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 passengers are “naked at the airport” and giving up skin cells to the TSA.
Recall Christmas day just a few months ago; an 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 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. Impatient flyers are not going to be happy, but please consider these questions: is swabbing passengers’ hands and thoroughly examining luggage taking it too far? Or is this exactly what the U.S. needs to keep from yet another terrorist threat?
Ask any passenger, whether it is someone who flies 500 miles a year or someone who flies 500,000 miles a year, they would most likely all say the same thing: “My safety is the most important thing to me.”
Of course these new security measures are going to be as ruthless as ever and even more time consuming, but is it not worth it to rather be waiting in line to get your hand swabbed, your bags checked three times and go through a full-body scanner than to sit next to a man (or woman) with a bomb in their drawers?
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?
In all seriousness, the requirements to pass through security are really not 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?
Safety of passengers on flights is the No. 1 priority for all airlines and the TSA knows this.
The Untied States is a country that learns from its mistakes, and grows on its past experiences, and since terrorist attacks of 9/11, the importance of security and the integrity of U.S. security procedures is unprecedented.
These changes are simply another lesson learned and being put into effect. The Christmas day bombing attempt is not something that was taken lightly.
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.
