Uncomfortable Observations about Transportation Security

Here are a few observations that make many of us uncomfy.

This year, a few billion people will have to take off their shoes to board an airplane. That is not an exaggeration. This is a lot of tootsies, bother, and nuisance.

All because 17 years ago, a doofus boarded a plane wearing explosive shoes that did not explode. Since then? I don’t know. Google does not offer a lot of information on the subject. This makes it difficult to know whether the TSA can justify this inconvenience.

How about the rest of the security precautions? Four billion passengers a year have to come hours earlier to airports. They cannot carry various liquids and gels. They must suffer long lines in some places. They may get prodded and patted down. Agents may paw through their baggage. You don’t need me to describe this. You likely have gone through it.

Our taxpayers pay billions for this security system. Our TSA alone employs nearly 60,000 people. Imagine the costs worldwide. Imagine the amounts spent on equipment. And on re-designing airports to accommodate it.

We presume the staggering bills and inconvenience are worth it. After all, we have suffered no more 9/11s. Aircraft bombings are rare. Hijackings are rarer. Is this because our gargantuan security systems actually deter terrorists? We are not sure. We do know that whackos still slip weird stuff past agents.

Here are the discomforting issues. If the lives of air travelers are precious, how about the lives of train passengers? I often travel Amtrak. Nobody checks my baggage or shoes. I could haul a huge bomb aboard. Two or three. Amtrak porters would probably even help me bring them aboard. If I detonate the explosives while the train is on a bridge I could snuff as many lives as a plane bomber can.

I could do the same in a subway car. Or on a bus. On these, the numbers of lives would be fewer than on a big jet. 

But how about if I brought canisters of lethal gas aboard a subway train. I could easily don a gas mask and move from car to car spraying. Thereby killing many hundreds of riders.

Nobody checks subway travelers for weapons of any type. Neither Amtrak nor subway systems care what packages you haul aboard.

Terrorists could easily smuggle automatic weapons onto subway or rail cars. Nobody checks passengers’ totes or backpacks. There is only an occasional sniffer-dog in subway and train stations. And I am not sure one can smell an AK-47.

These issues make folks uncomfortable for a good reason. They know there is little we can do about them. 

Imagine that tomorrow terrorists did one of the horrible things I just described. We would gnash our teeth and point fingers. We would hold Congressional hearings. We would make statements and run for office on promises to prevent recurrences.

But what could we do? Technology may rescue us some day. But for now, we cannot screen millions of subway riders in our big cities. Amtrak passengers, yes. But not subway folks. If we interrupted the torrent of subway riders — even slightly — we would create mile-long lines.

This is a significant chink in our security armor. We are fortunate terrorists and nuts have not exploited it. We are fortunate terrorists are so few among us. Over 3 billion passengers ride our subways each year. London’s underground transports 1.4 billion. Only one crazy guy per 10 million would cause havoc.

Keep up with your prayers.

From Tom…as in Morgan.                     

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home in upstate New York. Write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com. Read more of his writing at tomasinmorgan.com