my test and I don't have any video for it.

Shaped charges made from match heads? I don't think so. The "detonation" velocity is just too slow. It's more properly called deflagration than detonation for that type of "explosive". Shaped charges require MUCH faster propagation rates.

Binary explosives are available here: http://www.tannerite.com/ No background check, no license required, delivered to your door via UPS. Now THAT is something you can make a crude shaped charge with.

The "projectile" (typically a slug of molten copper) from a shaped charge is moving at 6 to 10 kilometers per second. At the pressures generated when it hits a "target" everything is "plastic". Hardened steel develops a hole just like a high velocity stream from your garden hose nozzle punches a hole in a dirt bank. Penetration for a properly configured 10 (ten) gram shaped charges is about 2 inches of steel. Yes--a shaped charge using less than one half ounce of explosives will penetrate two inches of steel. See Explosives Engineering by Paul W. Cooper, ISBN 0-471-18636-8 page 442. Or do you think the doors to the cockpit are more resistant than two inches of steel?

Do you think someone could not get a half ounce of explosives through TSA security? You could probably successfully hide that in your mouth or arm pit if you didn't want to use some other body cavity.

Oh, and you know why the explosives detectors work fairly well with plastic explosives? It's, by international agreement (Montreal, March 1, 1991, Article XIII of the Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives -- http://www.atf.gov/explarson/fedexplolaw/subpartj.pdf ), that all plastic explosives be "marked" by their manufacture with a chemical that is easily detected. Do you think Iran and others are going to abide by that International Convention if they want to provide some terrorists plastic explosives?

We really should spend the $2 billion/year, or whatever it is, on finding and stopping the bad guys before they arrive at the airport/train-station/shopping-mall/etc. than on pointless screening. The bottom line is that the acronym TSA should be reversed--it really stands for "A Security Theater".

Screening ideas are indeed thought up by the Office for Annoying Air Travelers and vetted through the Directorate for Confusion and Complexity, and then we review them to insure that there are sufficient unintended irritating consequences so that the blogosphere is constantly fueled.

Kip Hawley
Head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
April/May of 2007 via an email interview with Bruce Schneier
[Yes, he said that. It was sarcasm. Not that I don't think there was a certain amount of truth in it as well. Reading the rest of the interview (part of one of five is all that is out) was interesting. As you might expect Schneier is asking the right questions but, at least so far, Hawley is avoiding some of the questions and Schneier isn't following up as well as I think he should. For example, Hawley gives a feels good answer to claims of 90% failure on weapons detection. But I don't think there have been any changes that can defeat certain, extremely simple, scenarios.

You are requested to lay your carry-on luggage "flat" on the belt for a reason. That reason is the X-Ray image is produced in the vertical direction. Laying the luggage flat gives the screener the least clutter in the image. It also means that you can present the screener with the most favorable profile of your weapon. Imagine what the profile of a knife looks like on edge and what acceptable carry-on items might look similar or camouflage the knife on edge. It is my contention that short of hand searching or complete emptying of luggage at the check points it will be trivial to get knives past security in your carry-on luggage. Firearms are only slightly more difficult. There may be some things they can do to detect ammunition via nuclear methods but I suspect even that can be defeated if you know what you are doing. It is my contention we would all be much better off if we explored different methods of security.--Joe]

Someone released a For Official Use Only (FOUO) document from the TSA and MSNBC posted it online. The basics are:

A surge in recent suspicious incidents at U.S. airports may indicate terrorists are conducting pre-attack security probes and "dry runs" similar to dress rehearsals. Past terrorist attacks and plots show that such testing generally indicates attacks will soon follow, according to a joint FBI and Homeland Security assessment.

It's mildly interesting in that it seems to confirm people are probing our airport security system. My view is that airport security as it's currently implemented is a lost cause (see also this posting from David Mackett, the president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance). Those resources would be far better spent on finding the bad guys before they ever arrive at the airport and implementing something else for on board security.

Update: Via Bruce--at least one of the reports was bogus:

The TSA bulletin said the ice packs were covered in duct tape and had clay inside of them.

Sanfilippo said they weren't covered in duct tape and didn't have clay inside of them. “It is a little bit off,” he said of the bulletin.

The chief said a Harbor Police officer found what appeared to be hardened old gel that had seeped out of the ice packs and dried, leaving a clay-like substance around the outside edge of the pack.

I wonder if it was incompetence or if the TSA was trying to justify their existence. Both are plausible.

Airport "security" is all "security theater". It is all for show and doesn't really make us any safer. But it does make some people feel better. They really should investigate some alternatives but the sheeple would whimper and cry for mommy to protect them or something. And so as part of this show they made a big deal of requiring government issued photo ID before you could fly on a commerical flight. As if that made a difference somehow. Well... they've quietly backed off on that requirement:

Turns out there is no requirement that you produce a photo ID when you travel on a commercial airplane.

Originally, the TSA's Web site stated, "You must present a Boarding Pass and a Photo ID to get to the checkpoint and to your gate."

The latest TSA Web site language, however, states: "We encourage each adult traveler to keep his/her airline boarding pass and government-issued photo ID available until exiting the security checkpoint [children are not required to show identification]. The absence of proper identification will result in additional screening."

The TSA spokeswoman confirms: "If a passenger doesn't have one, like yourself, because it was lost, which does happen, then we do subject them to additional screening."