The fact is, the enemy isn’t above using 3yo injured kids, or 80yo grandmas, or any other ‘nice, how could you suspect them’ type person as a weapons-delivery platform.

I say ‘weapons delivery platform’ because in the end, the person who boards the plane with the bomb or other weapon doesn’t have to be a member of a terror group, or even believe a terrorist ideology – they just have to get on the plane with the hardware.

In the 80s, an Islamist group used a white British woman to bomb an airliner – the terrorist was her fiance, who wasn’t on the flight & thus never went anywhere near airport security.

In Iraq, Al Queda used the mentally deficient, old men, women, yes even children – practically anyone immaginable – as suicide bombers, forcing them to carry the bomb by kidnapping family members & setting off the device with a remote trigger.

THE FACT IS, THERE IS NO GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO ‘COULDN’T POSSIBLY BE A TERRORIST’ – AND THUS WE ACTUALLY *DO* HAVE TO SCREEN EVERYONE.

There is no profile for ‘Islamic Terrorist’ – much less any profile for ‘child of terrorist’ or ‘girlfriend of terrorist’, or ‘grandmother of terrorist’.

The only solution is either 100% screening, or high-probability random checks – or better yet, both.

And don’t use Israel as an example – Israel has to worry about Palestinian terrorists – a single ethnic group, a single profile. We have to worry about ‘Islamic terrorists’ which is a category that spans all ethnicity, national origins, and backgrounds. Also, our enemies tend to be a bit more resourceful than the Palestinians.

Remember: Of the folks who have attacked us since 9/11, the overwhelming majority have NOT been Arabs. All Muslim – yes – but also a wide range of ethnicities & national origins.

So until we invent a ‘Magic Muslim Detector’, 100% screening is the way to go….

And I say this as a guy who’s had his share of encounters with the TSA – many of them while traveling in uniform, or on orders & with military ID… I approve, 100%, of the methodology….

As soon as you create an ‘exempt’ group, you open a hole that the enemy WILL exploit….

Think of it this way: If we allowed European-looking guys in nice American vehicles to enter our bases without being searched, would the Taliban ignore that? Or would they find a white dude & the biggest, shiniest American pickup truck in Afghanistan, and blow the hell out of the biggest base they could get him into?

Same thing for airline security.

The biggest problem with the TSA, isn’t the methods used – it’s the fact that the people hired to execute said methods couldn’t get a job with Wakenhut, guarding the exit to a big-box store.

If we privatized airport security, and hired the same companies who supply gate-guards to our military bases, you’d have no problems. The rules would be enforced to the last sub-paragraph, rigidly – but in a competent and professional manner.