Here's An Idea: 10% Pay Cut for Every Member of Congress Until....

[Blackhatjack]

...they pass laws necessary to insure ALL airline checked baggage is scanned for explosive, nuclear and bioterror threats, AND ALL shipping containers entering the ports of this country are scanned for the same.

No resumption of full salaries, and no raises until the goals are met.

And while they are at it, the bill should require a 10% pay cut for every member of the Executive Branch until the law is fully enforced and the goal met. And if not met within 12 months, it could cut those salaries another 10% the following year.

I bet that would light a fire under some of these folks to get serious about the real threats facing this country.

[leftofthedial]

1. lobbyists would make up the difference

[Blackhatjack]

3. Good pt --make all contrib by Lobbyists go in trust until the goal is met

...another powerful incentive to get the job done.

[MrCoffee]

2. What's the point?

What would screening all checked baggage, and all shipping containers, and body cavity searching every airline passenger, and whatever other airline/port security measure you can think of, do to protect us from a *legitimate* terrorist attack? IMHO, not a thing.

[Blackhatjack]

5. You close the biggest leaks first, make it harder to penetrate ...

...and therefore the more elaborate the efforts to penetrate the more likely we are to discover and stop an attack.

You can never be completely safe in an open democracy, but there are plenty of things you can do to lower the risk of being a terrorism target.

It is the same logic that a thief can break into a car with an alarm system, but rather than deal with the alarm he will look for an easier target.

[MrCoffee]

6. I guess the question is...

Wouldn't the "smart" terrorist just find some other way to achieve their goal? They might try a suicide bomb on a bus, so should we post armed guards at every bus stop? There are plenty of commuter trains in this country, should we install detectors in every train station?

"You can never be completely safe in an open democracy" --utterly true. My question is, what makes one individual a terrorism target? Terrorists don't seek out individual targets...they don't care if they kill you or me, it's irrelevant. The killing is the goal. So they could pack a car full of explosive and drive it into a mall. Or a school.

My big objection to airport security measures isn't convenience, it's that it's all a sham.

[Blackhatjack]

7. The primary thrust is address threats "into" the country, not those ..

which are already inside the country.

The biggest threat is nuclear by far, and the material for a nuclear bomb can be small enough to hide in a knapsack. However, we cannot give up efforts to interdict it coming into the country.

[MrCoffee]

9. But wouldn't that require screening at the point of origin?

I work in a nice high-rise office building about a quarter-mile from the Port of Seattle. I can look out my window and see the cranes unloading ships. A nuclear detonation while the ship was at the dock would probably kill me dead. A nuclear detonation in Portland, San Diego, Houston, New York, Boston...would kill a lot of people dead. A bomb (or chemical, or biological device) in a container and a guy with a shipping schedule and hand-held detonator would foil any screening device imaginable. The same idea applies to inbound flights from quite a few spots outside the country. It also applies to a guy willing to walk a couple of miles across either border.

I think we have different baseline assumptions that we're starting with. I don't think any of the proposed security measures have any measurable affect on deterring a terrorist attack. Good police work does. But airport screening (and especially container screening at ports) is a political move, not a security move.

[Blackhatjack]

10. I agree with you on the in port explosion scenario, however alternative is

... You do not allow ships to enter a security buffer of x number of miles of the port UNLESS they were searched and inspected at the last point of origin, and maintain a closed secure hold until offloaded. There would be technical issues here that could be resolved.

However, you will never eliminate all threats, but better to reduce the total number available to terrorists.

10% scan rate of checked airline baggage is ridiculous, and unfettered entry of shipping containers into the US ports is unacceptable.

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. What are the chances that Congress-critters will cut their own throat?

Until we have a national initiative process, this will never, EVER happen.

[insane_cratic_gal]

8. how about they make 5.25 and hr until they pass

decent min wage bill?

Let them try to live on min wage with gas/food prices inflation/housing as they are.

Only then will I be impressed

[Blackhatjack]

11. Impossible -they could live on it & it will happen,but would be interestng

Would be a good object lesson for those $400/wk limo rides some of them take.

What a challenge.