Next for Fliers: Q and A

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

The war on terror is about to grow more personal.

Travelers at Newark Liberty International Airport, finally getting accustomed to being poked and prodded by security screeners, soon will be subjected to probing questions, too.

Adopting an Israeli tactic, airport personnel plan to pepper travelers with questions about anything and everything in hopes of flushing out would-be terrorists, according to two high-ranking federal security officials.

The program is patterned loosely on practices at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport. There, security personnel interrogate virtually every traveler -- first at roadside checkpoints, then within the airport -- to fluster anyone contemplating mayhem.

The experiment aims to add a psychological layer of protection to an aviation security system that cannot rely on technology alone -- as trash cans full of soft drinks, lotions and gels attested at airports last week.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-8/11554444854100.xml&coll=1

I cannot shake the feeling that they have decided they want to discourage travel, any way they can.

[wakeme2008]

1. New Jersey ppl are know for their "attitude" I can not wait to see the

replies to their questions. :rofl: :rofl:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. You got it.

Considering the phrase "Go fuck yourself" is, without any doubt, the defacto state motto and one-size-fits-all phrase for any NJ occasion(Including the standard replacement for "Good Morning!"), I have a feeling that this program will have some pains a'birthing. ;-)

[mcscajun]

18. An' youse gotta problem wit dat?

:rofl:

[Sherman A1]

21. Well, this should be entertaining!

[fishnfla]

2. adopted tactic

I believe Thomas Freidman suggested this interviewing tactic in a column after 9/11. Based on the sheer number of passangers and flights, it will be a non-starter.
People will have to start being at the hubs 3 or 4 hours ahead of time.

I personally think the terrorists are gonna give up on airplanes for awhile and find a new tactic themselves

[pitohui]

32. they do it at AMS and the questioners don't show up 3 hrs early!

AMS = amsterdam schipol in the netherlands

[HereSince1628]

3. Be conservative stay scared, very scared, submit to authority

It's just a pop-culture thing in a society gone wacko conservative.

[nashville_brook]

7. submit... submit... submit...

so like if the brits thwarted the Terror In The Sky, then, how come the alert level needs to be raised? why the EXTRA (weird) security measures? looks like things are moving along swimmingly -- but the bushies and the britties are milking this for PSYCHOLOGICAL effect.

[babylonsister]

5. Standby for 'orders' to get to aiports 6 hours earlier. I can't

really see this happening given the number of people flying. It's already a gagglefuck; how would these brain trusts organize something like this?

[nashville_brook]

6. discouraging travel...

i've been thinking the same thing.

what interests does this serve, i wonder.

[TechBear_Seattle]

16. Annoy the people visibly and make them think something's being done

Meanwhile, there remains no change at all in the method for shipping commercial parcel post on passenger jet liners. All it would take is a home made bomb, a GPS tracker and a high school computer shop project wired together and sent via FedEx... when you absolutely, positively must blow up a plane overnight.

[nashville_brook]

22. such a GOOD point!

i hate flying. i don't have the money to fly. i don't have the time to travel. ergo, the threat of terror in the air isn't visceral to me. i truly believe that when i get on a plane, it's going to crash, anyway.

so, who does it hurt if people are afraid to fly -- or is the point "flying" at all? or just a generalized fear.

economically, reduced air travel would hurt airlines and consultants.

who else?

i think it's the fear -- and not the danger, that we are supposed to dwell on.

[Luna_Chick]

23. Some possible reasons to discourage travel

In addition to the successful use of fear to control and distract the masses...

- For domestic travel, discouraging people from flying will frustrate them into driving longer distances, hence buying all the expensive fuel at astronomical rates.

- For international travel, such frustation might keep people home. Staying home can = isolation. Harder to mingle with kindred spirits across the pond, which might keep a lid on global networking against the global corporatization and general political/social bullshit affecting citizens here and abroad. E.G. folks in the US and the UK banding together to tell * and Blair to fuck themselves. Knowledge and numbers = power. Can't let the masses have power.

Just some ideas.



:shrug:

[calimary]

29. Not only that, but discouraging travel also dampens the opportunity

to get a wider view of the world, less myopic, more open to other people, other languages, other cultures, other food, other customs, other clothing styles, other worship, other weather, other lifestyles, other daytime/nighttime scheduling, other drivers, other music, other EVERYTHING. It's one reason why bush is the way he is. Never liked to travel, and had precious little exposure to anything beyond our shores before he "took" office. Helps calcify his already closed, limited, narrow little mind.

Travel opens you up, in every way. Heaven forbid you might go overseas somewhere and discover that those horrifying, scary, icky brown people we're supposed to hate might actually be friendly, warm, human, open-minded, intelligent, informed, welcoming, and tolerant. Heaven forbid we find out things about them that preclude our knee-jerk, pre-programmed hatred of things we don't understand. After all, you fear what you don't know. And the bad guys realize this, and never hesitate to make use of it.

