[Kitsune]

If I recall, he definitely LOOKED Middle-Eastern. That's all that counts, he would have been searched if a widespread "search all men of Middle-Eastern descent" order were in place.

This is silly. "Pardon me sir, you have dark skin and that means you have been flagged for security purposes. All the people with pale skin may go ahead and board."

I'm not pulling the "politically correct card" here, because about everytime I go into an airport, I'm the one that gets pulled aside and I don't consider it an inconvience. Its either because I have an overstuffed, suspicious bookbag as a carryon or, I dunno, maybe I just look like a terrorist. (I think the military hat and scruffy face might have something to do with it. Hmm.) Regardless, it doesn't bother me that I'm selected nearly every time and they decide to pick through my bags or sweep over me with a metal detector. If I am being selected at the X-ray line based on my looks, I don't care.

What I am saying here is that I'd like for you to go to any major airport and count how many people "look Middle Eastern" to you and tally the number that you think should be checked and I'm sure you will find that it is no small number. I admit that the most recent time I flew I glanced around at all the people who "fit the profile". The number was huge, mostly because its almost impossible to tell the difference between an Arab, an Indian, and someone from a lot of the Eastern countries. The simple matter is that there is not enough security to screen them all and, by concentrating our efforts on people "who look the part", we open the doors through security for hundreds of other methods to sneak something on board by simply changing that single aspect.

If you fly a lot, you know they already profile people, but more on suspicious patterns rather than skin color. Visiting with a passport? You're going to get checked. Switch carriers midway through your trip? You're probably going to get checked. One-way ticket? Expect to get lots of little 'X's on your boarding pass. Person under 18 who doesn't have to show proof of ID? They almost always get checked if they're over the age of 12. Even the technical field workers at my office that make regular trips to and from DC on a schedule get checked everytime they fly. Frustrated, they asked why and the response they got was that because they fly as a group on a regular basis, they're acting in a suspicious way and the system flags them for security reasons.

Is this perfect? Hell no. But I think its better than what we had before, which was essentially nothing, and I think its better than keeping the security screeners busy with the huge group of people that happen to have darker skin than an albino Finn in the wintertime. The random selection is there to both break the expected pattern and prevent human error -- there is a reason the computer makes half of the decisions.

Want all Arab-looking people checked? There is a really easy way to solve this, I suppose, but no one is willing to do it: pay more for your airline ticket and wait in longer lines. Just the same way with the bomb-proof luggage containers for checked-in bags -- they've had them for years, but insurance companies did the math and figured that losing one or two planes every so many years to an onboard bomb outweighs the cost of installing the reinforced bins. Higher cost for safer flight makes customers, and the airlines, unhappy and drives down business. Its the same reason you haven't seen any of the Boeings get their wires re-done or routed outside of the center gas tanks post flight 800 -- the risk outweighs the cost. No one is willing to pay for extra security or longer lines, but anyone will dish out some extra cash to sit in a seat with a little LCD TV installed in the back of the seat in front of them. Checking everyone is impossible. Checking all people who "look Arab" is impossible and creates a very easily broken security pattern. Random, for now, is as good as it gets.

I'm not sure I get the whole "political correctness is the problem" thing, anyways. Any captain of any commercial airline has the ability to remove any passenger for any reason, stated or not. In the days after September 11th, a number of pilots requested people who "appeared suspicious" to remove themselves from the flight prior to departure. I don't remember anyone screaming back then. In the X-Ray lines, people that are checked are selected on their appearance and/or their baggage. The only random part is the check prior to boarding based on your seating pass.

but have fun collecting things that will make it through my metal detector at work and are still signficantly dangerous.

Whoa, those are freaky. I thought they passed some kind of law that required some bits of metal be included in the blades in order to set off metal detectors?