In a classic case of 'closing the barn door after the horse has bolted', the day after the Christmas Day bombing attempt on flight NW253 we of flight DL9 bound for Atlanta were subjected to two hours of delay at Heathrow airport for extra frisking. Then, at Immigration at Atlanta, my fingerprint machine appeared not to work, leading to my being taken to another room and left forlornly for two further hours, thus putting paid to any futile, lingering hope of making the connection to Knoxville.
Now....here are some, possibly relevant, facts...
.....anti-terrorist wars have already cost the US at least $800 bn and finally will have cost an estimated $2-3 trillion,
.....of the order of one hundredth of the above amounts (i.e., ~$10 bn) has so far been spent on improved airport security, and this not always wisely.
.....a "puffer machine" capable of detecting explosives such as that allowed on NW253, costs about $160K; sniffer dogs presumably less.
Maybe I'm wrong, but by my estimation, given the money already spent, which is still only of the order of 1% of the cost of the wars, enough puffer machines etc could have been installed, sniffer dogs bred and trained and friskers hired to effectively, easily, rapidly and quickly process all international flights into the US.
...and I wouldn't have missed my flight to Knoxville.
Now....here are some, possibly relevant, facts...
ReplyDelete...the terror community is almost exclusively religious.
Given that knowledge we can reduce costs for flight security to zero. How? First we need an atheist airline, let's call it: "Atheist United". Booking a terror-free flight is like choosing a meat-free meal. you simply select vegetarian or atheist, respectively.
The end result is that we lump all the atheists in one plane and all the religious in another. The atheist plane is terror-free so there is no need for security. As for the religious, they do not need security checks at all. It is in their self-declared interest to not stand in the way of anything that elevates them from this world, to the next, more vital world.
No more wasteful spending - problem solved!
You're welcome.