Security games

bonkey

I see they're allowing some liquids back on planes again in the US. Plenty of stories off news.google.com and the like for anyone who wants a reference.

One quote I did see which made me smile:


"We now know enough to say that a total ban is no longer needed from a security point of view," said Kip Hawley, head of the Transportation Security Administration, at a news conference at Reagan National Airport.


Kip - you should have known from the start that a total ban was never needed from a security point of view.

The implicit suggestion here is that there are times when a ban may be needed. This makes no sense. Either the possibility exists of liquid-based explosives being used or it doesn't. The offered logic is really only understandable as a case of "we're not aware that anyone is planning on using them so its safe right now".

So basically, security is only needed when there's awareness of a threat.

I predict that rather than being treated with the skepticism that it deserves, this announcement will be greeted with open arms from most of the media, and will be used by at least one member of the White House Administration to show how serious they are on terror.

In other security-related news, I noticed today that numerous US Intelligence Agencies have all concluded that the War on Terror has measurably increased the problems it was designed to counter. The White House reaction was typical of the current administration - they refuse to accept the position of their experts.

Roll on 2008 when at least there'll be a new plethora of clowns to be frustrated by. A change is as good as a rest.

oscarBravo

bonkey wrote:

A change is as good as a rest.

Ye gods, if only.

Manic Moran

My guess is that the initial clampdown was a knee-jerk reaction in order to err on the side of caution until the experts could figure out what was a reasonable answer. In a similar nature to the way after 9/11 they decided to stop all aircraft from flying, until they could re-assess the situation. Of course, it doesn't say much as to why they only thought about it after the knee-jerk went into effect. I work at an airport, it's amusing to watch the checkpoint in operation sometimes.

NTM

sceptre

Manic Moran wrote:

My guess is that the initial clampdown was a knee-jerk reaction in order to err on the side of caution until the experts could figure out what was a reasonable answer. In a similar nature to the way after 9/11 they decided to stop all aircraft from flying, until they could re-assess the situation.

I tend to see both reactions as akin to the entirely logical "We must do something, that's something, let's do that". If necessary I'll expand a bit but knee-jerk reactions tend to be poor in general, knee-jerk reactions being by their very nature lacking the thought that tends to go into reactions of the non-knee-jerk variety.

Manic Moran

No argument there at all. I didn't say it was great, just a likely explanation.

NTM

sceptre

Manic Moran wrote:

No argument there at all. I didn't say it was great, just a likely explanation.

Oh, lest I be misunderstood, I assumed that we both had the same view on whether it was good or not, after all you used the phrase "knee-jerk" before I did.

Frederico

Yeah I remember seeing a chemical expert on BBC news night telling us we watch too many episodes of '24' and explaining how literally impossible it was for someone to mix chemicals on a plane.

UK is very media loud on terror arrests/raids but very quiet on the followup to these arrests.. unless I am missing something?.. I almost get the feeling they arrest 10 random muslims a week to keep the public feeling safe (a la 70's/80's picking up Irish people whenever a bomb went off).

Manic Moran

UK is very media loud on terror arrests/raids but very quiet on the followup to these arrests.. unless I am missing something?..

No, not really. People arrested over bomb plot = Big dramatic news.
People released after being arrested and subsequently found innocent = Big dramatic news
People charged and sitting in jail awaiting trial = Not particularly dramatic, until it comes to trial time.

As of last report I can find (29 August), there were 19 persons charged in the UK with relation to the liquid bomb plot and currently awaiting trial.

NTM

Mucco

Frederico wrote:

UK is very media loud on terror arrests/raids but very quiet on the followup to these arrests.. unless I am missing something

The meeja can't report on the investigations for fear of prejudicing the trial. They report the trials quite extensively, see the current fertiliser bomb case.

tallus

Frederico wrote:

Yeah I remember seeing a chemical expert on BBC news night telling us we watch too many episodes of '24' and explaining how literally impossible it was for someone to mix chemicals on a plane.

I heard about that too Fred, totally agree with the comment, apparently it's damn near impossible to do it.