Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - How well do the airport body scanners work?

Slims · 08-27-2010, 09:35 PM

Shauk:

If you figure that due to the Shoe Bomber each airline passenger wastes about 30 seconds of their time taking their shoes off, getting them scanned, and putting them back on (conservative estimate, IMHO) then you get an interesting number:

With approximately 2 million people boarding planes each day across the continental united states you can run the math at 30 seconds per person:

The result is that Eric Reid and the resulting knee jerk reaction costs approximately 694 YEARS worth of wasted time, each year.

Basically, the Shoebomber and the extra security measures waste approximately 8 lifetimes each year.

So in ten years the TSA will have 'taxed' approximately 80 lifetimes from the flying public in order to prevent a low-probability-of-success attack which could be prevented more easily with a dog.

This sort of sacrifice is only worth it if it washes out to be less costly than the anticipated risk * anticipated cost in lives. In this case I doubt you can even come close to justifying it. Even if the shoebomber was competent and had that amount of military grade explosive, and had a sufficient initiation system, and didn't get his ass kicked trying to assemble it, it would still be very difficult to crash a plane with it. The most such an attack would probably cause is a small hole in the exterior of the plane (not really a big deal) with a few injured people. Contrary to hollywood, a small amount of explosives will only cause a *surprise* small explosion, planes are pretty tough, a hole in the side won't hurt anybody provided they can figure out how to put on an O2 mask, and passenger seats are not typically placed in direct contact with crucial parts.

On of the fundamental goals of terrorism is to cause a disproportionate response. By setting up a sucker to simply attempt to conduct an attack with no hope of success a terrorist network can save on resources (and competent people) while causing the US to spend Billions of dollars in order to prevent each one.

We need to have enough spine to stand up and say: "We are still more likely to be struck by lightning than die in a terrorist attack, basic security is security enough statistically so no need to bankrupt the country in order to provide the illusion of security."

08-27-2010, 09:35 PM	#33 (permalink)
Slims Eccentric insomniac Location: North Carolina	Shauk: If you figure that due to the Shoe Bomber each airline passenger wastes about 30 seconds of their time taking their shoes off, getting them scanned, and putting them back on (conservative estimate, IMHO) then you get an interesting number: With approximately 2 million people boarding planes each day across the continental united states you can run the math at 30 seconds per person: The result is that Eric Reid and the resulting knee jerk reaction costs approximately 694 YEARS worth of wasted time, each year. Basically, the Shoebomber and the extra security measures waste approximately 8 lifetimes each year. So in ten years the TSA will have 'taxed' approximately 80 lifetimes from the flying public in order to prevent a low-probability-of-success attack which could be prevented more easily with a dog. This sort of sacrifice is only worth it if it washes out to be less costly than the anticipated risk * anticipated cost in lives. In this case I doubt you can even come close to justifying it. Even if the shoebomber was competent and had that amount of military grade explosive, and had a sufficient initiation system, and didn't get his ass kicked trying to assemble it, it would still be very difficult to crash a plane with it. The most such an attack would probably cause is a small hole in the exterior of the plane (not really a big deal) with a few injured people. Contrary to hollywood, a small amount of explosives will only cause a surprise small explosion, planes are pretty tough, a hole in the side won't hurt anybody provided they can figure out how to put on an O2 mask, and passenger seats are not typically placed in direct contact with crucial parts. On of the fundamental goals of terrorism is to cause a disproportionate response. By setting up a sucker to simply attempt to conduct an attack with no hope of success a terrorist network can save on resources (and competent people) while causing the US to spend Billions of dollars in order to prevent each one. We need to have enough spine to stand up and say: "We are still more likely to be struck by lightning than die in a terrorist attack, basic security is security enough statistically so no need to bankrupt the country in order to provide the illusion of security." __________________ "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill "All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence Last edited by Slims; 08-27-2010 at 09:42 PM..