Jonathan Cristol is a research fellow in the Levermore Global Scholars Program at Adelphi University and senior fellow at the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College. Follow him on Twitter @jonathancristol. The views expressed are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) CNN has reported that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is considering eliminating security screening at "more than 150 small and medium-sized airports" across the United States. Passengers would only go through security screening when they arrive at larger airports to board airplanes that hold more than 60 people.

Predictably, the responses to this report range from incredulity to acrimony to outrage -- and it is far from certain that the proposal will ever become official policy. Although these eliminations appear to have been proposed, in part, as cost-cutting measures by the current administration, it is important to bear in mind that significant security changes made after 9/11 are still in place protecting travelers. As such, we do not need the additional security measures at regional airports to keep us safe.

The most significant airplane security change made after 9/11 was to reinforce cockpit doors on commercial planes. This feature makes it impossible for a terrorist to turn an airplane into a cruise missile by gaining access to the cockpit and either flying planes into targets or forcing a pilot to do so.

Jonathan Cristol

It does not make it impossible to turn an airplane into a suicide bomb. Then again, that risk exists on almost every mode of public transportation -- and I do not experience anywhere close to the same level of security checks on other modes of transportation.

Almost every day I ride the subway in cars jam packed with people. At least one day per week I take a commuter railroad. Several times per year I ride a crowded train to Washington, Philadelphia or Boston. My bags are never searched, and I never go through a magnetometer before getting on (though the authorities do have the right to search me and my belongings, and they sometimes have bomb-sniffing dogs). On occasion, I wait in a long, slow-moving airport security line full of people who have not yet gone through airport security.

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