This time the TSA was right


Security expert follows up on incident
Bruce Schneier has a great followup on the TSA sippy cup incident.

In this instance, the TSA is clearly in the right.

But there's a larger lesson here. Remember the Princeton professor who was put on the watch list for criticizing Bush? That was also untrue. Why is it that we all -- myself included -- believe these stories? Why are we so quick to assume that the TSA is a bunch of jack-booted thugs, officious and arbitrary and drunk with power?

It's because everything seems so arbitrary, because there's no accountability or transparency in the DHS. Rules and regulations change all the time, without any explanation or justification. Of course this kind of thing induces paranoia. It’s the sort of thing you read about in history books about East Germany and other police states. It's not what we expect out of 21st century America.

The problem is larger than the TSA, but the TSA is the part of "homeland security" that the public comes into contact with most often -- at least the part of the public that writes about these things most. They're the public face of the problem, so of course they're going to get the lion's share of the finger pointing.

I didn't cover the original incident.

But he's right. It's the lack of accountability and the trampling of rights that have Americans upset.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Tue - June 19, 2007 at 03:12 PM  Tag


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