Monday, November 22, 2010
So I've been watching in a somewhat bemused manner the whole mounting hysteria regarding TSA airport safety methods. I use the word hysteria advisedly since it's been just an impression I've had. You get the impression amidst all the shouting about "rights" and anger over invasive searches that there must be some other side to the story.
Yes, we have a right not to be groped, but we also have the right not to be blown up in flight. Is there a balance here? Are there alternatives? Do these latest search methods serve a purpose? Knowledgeable and reasonable arguments that not only inflame outrage but also seriously examine alternatives have been lacking.
My question, in addition to that of the efficacy of current searches is, "Are we only doing this for fear of being accused of 'racial profiling'?" The answer seems to be emerging. At Gateway Pundit: TSA Chief Pistole Admits America Won't Adapt Israel's "Top-Notch Security Procedures" Because "Americans Don't Profile" (Video). Here's the operative bit of transcript:
...PISTOLE: Well, I think the Israeli model, which a number of people have talked about, uses intelligence in a different way, profiling. And then if in terms of a pat-down, if they suspect you of something, you receive a very thorough pat-down there.
That is top-notch security. The question is, do we profile here in the U.S.? No, we don't...
Well we should. First of all, let's get one thing straight. Even the Israeli system doesn't do racial profiling, or so they say. When 20% of your population is Arab, profiling all Arabs doesn't get you far. And somewhere in here the idea of profiling has gotten encumbered with the idea that this means racial profiling. It doesn't. It's far more complex than that.
And even of profiling does involve a racial or cultural aspect, so what? If universities can continue to give admissions preferences to people of certain races so long as it is not the sole consideration, and businesses can continue to be forced to give racial preferences for hiring so long as it's not the sole consideration (or perhaps even if it is, someone correct me on this), then why shouldn't the TSA be permitted to consider those as one of many factors in a profile to protect us all? The genie is out of that bottle.
Society has many balancing rights. Is it better to give up the right not to be groped for the right to ride an airplane, or would you rather be groped less if an intelligent method could be found that caused you to compromise on another right -- the right not to be racially profiled? Sounds like it could be a very fair trade indeed.
To put it more starkly, if you can consider race and other factors in helping people get into college or get a job, you ought to be able to do the same thing in keeping me safe on an airplane.
If it turns out that we are really going through public groping sessions just because of oversensitivity to some politically correct ethos for no discernible sense or benefit, then Homeland Security deserves every bit of the outrage they're getting and then some.
Meanwhile, TheBulletPeople have come out with another of their excellent videos as Jack Webb himself shames the TSA:
Sol,
Even the Israeli system doesn't do racial profiling, or so they say.
I certainly don't fit the racial profile but on one occasion on descending from a flight from Frankfurt I was pulled aside and taken to a van where i was "interviewed" for over an hour, had my passport and the beard I wore at the time physically inspected and missed the last bus into Tel Aviv that late Friday afternoon.
Recently a Brazilian mother and daughter were "profiled" as the daughter was carrying drugs. How did they find it - detecting certain anomalous, to them, behaviour.
Even the Brazilian Ambassador's daughter was "interviewed" for a lengthy period some months back.
People seem to forget that Israel has had some terrible experiences with Japanese Red Brigade and German terrorists besides Arab and Pakistani Muslims.
Does Israel profile? Of course. So do American policeman, every single day; they could not do their jobs otherwise.
I was amazed that the TSA director would say such a thing, particularly a man who had been deputy director of the FBI (who presumably therefore has some police background). Then I saw that he was the one who wrote that FBI agents are not allowed to use coercive interrogation of any sort on terrorists... and now I am less surprised.
"Profiling" means acting on hunches, suspecting someone to be guilty before you have concrete reason for it, based on their behavior and your professional experience reading that behavior. Cops acquire that experience the hard way, and use it to know, in advance, who will cause trouble for them and who will not.
Sure, a policeman caught using "racial profiling" -- pulling people over solely because of race, for example -- should be disciplined, and quite possibly taken off the streets. But if you order policemen never to profile, you're telling them to ignore their professional instincts... which can (and will) get them killed when seconds count.
Put a different way: suppose the cops are on the lookout for a known felon, a dangerous murderer. Suppose they see a vehicle matching the suspect's, with a driver matching the description of the suspect. Do you really want them to dither over whether or not to ignore him, because they've already pulled over more than the average number of black people that day?
Oh, and just for the record: not only are 20% of Israelis Arabs, something like 50% of Israeli Jews are descended from immigrants (or refugees) of Arab countries. You won't distinguish them from Arabs by race (or ethnicity) alone. Policemen have no trouble distinguishing them, however... by profiling, taking into account posture, clothing, mannerisms, accent, speech patterns, and a dozen other things.
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline