Number of words: 383<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The security scanning procedures at Philadelphia, in common with those across America and the rest of the world, were becoming progressively tighter. Less than a month previously, Richard Reid, the would-be \u2018shoe bomber\u2019, had been tackled and subdued on board a flight from Paris to Miami, thereby intiating the era of compulsory shoe-checking for all travellers. Pilots were not excused all these rigorous new checks, and when Woodie Menear\u2019s turn came, the security screener expressed concern about the presence of a pair of tweezers in his cabin baggage. As it happened, tweezers \u2013 unlike corkscrews or metal scissors, for example \u2013 were not on the list of forbidden items; Menear was not breaching regulations by trying to bring them on board. But the official paused just long enough to spark frustration on the part of the pilot, who, like his colleagues, had been growing ever more exasperated by each new restriction. This time it was too much. Menear did not explode in rage; he merely asked a sarcastic question. But it was one that would lead to his immediate arrest, a night in jail, his suspension by US Airways, and months of legal wrangling before he was finally acquitted of making terroristic threats\u2019 and permitted to return to his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Why are you worried about tweezers,\u2019 Menear asked, \u2018 when I could crash the plane?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018There are precisely two things that have made air travel safer since; locks on cockpit doors, and teaching passengers that they have to fight,\u2019 Schineier told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Security was up at the nation\u2019s airports, railway stations, and other transports hubs, including the construction of blast-resistant barriers. A posting on Schneier\u2019s blog explained that the barriers would be constructed at Liverpool Lime Street, that city\u2019s primary rail station, but that they would not be constructed at less busy suburban commuter stations, a few miles along the same stretch of track. The blog post was headlined: \u2018UK Spends Billions to Force Rail Terrorists to Drive a Little Further.\u2019 Brown\u2019s announcement was a classic piece of security theatre: a costly way to make travellers feel safer – so long as they didn\u2019t reflect too closely on the details \u2013 while doing nothing to deter an even slightly diligent terrorist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n