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Hmm, “profile passengers, ask intrusive questions, sometimes prevent people from flying”. That in exchange for a safety record like theirs. I’ll take it!
The dreaded “profiling”. That means more time spent on those who are more likely to cause problems. Makes sense to me!
Intrusive questions – Ask away! Sorta like how it was in high school when they said a stupid question is the one you don’t ask.
Preventing people from flying? The big question on that one is what would have happened if they had let the person fly. And I’m sure other arrangements are made.
I’ve flown to and from Israel and have experienced the grilling you receive when you fly out of Ben-Gurion. Yes, it’s time-consuming and annoying, but I’m all for it if it means an end to the stupid crap we put up with now. And I certainly would feel much safer under such a system.
They use people in the military instead of special transportation agents. Maybe we should go that route as well.
I too have flown in and out of Israel a number of times. Yes, the aggressive questioning can be annoying, and you need to arrive at the airport earlier and stand in line longer, but that’s the price you pay for safety. Our current system, which pretends that every traveler is an equal threat, is the worst form of political correctness. Profile away!
Scott, SN –
Thanks for the feedback. Okay, that’s two in favor…
Regards,
Rick
Bob,
Appreciate the first-person perspective.
Regards,
Rick
Finally, someone who gets it! Right now, what we have in the US is theater – the appearance of security. Standing in line, taking longer to get to our planes, without actually making us any safer.
For all the supposed changes since the last incident in December, flying domestically or out of the US doesn’t seem to have changed at all. Meanwhile, flying out from Canada to the US, you’d think there has been specific threats everyday. My bag, and the bags of practically every passenger are searched every time. I don’t mind the scanners, or random searches. But the absurdity of thinking that searching every bag from Canada while changing little to nothing domestically is going to change things is pretty laughable.
Why not look at me? Talk to me? Hey, security could even pretend they think I’m a real person. Look at my face. Train security in techniques like the Israeli’s use to tell what facial expressions, pupil reactions, etc. show which passengers are a threat and which ones are not. Heck, it isn’t even new – Israel has been doing it for a long, long time.
I hope General Harding gets lots of support, and things change soon!
I just came back from Israel and went through the questioning at Ben Gurion Airport. The questions, personal, yes, however the questions they asked were for a good reason and I have no problem with this type of screening to be included with the TSA. If the Israeli secuirty screening benefits all of us and provides a safer traveling experience, Bring It On!
I would be glad to talk to someone. I have a knee replacement and the doctor gave me a card to help me through the line explaining why I “beep”. The card does no good. I get “wanded”, patted down, and questioned while everyone else in my party waits for me to get through. I have more trouble in Atlanta (where I am from) than other cities. Talk to me.
Elliot, Ron, Dyan –
Interesting…everyone seems to like this model. Thanks for taking the trouble to say so.
Regards,
Rick
totally recommend the israeli security model/system.
visited the country many times.
concur with general harding——–indubitably/veritably so.
Excuse me, but all the people who left comments on here are pro-Israeli, why not get some feedback from those who are of other nationalities lets say Palestinians or Other Muslims, and lets see how they feel about this. I’m sure if I was a Muslim, I would be grilled and profiled like anything and maybe I would even miss my flight after I’m cleared to go. I say NO to this type of change, its not American!
Jose,
I don’t know that the comments necessarily show a pro- or anti-Israel bias; all I see is support for the Israeli security model. But I’m glad you wrote to give us a different perspective.
Thanks,
Rick
I am in total agreement with the pooposal. 30 years ago, when we last went to Israel, we went through the same procedures, not only at Ben Gurion Airport, but in Montral where we stopped en route from Chicago. The system apparently works. I am all for profiling. My wife has 2 new knees and it is unreal what what she goes through each time we go through the airport, leaving me to handle the two rollaboards, and the baskets with her purse, our jackets, our plastic bags of liquids, 2 pairs of shoes, etc. while she is waiting to be wanded in a glass enclosure. In Ft. Meyers recently, she was waiting to be wanded and I had finished getting all of the stuff off the conveyor after is was scanned by the TSA. I wanted to put her shoes just outside the door of the enclosure so she didn’t have to walk in her bare feet to the conveyor. I was told that I could not leave her shoes, even though they had been through the scanner, close to the enclosure. How stupid is that? Meanwhile, as the saying goes, the guy with the beard and turban walks right through. Let’s get real. Give me the Israeli system anytime over what we have now.
It sounds like a great, successful system that Israel has there. And it probably will be great if we implement it in the US too. But the US government has way of screwing things up. After 9/11, just about everyone was for stripping security responsibility from the airlines, and federalizing it, leading to the hasty creation of the TSA. And now, TSA is pretty much as hated as the IRS.
If we train good people to be these “engagement officers”, no doubt it will be much better than the security theater we have now. But, if the TSA’s track record is anything to go by, it won’t be long before we start reading in the news of engagement officers on a power trip retaliating by denying boarding to passengers who didn’t answer the questions “correctly”, or with the proper level of deference to the officer.
To All:
See the latest – the nominee has withdrawn: http://rickseaney.com/2010/03/27/new-tsa-nominee-out-favored-israeli-airport-security-model/
Rick