How Quickly We Forget...

Last weekend, there were plenty of news reports about how we really haven't learned many lessons in security from our experiences on 9-11. Certainly, there are things that have changed, but in reality, we've been lulled back into a sense of complacency.

I was reading through "Business Travel News", which I get in the mail. In it was an article talking about how the Transportation Security Administration is considering relaxing rules on what can be brought onto an airplane. Among the items they want to allow are small knives and scissors. Yes, you read that correctly. These are items that can be used as weapons and in fact were used to hijack the planes on 9-11 that lead to the deaths of some 3,000 people.

Have we forgotten about Richard Reid, the shoe bomber? Only the diligence of a passenger and the crew prevented a disaster there. Hence why lighters are banned.

So please tell me why our illustrious government wants to allow dangerous items in the passenger cabin again? The reason is that the TSA wants to make screenings more efficient. Well, getting rid of screenings altogether would accomplish that too. The purpose of screenings is to prevent security breaches aboard flying missiles. A small hole in a dyke in time accomplishes the same as a large hole.

For those of you who have never traveled overseas, you really have no idea how lucky we have it here. If you go to any mall in Turkey, you will go through a metal detector. Could you imagine that here? They even make you go through the metal detector and x-ray machines (all luggage) BEFORE you enter the terminal at the airport. One or two incidents here and we'll see that too.

We need to keep the stringent security in place.