Action for the sake of action...

I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress...

    -- Petronius Arbiter

I shudder at every mention of "action" being taken in response to events of two days ago, especially "action" being undertaken by Congress or any other government agency. Any such new measures are more likely than not to fall within the scope of "reorganization," as mentioned in the quote above.

Though I am not an expert in security, the only change I saw in gaining access to JSC this morning was a line of traffic extending almost a mile down Saturn Ave., to Bay Area Boulevard. A few cars were being directed off to the side of the entrance gate to be searched. My rental (pickup truck with a covered payload bed) was let through with no problem.

Do I feel safer? Not appreciably, but then again, if we leave aside airplanes piloted by suicide jockeys, I've never felt particularly threatened, either.

Cheers...

From the USA Today website...

There are interesting observations published online in this article on new FAA safety rules:

Experts aren't surprised. They say the FAA directives fail to address underlying security shortcomings that made Tuesday's hijackings possible.

"Everybody wants people to do something, but I'm not sure that any of these changes are effective," said Steve Luckey, chairman of the national security committee of the Air Line Pilots Association International. "They're just going to inconvenience the passengers and the people that haul them."

Even one FAA security official said the directives are more form than substance. "They're extraordinary in terms of perception, but in reality, they'll have very little effect," said the official, who asked not to be identified. "It's going to be costly and time-consuming, but it's not going to buy a higher level of security overall."

Among other measures, the new FAA directive will only let ticketed passengers through the security checkpoint to the gate. In light of the recent news that Tuesday's hijackers appear to have all been ticketed passengers, I cannot imagine why I should feel safer with this rule in effect.

Also, passengers will not be allowed to carry any kind of knife on board, which means I'll have to remember to take my little Swiss Army combination toothpick, tweezer, miniature scissor, nail file, and (deadly, one-inch) knife off of my key chain, else risk forfeiting it at the gate. Furthermore, airlines will no longer provide steak knives with meals, and terminals are being cleared of plastic cutlery. (Gee, I hope it doesn't turn out that the hijackers also threatened their victims with ballpoint pens, or else we'll have to turn those in, too, I suppose.)

United is set to start operations tomorrow. My going home on Saturday is far from a cinch at this point; if Durango isn't one of the airports that's pronounced adequately secure by the FAA, then there will be no place for me to go until that happens.

Ah, well. No use getting hot about it until something definite turns up. For now, the work day is over, and I'm going to go home.

Cheers...