Re: "Thinking Level" of FAA

["John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

At 06:36 AM 9/17/01 -0700, John Barrer wrote:
> This may be off-topic, but has anyone else wondered
> why with all the "increased security" being enacted,
> no one in our govt. seems to have suggested the
> obvious low-cost and effective strategy of simply
> banning ALL carry-on baggage? Convenient? No.
> Effective? Yes.

Whaaaaat?

What is the basis for the assertion that such a restriction would have been
effective?
 -- It would indeed have been effective at preventing ordinary law-abiding
citizens from bringing aboard weapons.  Or baby food and spare diapers.
 -- There is absolutely no reason to believe (and every reason to
disbelieve) that it would have been effective at preventing a band of very,
very highly motivated attackers from bringing aboard small knives adequate
to the task.


The thinking level of the FAA security team was reasonably good.  They knew
with great clarity that they had been given an impossible task:  They had
been given glaringly self-inconsistent self-contradictory requirements.

====================

By the way:  In my previous postings over the years I have refrained from
asserting my qualifications.  I did this to make a point.  I believe that
in a physics discussion, the facts should speak for themselves.  If a
highly certified expert makes a wrong argument, it is still wrong.  If a
ten-year-old makes a physically-correct argument, it is correct, and that's
all there is to it.

I always find it amusing when somebody who doesn't know my qualifications
starts beating his chest and waving his qualifications in my face, in
support of a hopelessly invalid argument.

Since we have now left the domain of physics, the rules are different.  So
here goes:  I have a moderately good understanding of FAA security
activities because for several years I served on the National Research
Council's Committee on Commercial Aviation Security.  I have seen the
threat models.  I have seen the requirement documents.  I have seen the
performance data on the various security devices and screening methods.