REMEMBER THIS, guys: kkkarl rove once said too much education isn't necessarly a good thing. The one thing that makes his day is keeping people close-minded, ignorant, submissive, stupid, and easily manipulated. Then he can have his way with 'em. Travelling is anathema to all of that - and to him.

[Don Claybrook]

8. Get me a list of anyone who has seen The Sound of Music more than twice!

The fiendish terrorists will never stand up to the scrutiny of the crack squads I've seen at the security lines in airports. They'll turn to Jell-o right away, I'm sure.

[xultar]

9. I will use every answer as vehicle for voicing how much Bush has

ruined the country.

[hlthe2b]

10. hee, hee, hee.....ditto, xultar

Except they may see how much I'm enjoying answering their questions... Could be problems!

(I call the upper bunk in our cell at Gitmo)

[xultar]

27. "I call the upper bunk in our cell at Gitmo"...buhwawa!

[pitohui]

33. not those kind of questions

it's more like, who did you meet, what did you do, who is that guy you're traveling with and how long have you known him (of a friend i've known for over a decade), what was your purpose in coming here

if you travel for a purpose, as i do, it's pretty easy to just pull out the bird book and binoculars and bore the hell out of them until they're ready to run screaming to the next customer

altho i did get a kick out of the security dude that then tried to sell me his cockatoo

[xultar]

42. Are you kidding? Who did you meet. Well I met this guy, a Republican

he got on my nerves trying to give some logical explanation to where this country is headed. Did mention yet that I hate Republicans and their greedy asses? They are why this country is headed in this downward direction. Bush went to a good school but it doesn't mean he was intelligent enough to be there nor that he is smart enough to be President.

Who am I traveling with? No one and thank god cuz all the fuckers in my office are Republicans and they are the dumbest fuckers in the world. They actually buy into Bush's Shit. Who could be that dumb? Oil guy, with oily friends = high gas prices. HEELLOOOO!

How long have I known him. I've known him for 6 years. Never voted for a warmonger republican in all that time! Thank God or I couldn't travel with him. I'm totally eliminating Republicans from my friendships until the Republicans wakeup and realise that they elected an idiot and his crew to the Executive Branch.

My purpose for coming here is for business and to spread the word of the Democratic party to wake America from their drunken stooper the Republican's put them in. I forget did I mention that Bush is to ignorant to be President?
----------------------------------------------------------
So it doesn't matter what they ask. I can twist it to mention how I hate Bush and his bullshit administration and their bullshit domestic and foreign policy.

Please. Bend your mind. Creativity is how you get the message out.

[hlthe2b]

11. Can anyone imagine the TSA screeners asking these questions?

While I'm sure the quality & credentials of TSA varies from place to place, I've seen few who likely had any training or prior background to effectively gauge response to questions like this. They forget, that in Israel, military service is required-so I imagine some basic skills are more widely available among the populace who would later became airport screeners...:shrug:

[LibDemAlways]

12. Given the low IQ of the goons at TSA the

questions ought to be a hoot. "You can't board until you tell me who won American Idol." or "Name your favorite FOX News personality." Shit like that. Can you see John and Mary Doe of Podunk explaining they work two jobs apiece and don't have time for tv. "Out of line. Prepare to be strip searched." How much more bullshit will the American people put up with?

[Delphinus]

13. That's the $64,000 question:

How much more bullshit will the American people put up with?

[High Plains]

24. Apparently quite a bit. n/t

[hlthe2b]

14. I remember going through this in Paris several years ago...

Every question asked placed me in deeper doo doo--matching the then "risky profile of a female westerner traveling alone in Arab nations, with time spent with local residents, including males." I was also stopping over and then departing just after they'd re-opened the airport following a not-so-uncommon bomb threat... Fortunately, the Eurpopeans (and certainly the French) are experienced at this.

Pulled from the line to a separate station:
Q. Where have you been since leaving the US?
A. Frankfort, one day enroute, Saudi Arabia on teaching assignment for 8 weeks, Egypt for 2 weeks.

Q. Were you in contact with Egyptian nationals during your stay?
A. Well, yes. I was visiting with Egyptians I had met during previous stays...

Q. How did you get to the airport in Cairo?
A. Well, one of my Egyptian friends dropped me off..

Q. With your baggage?
A. Yes, certainly...

and so forth...

Well, fortunately, most of my baggage was checked... they searched my poster tube that I'd purchased at the Louve, asked me what I'd done in Egypt and where I'd gone and seen-- and decided I was harmless. I do recall that two sealed packages of double A batteries were conviscated from my carry-on when I reached the security baggage x-ray. But this was Christmas time, so I just figured, what the hey...

