Is high security backfiring in the U.S.?

I want to thank Monte for bringing this essay to our attention. It’s written by a very respectable foreign correspondent and I agree with what he says 100%.

Is high security backfiring in the U.S.

(Frank II)

Comments

[Till]

I agree very much, too. I just think his article could have been more aggressive but he chooses a more diplomatic and palatable way of putting it. Probably he's right about that.

At the sentence "“There are reasons why we do this that you may not understand,” the TSA agent told me as she handed me the card." I had to laugh.

I would have responded: There are actually reasons why YOU are doing this that YOU may not understand. But more importantly, there are reasons why you SHOULD NOT be doing this which you definitely don't understand or else you wouldn't do it.

The writer is very much correct in stating that there is an industry of fear. And there is not much the citizen can do against it and not much the majority of citizen, unfortunately, would want to do against it. As it stands the industry of fear profits the military, the security industry and also the government agencies aiming at creating a see-through-citizen. The body scanners go at it quite literally. :(

[Andy]

High security has caused all the travel/gear blogs I visit to talk incessantly about high security. That is by far the biggest annoyance I've noticed.

[sheila]

Sensible words from a professional foreign correspondent! I despair over what travel has become.

[Maggie]

I agree with the post and comments 100%.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin

I personally would replace "temporary" with "perceived".

[plumbing supplies]

If it is an inside job, then security arsenals are not gonna work. I've seen cases of these robberies and break ups are not working efficiently, so they used that tactic.

[Larry]

I agree with Maggie that the safety we've gained is "perceived" not real. Every step in increased security is only a response to what others have done. Our "security" is reactive not proactive.

[plumbing]

I guess that even in high security measures, a crime still slips. But, I guess improvement has always a place for everyone