Since last August’s discovery of a terrorist attempt to use liquid explosives on US-bound airplanes, air passengers have been subject to a TSA ban of liquids and gels. Such ban was subsequently modified to permit small amounts (3 ounces or less) carried openly in zippered plastic bags.
The ban includes the popular souvenir snow globes seen in shops wherever one would find tourists.
“Snow globes, regardless of size of amount of liquid inside, even with documentation, are prohibited in your carry-on.”
Judging from the lines one regularly sees at airport security checkpoints, I suppose that a total ban makes more sense than weighing each individual globe for the 3 ounce compliance. One can only imagine the outbursts of young children upon the loss of their prized possessions.
But attempting to put a lid on terrorism via bag searches is seen by at least some private security experts as a futile pursuit. As to the foiled liquid explosive plot:
But the plot seems to have been thwarted before the bad guys reached the airport, because of intelligence and police work, not a focus on rummaging through carry-on bags for bottles of shampoo.
“If you look at the London plot, assuming it was a plot, no security measure then in place would have caught it at an airport,” said Bruce Schneier, an authority on security technology and the author of the book “Beyond Fear.” …
He added, “Screeners are so busy looking for liquids that they’ve missed decoy bombs in tests. We’ve defined success so weirdly. When T.S.A. takes away some frozen tomato sauce from grandmom because it might become a liquid, they think of it as a success. But that’s a failure. It’s a false alarm.”
The TSA has thoughtfully provided various other directives, all in the intended interest of safety. The agency has even gone so far as to provide guidelines to the handling of trained monkeys sometimes used by the physically challenged, much as dogs are used by the sight-impaired.
One can only imagine the mood of the author of this passage.
“When the handler and the monkey go through the W.T.M.D. and the W.T.M.D. alarms, both the handler and the monkey must undergo additional screening.” The rules add that security officers “have been trained not to touch the monkey during the screening process” and that “the inspection process may require that the handler take off the monkey’s diaper as part of the visual inspection.”
Mr.Schneier again:
He added, “We spent billions on security to make the bad guys make minor modifications in their tactics. Focusing on the tactics only works if you happen to guess correctly.”
More TSA here.
I’m definitely not going to get in line behind the monkey if it is going to have to be de-diapered. And if they have to inspect orifices for nuclear enemas…
How one would remove a monkey’s diaper without actually touching the animal will remain a mystery for another day.
they are differentiating between the security person and the monkey’s handler.
unless there is some explosives robot that can change diapers. (in which case, it will become a best-selling robot
I am sorry they did not address the issue of protocol for finding a snow dome up a monkey’s butt.
You are right, of course. My bad.
Monkeys On A Plane…the sequel to this?
Now, truthfully, I don’t fly as much as I used to; but for about 6 years I was logging about 250,000 miles a year…and not once did I even seea monkey in an airport, let alone, on an airplane.
You can’t make this shit up…they’d throw a net over you, set you up with a verrrrry long sleeved jacket, and a nice padded room.
HSA/TSA at work…Jezeus!
It’s just more proof that real life is stranger than fiction, because you expect fiction to make sense.
But it shows that we’re winning the snowglobal war on terror.
Nor have I ever seen a menky on the plane myself, and I’ve been searched in more airports than I’d like to admit in the past 7-8 years! Not even that many service dogs, as I recall…
Great efforts expended on useless pursuits… seems to be a sign of our twisted times. There might be a menky bomb set up there and ready to go when he farts! Then wouldn’t we all be just …… (fill in the blank with your favorite swear word).
Thx B2, I’d rarely hear about this crazy shit if I didn’t have you around to poke my nose (metaphorically!) in it!
This warning should be posted in all day-care centers…. so parents are able to make that all-important decision: Is it easier to deal with two preschoolers on a eight hour road trip in the car (with the price of gas now inching upwards again), OR risk having to deal with a screaming two-year-old because the man in the uniform took her snowglobe (or other liquid-filled toy) away?
Makes about as much sense as requiring a guy with a beard and a foreign-sounding name to change his t-shirt because it bore a short sentence in Arabic that might (despite the English translation written directly beneath it) be a “signal” of some kind… oh, wait. They’ve done that too….
Good intelligence and police work will get far better results (and HAS gotten better results) than harassing millions of harmless air travelers.
Sigh….