As a result of the most recent attempted attack aboard a commercial aircraft, a new policy is in place which mandates flyers can no longer stand up during the last hour of an international flight. Additionally, nothing on your laps will be allowed (blankets will be taken back), and all items must be stowed. All as a result of an examination of methodology of the latest attack, and government’s belief it must do something.
Of course we will do this and issue the new mandates. Officials are “duty bound” to do something. Let the public think they are safe. Shoes were x-rayed after the shoe bomber incident. This person sewed explosives into his underwear. So what’s the next natural step in our response? Mandating all undergarments be x-rayed as well? How far away are we from the FAA or Homeland Security mandating that all underwear must be checked?
Maybe, just maybe, if a bomber wants to blow a plane up not over open seas, but on American soil, he doesn’t buy a ticket to the east coast from London, he buys a ticket to California. Do we then mandate that everyone sit with nothing to do for five hours before the flight lands?
This would all be funny and perfect fodder for a Leslie Nielson movie. But the reality is it is very real. The system is broke. This man goes to the airport and buys a one way ticket for cash, has no passport, is on international watch lists, and was reported by his father to US officials as possibly dangerous. Our response? Seventy two hours later Homeland Security is still publicly vacillating between if the system worked or didn’t. They try to show leadership…..they take away your blankets!
Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, the best thing to do in a crisis is to do nothing quickly. They should take some moments to identify the gross failures, put plans into place to hinder it from happening again, and move on. I believe their actions so far are only proving what we all really believe….. They have no idea what to do and the actions they are taking are doing nothing to quell the rising fears of Americans today.
One Comment
I think you make some good points. Knee jerk type reactions to a situation can sometimes serve to only worsen things. However, in this case, one thing that really bothers me is why was this person allowed on a flight without a passport? That seems like a pretty basic security measure that was not followed. How about we actually follow the security measures we have that might really help before instituting new ones that are downright silly?