dZ Senior Member

Join Date: May 31, 1999 Location: Exiled, Fetid Swamp, DC Posts: 7,548

James Randi and airport security

http://www.randi.org/jr/10-01-2000.html



(Guess what? Still no response from Florsheim, nor from DKL. I wonder why?)





I've just come back from a rather harrowing series of flights to various lecture venues, so I'm tuned to airport and airline shortcomings. Being offered a drippy chocolate doughnut and room-temperature coffee for breakfast on one flight, has not improved my attitude a bit.



Airport security is a serious problem, as we all know. But my observations of how it has evolved, get me a bit worried. Until recently, operators of the system required that every computer passing through the system must be turned on and the display on the screen lit, after which it was approved. This was a silly - and dangerous - idea, since any serious would-be bomber could easily prepare a light-up screen to disguise an explosive device, knowing that was all that was necessary to get by. More recently, I've been asked to "operate" my beeper to prove that it's genuine, a ridiculous requirement under any standards. There appears to be a technically-inept person behind all this, a fact verified by the fact that now my computer bag passes through the x-ray scanner, shows nothing but a large opaque rectangle, and it passes! The examiners have no idea what might be there, but they have followed the rules, and they move right on.



Many years ago, when I lived in New Jersey, I arrived at Newark airport and found that my travel agent had erred and booked me out of JFK airport. With little time to spare, I opted to grab the next helicopter shuttle to JFK, and scooted for the gate. I placed my large suitcase on the scanner belt along with my carry-ons, passed through the frame, and stood impatiently waiting for my baggage and looking at the monitor screen. To my horror, I saw the perfect outline of a Smith and Wesson 38-caliber revolver smack in the middle of the screen. The operator was looking directly at the screen, as I was, but did not react.



(I should explain how I came to have a revolver. At that period in my career, I was performing a "mentalism" trick in which I would shoot out of a cluster of balloons, one of a specific color - while blindfolded. Wax bullets propelled by a tiny charge were enough to do the job. I will add that following this experience I switched over to a molded-plastic replica revolver that was transparent to the scanning systems.)



I hustled to the gate, expecting at any moment to hear a "Halt!" but heard nothing. Aboard the helicopter I was sure that we would be intercepted by Sidewinder ground-to-air missiles. Nothing. Upon landing at JFK I expected a SWAT team in leather and armor to place my poor body under arrest. Again, nothing. Perhaps 20 minutes after I left, the security person awoke from his trance back in Newark and exclaimed, "Revolver!" I will never know.



At one time, I traveled with several pieces of electronic equipment that were encased in the usual sheet-metal casings - all of which showed on the security screen as opaque rectangles. There was no telling what they were, or what was behind them. And that's very much the situation today, too.



No, I don't have a much better scheme to offer. That's not my field, but I think I could do a better job than is being done right now. I'm concerned about what appear to be ineffective and rather arbitrary rules that are applied to the security system at airports. Preparing dedicated transgressors by showing them how weak the system is, is not at all wise. AIRPORT SECURITY, SURPRISE VISITORS, AND THOSE DAMN CAPS, AGAIN!(Guess what? Still no response from Florsheim, nor from DKL. I wonder why?)I've just come back from a rather harrowing series of flights to various lecture venues, so I'm tuned to airport and airline shortcomings. Being offered a drippy chocolate doughnut and room-temperature coffee for breakfast on one flight, has not improved my attitude a bit.Airport security is a serious problem, as we all know. But my observations of how it has evolved, get me a bit worried. Until recently, operators of the system required that every computer passing through the system must be turned on and the display on the screen lit, after which it was approved. This was a silly - and dangerous - idea, since any serious would-be bomber could easily prepare a light-up screen to disguise an explosive device, knowing that was all that was necessary to get by. More recently, I've been asked to "operate" my beeper to prove that it's genuine, a ridiculous requirement under any standards. There appears to be a technically-inept person behind all this, a fact verified by the fact that now my computer bag passes through the x-ray scanner, shows nothing but a large opaque rectangle, and it passes! The examiners have no idea what might be there, but they have followed the rules, and they move right on.Many years ago, when I lived in New Jersey, I arrived at Newark airport and found that my travel agent had erred and booked me out of JFK airport. With little time to spare, I opted to grab the next helicopter shuttle to JFK, and scooted for the gate. I placed my large suitcase on the scanner belt along with my carry-ons, passed through the frame, and stood impatiently waiting for my baggage and looking at the monitor screen. To my horror, I saw the perfect outline of a Smith and Wesson 38-caliber revolver smack in the middle of the screen. The operator was looking directly at the screen, as I was, but did not react.(I should explain how I came to have a revolver. At that period in my career, I was performing a "mentalism" trick in which I would shoot out of a cluster of balloons, one of a specific color - while blindfolded. Wax bullets propelled by a tiny charge were enough to do the job. I will add that following this experience I switched over to a molded-plastic replica revolver that was transparent to the scanning systems.)I hustled to the gate, expecting at any moment to hear a "Halt!" but heard nothing. Aboard the helicopter I was sure that we would be intercepted by Sidewinder ground-to-air missiles. Nothing. Upon landing at JFK I expected a SWAT team in leather and armor to place my poor body under arrest. Again, nothing. Perhaps 20 minutes after I left, the security person awoke from his trance back in Newark and exclaimed, "Revolver!" I will never know.At one time, I traveled with several pieces of electronic equipment that were encased in the usual sheet-metal casings - all of which showed on the security screen as opaque rectangles. There was no telling what they were, or what was behind them. And that's very much the situation today, too.No, I don't have a much better scheme to offer. That's not my field, but I think I could do a better job than is being done right now. I'm concerned about what appear to be ineffective and rather arbitrary rules that are applied to the security system at airports. Preparing dedicated transgressors by showing them how weak the system is, is not at all wise.

"O tell the Lacedomecians to damn the torpedoes."

BOTR, Chapter V: Some Monsters __________________"O tell the Lacedomecians to damn the torpedoes."