True words from a REAL security expert


How much of today's security is hype?
Bruce Schneir doesn't pull punches.

I don't think these nut jobs, with their movie-plot threats, even deserve the moniker "terrorist." But in this country, while you have to be competent to pull off a terrorist attack, you don't have to be competent to cause terror. All you need to do is start plotting an attack and -- regardless of whether or not you have a viable plan, weapons or even the faintest clue -- the media will aid you in terrorizing the entire population.

The most ridiculous JFK Airport-related story goes to the New York Daily News, with its interview with a waitress who served Defreitas salmon; the front-page headline blared, "Evil Ate at Table Eight."

Following one of these abortive terror misadventures, the administration invariably jumps on the news to trumpet whatever ineffective "security" measure they're trying to push, whether it be national ID cards, wholesale National Security Agency eavesdropping or massive data mining. Never mind that in all these cases, what caught the bad guys was old-fashioned police work -- the kind of thing you'd see in decades-old spy movies.

The administration repeatedly credited the apprehension of Faris to the NSA's warrantless eavesdropping programs, even though it's just not true. The 9/11 terrorists were no different; they succeeded partly because the FBI and CIA didn't follow the leads before the attacks.

Even the London liquid bombers were caught through traditional investigation and intelligence, but this doesn't stop Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff from using them to justify (.pdf) access to airline passenger data.

After 9-11, one of the things that shocked me was that if existing law had been enforced, there wouldn't have BEEN a terrorist incident. And it is not something that can be blamed on Bush, all sorts of things happened during the Clinton Administration that should have been dealt with harshly. Not to mention the previous Bush.

There was no need for a USA PATRIOT Act. There was no need for a Department of Homeland Security. There wasn't need for any massive security precautions other than getting flight cabin doors with decent locks and arming the pilots (something which still hasn't been done). It would have been much cheaper and orders of magnitude more effective.

If you had let passengers carry air certified ammunition and guns, there would be even less risk, but that is another deal.

We had the pieces to prevent 9-11, we just didn't use them.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Sat - June 16, 2007 at 05:47 AM  Tag


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