Homeland Stupidity: Security policies that place the public at risk

[pnwmom]

http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9782861-46.html

Homeland security officials seem to have adopted a naive and dangerous standard to detect bombs: Devices sold by major corporations that come packaged in logo-adorned, mass produced containers are perfectly safe, while those made by hobbyists and tinkerers with exposed wires and batteries are potential bombs or at least hoax devices.

The problem with this approach is that in many past cases of successful terrorism, especially those committed by state-sponsored groups, the bombs were actually hidden in fully-functioning mass-market electronic devices: personal stereos and mobile phones. Smart terrorists, the ones we should be trying to thwart, do not walk into an airport with LED lights and a 9-volt battery dangling from their sweatshirt.

SNIP


What this means is that from a risk-analysis perspective, up until the moment someone is searched at the airport security checkpoint, every single passenger is equally likely to have a bomb on them. The laptop being used in an airport Starbucks, the boom-box being carried by a music fan, the carry-on bag with wheels being pulled by a passenger, or the circuit board attached to the sweatshirt of an MIT student are all equally likely to be bombs. The mere fact that one of the items happens to have exposed wires, a few LED lights and a 9-volt battery in no way makes it more likely to be a bomb.


SNIP

Airport security and law enforcement need to radically rewrite their training materials to focus more on actual threats, and not those pictured in episodes of TV's 24. Real terrorists hoping to take down an airplane do not advertise themselves by wearing "Terrorist" buttons and badges, t-shirts with Arabic writing, or with blinking LED lights, exposed wires and a 9-volt battery hanging from their chest. Terrorists, at least the smart ones, will do their very best to try and stay under the radar. And thus, the sad fact is that in focusing on attack-scenarios and bomb designs straight from a Hollywood movie, security officials may very well be diverting manpower away from the real threat: Someone who looks just like you or me.

[rodeodance]

1. ain't that the truth.

[Warpy]

2. The worst fuckup was rewriting FEMA's disaster manuals

and treating natural disasters like biological warfare attacks. That's what kept help outside New Orleans for days while people died.

I hope whoever wins in 2008 fires everybody at DHS as the first order of business.

My own contact came in finding out how much paperwork it would have taken to be able to check my parents' ashes on the plane when I flew home. I had to send them through the mail, hardly a dignified procedure.

[DBoon]

3. My badge and notes from Defcon 15 were taken from checked luggage!

a blinking electronic piece of metal, provided to about 4,000 attendees as a badge

http://www.defcon.org

In addition, notes from the various talks "disappeared"

I checked these items just to avoid the sorts of problems the woman from MIT encountered.

next time I will Fedex everything home

[pnwmom]

4. I hate to think about what sort of file you're in now. n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. Seems to make sense. Especially for home stereos. Notice how light and empty they've become? -nt