As for flying to and from the UK, I have to put in a plug for Virgin. The planes are nice and pretty new, the food is good, and they have the best in-flight entertainment system I’ve ever seen — lots of movies, as well as television shows, all on-demand so they start when you start them. Take a book for the flight out, and watch TV or movies on the way back, assuming that sanity hasn’t returned and security dropped back to the normal level of annoying pointlessness.

But don’t blame the messenger, the media, for poor operational security. You should rather thank them for making it plain when security is weak—because if they can get their hands on this stuff, what does that say about actual malefactors who can pay handsomely for the inside scoop? Every time news of a program hits the papers, the people in charge of keeping secrets should work to do better, not whine about the fact that their failure became public. Fortunately, I think most of them do.

Preventative intelligence work is absolutely the key, and good intelligence work isn”t blinded by race or theology or anything else.

Good intelligence work is blinded by publications like the New York Times when they publish our methods, or when our governments’ hands are tied because they can’t wiretap a suspect.

I would be willing to wager that some methods that people would consider illegal were used in busting this plot.

The problem is that you and Matt aren’t advocating racial profiling, which wouldn’t work anyway; instead, you’re advocating theological profiling, which wouldn’t work either. Preventative intelligence work is absolutely the key, and good intelligence work isn’t blinded by race or theology or anything else.

Dave: amazing—they searched everyone when I left Friday, and randomly or not at all by Sunday? I guess Starbucks signs and closed duty-free shops are the only real long-term effects. Lovely.

However, aside from signs up at the Starbucks informing me I wouldn’t be allowed to bring on board anything I bought there, there was no change from any other time I’ve gone through LAX. No evident baggage searches, nobody at any point asking me if I had liquids in my bags.

Two days after the arrests, everything’s back to the way it was. What a useless knee-jerk freak-out this one was.

You know, it might all be one big complot of the movie industry. They are behind the attempts. They are loosing market share because everyone downloads them. But now, flight agencies are forced to rent more and better movies to keep people occupied. Which means more profit for the movie industry.

I was planning to be in London this November, but faced with the prospect of eight hours in a metal tube with nothing but the in-flight movies to occupy my attention, I”m starting to reconsider

Come to London Eric – just bring a good book for the flight! :-)

So yes, racial profiling would not work if McVeigh and Nichols would have chosed to take over or explode planes.

There is also evidence that Iraq had a hand in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

I agree that profiling alone can’t be silver bullet, but it just makes sense to do so. Unfortunately that would be “insensitive”. More importantly, question people where they are going, what they are doing, etc. It is hard to fool a trained Israeli screener. This is what Et Al Israel does.

“Well gee, there’s nothing to do… might have a drink. Still nothing to do, might have another one. Wow this inflight magazine has a review on beers… better have another drink…”

….no books? why on earth?? Well ok, so Neal Stephenson’s last few books would make viable weapons… but, otherwise…