Have you heard the news? According to the Transportation Security Administration, getting naked at the airport is totally in!
Well, not really, but with new technological and experimental advances in airport security it is almost as if you are “naked at the airport” and giving up skin cells to the TSA.
Recall back to Christmas Day just a few months ago; alleged terror bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmatallab secretly hid powder explosives in his underwear (of all places) in an attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet. This so-called “traveler” was headed to Detroit from Amsterdam with high hopes of death and devastation.
Luckily, Abdulmatallab had failed with flying colors, but thanks to his not-so-bright idea, fliers have to face more obstacles than ever, which include new random checks for traces of explosives on passengers’ hands and carry-on luggage.
The TSA began swabbing passengers’ hands without warning at some airport checkpoints soon after the failed underwear bomb attack, the Department of Homeland Security said. You know that those impatient fliers are not going to be happy with this one, but please consider these questions: Is swabbing passengers’ hands and thoroughly examining luggage taking it too far? Or is this exactly what we need to keep from yet another terrorist threat?
If you ask anyone who flies, whether it is someone who flies 500 miles a year or someone who flies 500,000 miles a year, they’d most likely all say the same thing: “My safety is most important to me”.
Of course these new security measures are going to be as ruthless as ever and even more time consuming, but wouldn’t you rather be waiting in line to get your hand swabbed, your bags checked three times, and go through a full-body scanner than sit next to a man (or woman) with a bomb in their drawers? If your answer is “yes” then good for you, here’s a cookie. If your answer is “no” then the underwear bomber must be your best friend. No cookie for you.
Besides the swabbing and the body scanning, authorities also imposed restrictions on passenger behavior aboard planes. These include forcing the passengers’ to remain seated for the final hour of flights and keep their laps free of blankets, books, or magazines. Not so hard to do, right?
If you really think about it, the requirements to pass through security are really not all that bad. There may be those cases where a security check may take longer than the flight itself, but who’s to say that people’s safety is not important?
As for the TSA, the measures that they issued out should hopefully prevent any future attack. As time goes on and less and less terrorist attempts are reported the TSA will probably ease up on the strenuous security checks.
