Air Travel Security Theater

Air Travel Security Theater

As always, Bruce Schneier has some poignant analysis of the attempted terror attack on an aircraft headed from Amsterdam to Detroit over the holidays.

Once a society starts circumventing its own laws, the risks to its future stability are much greater than terrorism.

Despite fearful rhetoric to the contrary, terrorism is not a transcendent threat. A terrorist attack cannot possibly destroy a country’s way of life; it’s only our reaction to that attack that can do that kind of damage. The more we undermine our own laws, the more we convert our buildings into fortresses, the more we reduce the freedoms and liberties at the foundation of our societies, the more we’re doing the terrorists’ job for them.

Read the whole piece, especially the beginning where Schneier talks about how public and political leaders react to terrorism by implementing ‘security theater’ that is more window-dressing than actual prevention.  If you travel at all and have been frustrated by the too-obvious measures that do nothing besides show security posturing, this article is for you.

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