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[IP] more on middle-aged white females



Begin forwarded message:

From: anitaclaremadsen@xxxxxxxxxxxx (anitaclaremadsen)
Date: July 26, 2005 5:01:15 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [IP] more on middle-aged white females
Thank you for explaining the mathematical reasoning behind random searches that do not exclude any "intuitively" low-risk groups. The "counter-intuitive" is obviously not obvious. 

For air travel, assume:
1. finite security resources;
2. random searches;
3. higher level searches of individuals who are flagged (for current and future flights) by computers as "risks" for such suspicious behaviors as buying one-way tickets - including, for example, students returning to college or returning home from college, individuals moving to take new jobs or to retire to another state; 4. thoughtless people who store their luggage in the garage too near their gardening fertilizer.
It would seem that a reasonable level of air safety from terrorist threat will be accomplished. Over time, only brain-washed suicide bombers will have the patience to stand in line for hours whilst all of the above groups are screened repeatedly, because once entered into the computer security risk database, there they remain flagged for future flights. That is, assuming the airlines are still in business and have not fallen victim to mass paranoia and to the justifiable concerns of innocents of being added to the security-risk database.
As a personal anecdote, I bought a one-way ticket to return to my hometown after two years living elsewhere in the U.S. Since that time, I (yes, a middle-aged, white professional female) have been repeatedly put through the "full treatment" on every flight I have taken. I estimate 2.5 hours of wasted security resources in the past 18 months spent unpacking and packing my checked and carry-on luggage, wanding and patting me down. I'm delighted to be reassured that the senseless stigma of being apparently forever labeled as a "security risk" is a patriotic act that makes everyone feel safer.
Israel has experienced terrorist/suicide bombers for more than half a century. Although its air security is reputed to be the best, it has simply diverted suicide bombers to other targets: hotels, cafes, school buses. In 50+ years, Israel's enemies have not run out of fanatical volunteers.
We are at war with an enemy we cannot or refuse to identify. Thus, the working logic seems to be that anyone can be the enemy. 

I am not reassured.



David Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:





Begin forwarded message:

From: Hugh Crawford <hugh-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
ate: July 26, 2005 11:02:58 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: middle-aged white females


In 1986, a pregnant 32-year-old Irish woman attempted to take an El
Al flight from London to Tel Aviv with a bomb that her boyfriend had
hidden in her luggage. In 1987, a 70-year-old man and a 25-year-old
woman--neither of whom were Middle Eastern posed as father and
daughter and exploded a bomb aboard a Korean Air flight from Baghdad
to Thailand killing all on board. In 1999, men dressed as businessmen
and as a Catholic priest forced an Avianca flight to divert to an
airstrip in Colombia and held passengers hostage for more than one
and a half years.

So much for profiling. Anyway, if I were in charge of the MTA I'd be
more concerned about the gasoline tankers that drive past very
vulnerable points of the subway system such as stations or
ventilation grates every day. The effects of a few backpack bombs
would be trivial compared to a driving a gas tanker into the 72nd st.
and Broadway station for instance

Protecting the NYC subway system ( mostly built in trenches just
below the surface ) against the vulnerabilitys of the London subway
system ( mostly built in deep tunnels ) is just silly

Hugh Crawford
Brooklyn NY






David Farber wrote:






Begin forwarded message:

From: "Dr. James J. O'Donnell" <provost@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 25, 2005 8:00:10 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: middle-aged white females



Dave, this one is easy.  If the bad guy can discover that middle-aged
white females or rosy-cheeked white children under 10 are never being
searched, he will figure out how to booby-trap one.  We make fun of
TSA
for its searches of unlikely figures, but by searching the
categories we
regard as unlikely, they are in fact protecting *all* members of those 
categories -- and us.  Random needs to mean random in order to mean
anything, and has to have an appreciably high degree of frequency
to be
deterrent. For entirely other reasons, customs agents are supposed to 
pull over every hundredth person who comes through for random
screening,
and I suspect there are some years of experience for them in
figuring  out
what's effective.

Jim O'Donnell
Georgetown U.


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--
Cheeries, Anita


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