Comment by chihuahua
11 hours ago
No successful terrorist attacks on planes going to/from western countries after 9/11/2001, that's a pretty good record. Maybe we can't prove that the security theater was responsible for that, but still, the only planes that were bombed after 9/11/2001 were inside Russia or going from Egypt to Russia.
I have a rock that keeps tigers away. For 30 years I have not encountered any tigers. That’s a pretty good record.
To answer the parent question, no not even close.
TSA direct costs, passenger time wasted, flights missed, items confiscated.
All so no bombs on planes. But somehow also no bombs at sports events or music concerts, or on trains or subways, or courthouses or....
So the TSA is either stunningly successful or a complete waste. I'd argue a complete waste, but hey, everyone in a TSA uniform drawing a paycheck us entitled to a different opinion.
It's just not bombs that are a danger. You really don't want anyone to set the airplane on fire either, or start shooting people or holes into the fuselage.
AFAIK America has had plenty of shootings, and probably arson attacks too over that time period.
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> But somehow also no bombs at sports events or music concerts, or on trains or subways, or courthouses or....
Boston marathon? The Madrid train bombings? 7/7? Ariana Grande?
Airport security has been stunningly successful.
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The main benefit from post 9/11 security is locks on the cockpit doors. And no longer telling passengers to do whatever a hijacker says.
Last I checked, in the US there has not been a single instance of the TSA detecting and preventing a terror attack in its 25 year history.
And presumably they wouldn’t be shy about telling us if they had.
I assume they have some deterent value.
You can tell because some of the failed bombings (like the shoe bomber) failed because their plans were stupid to get around security, and if security wasn't there they would probably have used a normal bomb and succeeded
I have no idea if it has worked or not but you got to count deterrence too. If you have a lock and alarm in your house it might deter someone from even trying to break in. Of course you could never know if the deterrence worked (only attempts would be noticeable)
I don't think that the question is really "removing all checks". It's rather "are all those expensive machines necessary?".
I mean, they do find a ton of guns and ammunition. I wouldn't be so sure.
Bombings are pretty rare. The last succesful plane bombing of a plane departing from the united states that killed people was in 1962.
This is somewhat false? There were four other bombings, two in western countries (specifically EU->US flights). None of these two were successful in terms of "the plane was downed", but bombs were carried on a plane and exploded, and security didn't stop that.
22 December 2001, American Airlines Flight 63 7 May 2002, China Northern Flight 6136 25 December 2009, Northwest Airlines Flight 253 2 February 2016, Daallo Airlines Flight 159
Ok so cockpit door was locked and thus nobody can hijack plane.
Of course even that has killed people.
I thonk it has more to do with process and pilot crew closing their door.
This is an asinine take - it literally has nothing to do with the theater we deal with at the airports in America
What's the actual reason then?
There's 200 other people on the flight that think this plane is going to crash instead of thinking this plane is going to land safely and a ransom is going to occur.
Prior to 9/11 hijackings were rare but still occurred with everybody living [1]. There is a notable truncation in the list after 9/11 of incidents per decade (across the world; so nothing special about TSA).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings#19...
Locking the door of the cockpit, actual on the ground policing in terms of monitoring terror cells.
Better cooperation between intelligence and law enforcement agencies