THE DAILY BLADE: When It Comes To Aviation Security Be Afraid – Very Afraid
The Orlando Sentinel reports that 501 of the 830 security officers at
According to the paper, a spokesperson for the TSA attributed the high number of failures in
The Stiletto needs a moment to deconstruct this “explanation”:
† New hires are manning security checkpoints even though they clearly were not trained well enough to ace the test.
† Scheduling changes resulted in a higher number of less experienced officers manning the airport’s checkpoints than seasoned officers when the test was administered. If many of the best and brightest security officers were no-shows when the TSA was scrutinizing the performance of screeners at the airport, imagine the level of competence on a typical day when no one’s looking.
† Whether the officers were experienced or not, they did not do as well on the test when new images were mixed in with the familiar ones they had already seen. Clearly, their training does not enable them to recognize novel threats – like individual components of a liquid explosive that can be assembled on board. It is also possible that they are not really paying close attention to the X-ray screen as bags pass through – and are instead relying on “pattern recognition” to identify potential hazards.
† Since the Orlando Sentinel was able to obtain the
The Orlando Sentinel quotes a security officer as blaming the high failure rate on “a bureaucracy saddled with outdated security equipment and plagued by low morale.” Said one: “You can get really anything through, pretty much. It scares me; it really does.”
The article also mentions a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released in March revealing that the makings of homemade bombs got past TSA officers at 21 airports nationwide.
The Stiletto scanned through GAO reports on aviation security and transportation security from January 1 through
Clearly, it’s time for the TSA to start screening for terrorists, since screening for weapons terrorists might use is imperfect and inadequate – or, to use their well-worn phase, “challenges remain” to ensure passenger safety to the extent possible using current methods.
Lies, Damn Lies and Opinion Surveys
An editorial in The Washington Times illustrates how, by changing just one or two words in a survey question, pollsters can get wildly different – often diametrically opposed – results:
[E]very year Phi Delta Kappa International, an advocacy organization that is ideologically in line with the teachers' unions, releases its poll on the “public's attitudes toward the public schools” it claims to find low public support for vouchers and other programs encouraging school choice.
According to Chester E. Finn Jr., a senior fellow a [sic] the Hoover Institution and president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, the survey uses more of its "pro-establishment phrasing" to get responses to align with its anti-choice bias. For instance … “Do you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose a private school to attend at public expense?” … [The] 2005 poll … found 38 percent in favor with 57 percent opposed, seemingly giving weight to the idea that school choice and voucher programs are unpopular and becoming more so. Look to see that trend continue with this year's report [released on August 22]. …
The Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation on Educational Choice began conducting a study in 2004 in which it slightly reworded PDK's question to more accurately reflect the program school-choice advocates support. Its question asked: “Do you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose any school, public or private, [note the word change] to attend using public funds?” … [In 2005] it found 60 percent in favor, with 33 percent opposed. … [T]he Friedman Foundation also asked its respondents the PDK-worded question and reached almost identical percentages of those in favor (2005, 37 percent) and those opposed (2005, 55 percent) as the PDKsurvey. Thus, the Friedman Foundation survey produced a 20-point swing in favor of school choice simply by adding the phrase “any school, public or private.” …
[S]imilarly conducted polls in Florida and Utah in recent years found equally dramatic swings depending on how the question is phrased. Other polls conducted more generally between 2001 and 2004 also found a majority of Americans support school choice when the question accurately reflects a choice, such as between public, private or parochial schools.
All of which makes this year's PDK/Gallup survey the obvious outlier. Keep that in mind when the press trumpets PDK's findings as somehow conclusive.
Warning: Reading This
Every August Beloit College (WI) compiles its Mindset List for incoming freshmen that offers a snapshot of cultural norms and historical touchstones that have shaped their world view. For example, the Class of 2010 – born in 1988 – never knew the Soviet Union as a rival and hostile world power (#1 on the list); the big presidential scandal they lived through involved “a stained blue dress” – as opposed to “a third rate burglary” (#9); “Phantom of the Opera has always been on Broadway” (#25); “They have never put their money in a ‘Savings & Loan’” (#56); and “Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem” #63).
Update:
FL School Board To Appeal Ruling On Pro-Castro Children’s Book
The
The school board had voted to remove the series after a parent complained that one of the volumes, "Vamos a Cuba" ("A Visit to
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