RANT - TSA = Try Something. Anything!

As we flew back from Mexico to San Francisco last night, we suffered the latest botched security measures that try to counter an equally botched attempt on the Northwestern Nigeria to Amsterdam  to Detroit flight.

It's not that increased security measures aren't necessary or welcome, but that these latest measures are a perfect example of shutting the barn doors after the horses have bolted. And the wrong doors at that.

First of all - and these anomalies can be found no doubt in Mexico, Nigeria and many places from which US-bound flights originate - when landing in Cabo a week ago our luggage was sent through X-Ray scanners. I'll repeat that: for some inexplicable reason our luggage was scanned after we collected it from the carousel and before we could exit the airport. What the Mexican authorities were hoping to spot that had not been spotted before we boarded the flight in the USA we couldn't guess.

Much more concerning was that when we checked in for our flight back to San Francisco, there were no scanners in sight. Our checked luggage was instead cursorily inspected by hand. Presumably, the airport couldn't afford X-Ray machines to keep those pesky Al-Qaeda mules off our flight.

Upon boarding, we found that the TSA hadn't admitted to screwing up by allowing the attempted murderer to a) being on the list of known terrorism risks while b) having a valid US visa and c) being able to take not one but two flights (Lagos to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Detroit), but had decided to initiate measures that had nothing to do with said attempted murderers' Modus Operandi.

What these new measures (preventing passengers from leaving their seats or using electronic devices or having any personal items on their laps within the final hour of the flight) have to do with the latest attempt on our scandalous western lives is a complete mystery to me, seeing as the attempted murderer did not have to leave his seat to activate his device, nor was the device electronic, nor were the components in his lap. Presumably Islamic would-be murderers flying to the west coast from Europe or Africa will be able to work out they can set fire to their legs during the 3+ hours they're flying over the USA and before the magic 1 hour shut-off comes into effect.

Why not properly use the in-place methods for counter-terrorism? Use the freaking databases of known suspects to stop those known risky persons from flying here in the first place. Use the methods that experts say would have prevented Umar Farouk Abdullmutalab (pictured above) from getting a bloody ticket here! Like proper body pat-down inspections, sniffer dogs and explosive sensing electronics.

Having never been on a list of suspected terrorists, never flown to the USA from a muslim stronghold, and never having been schooled by Al Qaeda, I wonder why I have undergone ALL of those tests at one time or another. The fact that we rarely, if ever hear of attempted murderers being apprehended during check in, I also wonder if these approved and recommended methods of detection are rarely and/or haphazardly used.