TSA rail, subway spot-checks raise privacy issues
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/28/travel/tsa-vipr-passenger-train-searches/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7
So, in addition to the complete waste of time we now have in our airports, we are pissing money away on totally useless efforts to screen road and rail customers. The moronic attitude of these people is “hey, it must be working because nothing bad has happened”…
Is VIPR [Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response] working? It’s hard to know.
When asked if VIPR has ever directly resulted in discovered explosives or the arrest of suspected attackers, Thompson said, “Specific operational results are considered security sensitive information. Although the value of deterrence is difficult to measure directly the presence of law enforcement transportation security personnel VIPR assets increases the difficulty with which potential terrorists plan and conduct terrorist activity.”
These guys have deluded themselves into believing this shit works (of course, they might just be politicians and just lying):
The surprise element of a VIPR team accompanying local police at a train station or truck weigh station on the day of a planned attack might force a terrorist to cancel the attack. “This kind of unpredictability is another tool in the toolbox to manipulate and play with their minds and cause a level of tactical deterrence,” Rand security analyst Brian A. Jackson said.
If I am a bad guy and I figure I have a 99.9% chance being able to initiate my operation without any concern of being screened by authorities, that 0.1% chance of being ‘caught’ is irrelevant. I would worry much more about the beefy rednecks I am likely to encounter just itching to lay into bad guys and become a hero. I figure that chance is probably running around 90%, meaning 9 times out of ten some ‘good Samaritan’ will up and try to beat my brains out as soon as I try to start something. The reason we haven’t had any successful terrorist acts in the air since 911 has nothing to do with the screening (they got past the screeners, after all), but with the fellow passengers that took matters into their own hands (of course, we have had plenty of totally innocent people bumped from their travel plans by their fellow (moronic) passengers, so there is bad that comes with the good). Indeed, of the 4 planes hijacked on 911, 25% of them were unable to complete their appointed task because of passenger revolts.
We have given up our rights to privacy and liberty (and decency, why they feeling up gramma?) for nothing in return, just palaver for the sheeple.
