brainwagon

Bruce Schneier was invited to come to Washington to talk with Kip Hawley, head of the TSA. He’s currently putting up a five part article about those conversations on his blog. Part 1 Part 2 and Part 3. What we see is an agency which is trying to put on a better face without actually addressing any of the real concerns that people have. They want us to trust them, but they don’t wish to actually demonstrate that we can trust them. It also demonstrates that the TSA is very interested in behavioral profiling. Quote of the day:

Don’t forget, we see two million people a day, so we know what normal looks like.)

Addendum: Schneier asks about the 3 oz. limit for liquids, asking what’s to keep a terrorist from trying to smuggle a quart of some dangerous liquid on board. After all, if you accidently forget, they just confiscate this stuff and huck the liquid in the bin: they don’t immediately strip search you and put you on a watch list. So, a motivated terrorist could try, multiple times, to get such liquids past security, and given the effectiveness of screening, eventually succeed. Hawley’s response was that “If the TSO throws your liquids in the trash, they don’t find you a threat.”

Well, if that’s the case, then why do they bother throwing your liquids in the trash at all? If I’m not a threat, how about letting me keep my 12 oz. bottle of Paul Mitchell shampoo?