The Consumerist, and one more

The Consumerist has a short piece on an incident in Sacramento International Airport, where a security checkpoint were left unattended for somewhat under a minute.

Some things are just fine if you leave them unattended for less than a minute. Like, an apple, or a cat, or even a hammer. But a metal detector at an airport security checkpoint? Nope, you shouldn’t leave that alone when people are walking through it. Tell that to the TSA agents at the Sacramento International Airport.

The Transportation Security Administration had to shut down a terminal at the airport over the weekend, citing a security breach, says KCRA News. Flights were grounded for an hour, because four ticketed passengers and one airport employee waltzed through the abandoned metal detector.

Oh well.

Also, here’s an interesting essay on why the TSA is a failure in itself, so to speak. The author is by own claim a former FBI agent, task force commander and whatnot else. Also, his dad was apparently in airline security back in the 70’s. Far be it from us to dispute the man’s claims, but the essay seems a little bit over the top at times, such as the following passage:

While bomb-sniffing dogs are run past luggage, the beach at the departure end of LAX is largely unpatrolled, and anybody with a shoulder launched missile (you know the ones they regularly shoot down U.S. helicopters with in Afghanistan) could take out any plane of their choice. I am reticent to discuss anything further that would give anybody ideas. However, these two have had wide dissemination in the media but are by NO means the biggest threats.

Well. Apparently, censorship helps in the fight against terrorism now? Anyway – it’s an interesting essay none the less.

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