Can it really be almost ten years since 9/11/01? Yep, and most people seem just as surprised as I, that yes, it has been that long.
Our world has changed since then. Many stories of problems with passports, border crossings, arguments with officials and other events include the words, “Of course, that was before 9/11.†Personally, I remember getting into and back out of Bermuda once with no passport. But that was before 9/11.
TSA boasts that it has thwarted 50 million threats at airports in ten years. A quick-witted participant in the online aviation forum, AVSIG, pointed out that this comes out to 13,699 thwarts per day, seven days a week. That’s a bunch of thwarts.
Some of those thwarts I caused myself during the years that we were getting used to TSA, including one tiny little pocket knife given up to TSA, and a larger antique Case pocket knife (circa 1957) that I refused to give up and therefore missed my flight. There were also a few liquids that exceeded whatever the limit was during that time. Most of us did learn fast, however, and today we don’t have those problems.
Many still scream about TSA being too aggressive, invasive and nit-picking, with dictatorial powers that violate our rights. Seems to me, though, that TSA folks have become nicer over the years. True, they now have pat down authority, and there’s just no nice way to do that.
Many scream that TSA shouldn’t investigate little old ladies and small children. Hogwash. As soon as we quit searching one group, that will be the next group that the bad guys and gals will recruit.
Not using profiling is, in my opinion, one of the dumbest decisions of our guvmint. I won’t bore you with the arguments—you’ve heard them already—but surely this is a no-brainer if there ever was one.
And I still say we should study at the feet of the Israelis. As we used to say, they’ve got their stuff together.
All in all, I’m glad TSA is there.
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