I can just imagine what a TSA screener would have done with me. For Europeans, it isn't unusual for women to travel alone--even in riskier areas of the world. While plenty of Americans do so as well, I just don't see the kind of TSA screeners I've dealt with, being able to fathom that...

[LibDemAlways]

15. European screeners are no doubt professional, experienced,

and know what they are doing. I'm sure there are exceptions, but the TSA people I've dealt with are simply not too bright. I can easily see them reading from a script and then having to call over a supervisor (who's just as incompetent)at the first wisecrack or unexpected response. To think that you have to get grilled by some moron in order to get on a plane - after being felt up by another idiot - is just too much.

[davekriss]

26. I was routinely interrogated right after 9-11

I had to fly a lot for business (in fact I was on my way to Westchester airport in NYC metro when 9-11 struck) in 2001-2002. Right after 9-11 I was routinely interrogated at the bag-check counter. I was also routinely searched. The interrogation would be about my home town, what I did for a living, where I was going, what I packed, that sort of thing. Then I would be pulled aside and patted down (wanded, actually) at the gate. I finally figured out what was going on: I kept triggering "check" because I was buying one-way tickets often on the day of the flight. When travel demands lightened and I reverted to advance planned round-trip tickets, the interrogations stopped.

[pitohui]

35. yeah hubby too

the last time he had a one way flight his company bought a round ticket, it was cheaper anyway just to throw the second leg away

[grilled onions]

17. Will Proof of Being a Repub insure a seat?

Will people who speak honestly of what they think is wrong today get tossed out? If you show a dislike of Bush and party will that insure you a one way bus ticket out of town??? Will this be the start of a one party mentality where the good guys wear an R and the rest will be in doo doo?

[kittenpants]

19. funny, this is at "Liberty" airport too

not that this is the worst idea on it's own... I'm just afraid it could be abused pretty easily.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. Question 1: "Do you think * sucks?"

[IndyBob]

25. Flame Away

But it seems reasonable, and more effective than the freeper's preferred method of racial profiling.

I believe the Israel's record on airline terrorism is pretty good, especially considering what a great target they are.

[frylock]

28. quickly! who won the '69 world series?

Can't answer that, ehh comrade?

[high density]

30. Hello train service for my next vacation

I've always wanted to try a train ride at least once before the GOP kills Amtrak.

Hopefully the airlines will work against this absurd bullshit. No way am I paying hundreds of dollars to get treated like a terrorist at the airport only then to be transported on a cramped plane. Flying was annoying enough before having TSA flunkies piss me off at the airport.

[MindPilot]

34. Good luck with that...

Unless you live in the Northeast, Amtrak's moniker is "you can't get there from here."

[pitohui]

31. yeah, i've encountered this at AMS and DTW

AMS is notorious for their questioning of travelers but i have encountered at DTW also -- at DTW tho i was singled out for the questions, whereas at AMS everybody gets the questions and the line can really back up

it probably can fluster people, it certainly flustered me, at one line of questioning at AMS i remember cracking up laughing -- i'm prob. lucky they didn't decide to pull out my bags and look for whacky weed -- not that i had any, they just hit my funny bone i guess

i do have some moderate high-functioning autistic mannerisms (can't look you in the eye and want to be really literal w. answrs to questions) but it has not yet (knock on wood) proved to be a problem

i am aware that some extreme asperger's have mentioned concerns abt can they distinguish an evil-doer's mannerisms from asperger's, so i'll offer the data point for what it is worth -- i'm guessing they can distinguish if sufficiently experienced

[MindPilot]

36. None of your goddamn business.

I'm an American citizen traveling within the United States. Unless you are conducting a criminal investigation--in which case I'm not answering any questions without a lawyer--I have nothing to say.

I used to get offended at being asked if I packed my own bags. (Do you think if I had someone to pack my bag for me, I'd being flying on fucking Southwest?)

This one will really piss me off.

[pitohui]

37. not realistic

the people fell in line when the water and contact lens solution was snatched out of their hands, no one is going to care abt being asked questions

it's routine in amsterdam and no one thinks it infringes on anything

i would sure as hell rather be asked the silly questions than have my hydration stolen

[Mojorabbit]

41. I feel the same way

I am a very private person and would have to really bite my tongue not to tell the interrogator to fuck off.

[daleo]

38. "Who did you vote for?"

"Bush."
"Go ahead."

"Who did you vote for?"
"Kerry."
"Step out of the line."

[yorkiemommie1]

39. ha ha!

and the universe help those who don't speak english!!

[kedrys]

40. Do you know what time it is, or should I fuck myself here?

Newark. Yeah. :popcorn: :rofl: