Airline (In)Security

Bruce Schneier has a good article on Wired.com about the foolish programs being used in the U.S. for "airline security" which in reality do little to enhance security (story here). Schneier's take on what would help enhance security?

Exactly two things have made airline travel safer since 9/11: reinforcement of cockpit doors, and passengers who now know that they may have to fight back. Everything else -- Secure Flight and Trusted Traveler included -- is security theater. We would all be a lot safer if, instead, we implemented enhanced baggage security -- both ensuring that a passenger's bags don't fly unless he does, and explosives screening for all baggage -- as well as background checks and increased screening for airport employees.

That sure makes more sense than the totalitarian nonsense TSA has been pushing. After all, the 9/11 hijackers were only able to get boxcutters on the flights. "Tightening" of security as initated by TSA is hardly the answer; it was hardly even worth it to ban boxcutters in the aftermath of 9/11. What terrorist is going to try using a boxcutter again to hijack a plane, and more importantly, what passengers will let them get away with it, knowing the potential deadliness of a hijacked airplane? This is the kind of absurd policy that results when the government takes over in place of experts who know what works and what doesn't.