I listened attentively to President Obama’s presentation and the discussions with Janet Napolitano, Director of Homeland Security, yesterday and sadly, I heard no different rhetoric. This speech by President Obama could have been delivered by President Bush, however, Bush would have thrown the word “terrorism” into the mix.
Americans have heard the same speeches coupled with the same knee-jerk band-aid responses that won’t make anyone safer, but will complicate travel.
Going all the way back to the Commission on 9/11 all of the Presidential speeches have a similar ring. Nothing seems to have changed as far as the teleprompter is concerned. Same words. Same platitudes. Same soothing, “We’ll take care of you.” Same “Good job, Brownie.” This time it was Obama excusing a roomful of intelligence and security chiefs.
Heck, according to the President, no one is responsible. It seems, these isolated extremists just happen. Basically, the word from Washington is that we need to fine tune the intelligence operation and bureaucratic sharing.
I’m all for that. Let’s get to doing the fine tuning. But we need something more — someone to lead the operation.
Prior to the Obama administration, there was a vilified vice president who was an absolute fanatic about counter-terrorism activities. We need someone with the same intensity and laser focus in this administration. We might not like this new director, just like few felt warm and fuzzy about our former VP, but the important thing is that the bad guys fear him. We are missing that these days.
The first step in shoring up our national security is finding a boogie man as fearful to al-Qaeda as VP Cheney was. We want the bad guys to keep their heads down and quake with a fear of discovery. What I didn’t hear from Obama after his meeting with his secretariat of security was the name of the man in charge.
At the airport level we don’t need full body scanners, more pat-downs and more hassles. We don’t need more security theater. The effectiveness of these whole-body scanners is suspect and the violation of privacy and dignity is clear.
The new regime of limited profiling will make airport security far more efficient immediately.
Experts suggest that the explosives used in this Christmas bombing attempt would not have been detected because of the low-density of the materials.
Even assuming that the whole-body technology “could” have “detected” the explosives in a perfect world, chances are the powder spread in panties could have been confused with many other items. If a scanner operator had the time to really analyze the image on their screen, he or she may have been able to see something amiss. However, small 10-second glimpses of changing body shapes over an extended period of time would test anyone’s ability to discern carefully hidden contraband or explosives.
There are other machines under development that “will highlight in red any contraband hidden on a body” without strip searching the passenger thus eliminating privacy and dignity issues.
I am sure that new “chemical trace scanners” capable of detecting explosives and the presence of those who have been handling explosives can be developed. Currently, this technology is undergoing testing. It would target the bad guys and preserve privacy and dignity. Plus and according to the manufacturer, can be fitted to much of the security equipment already in use at airports.
SpectraFluidics says its threat-detection system, originally invented at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has successfully detected trace levels of explosives including pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN, the chemical allegedly carried by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab during an attempted attack on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight.
The successful series of tests marked a milestone for SpectraFluidics, which according to a news release is developing its detection system for both a portal and hand-held configuration. Officials say the technology is expected to be released in 2010.
In conclusion, here are my suggestions for Obama’s minions —
• Put someone in charge with a laser focus on counter-terrorism.
• Don’t add to the hassles, invade privacy and violate dignity of everyday travelers with whole-body scanners. Shift to less-invasive technologies.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
