[nathanb]

I'm a little disappointed with the article when compared to my expectations given the title.

Besides using a fraudulent boarding pass, the journo didn't "test" the TSA in any meaningful way. This wasn't like the experiment where a guy got a gun on a plane using his wheelchair, for example. While the article has great information and I agree with almost all of it, I would like to see people demonstrating the uselessness of the TSA rather than just talking about it.

[siphor]

Like three weeks ago I was leaving vegas and accidentally left a pocket knife (4" blade) in my bag.. I opted out of the full body scan, (rumors of cancer, and the line was shorter) for a pat down... it's an intense pat down im pretty sure they definitely touched some private sensitive areas, they also left the 4" knife in my bag theres tons of stories like this too..

[WettowelReactor]

Funny enough Thanksgiving 2010 I accidentally left a similar sized pocket knife in my pocket. I elected for the full body scanner which did not pickup the knife. Instead I was reminded I had it when the regular old metal detector at the cruise line picked it up. On another trip while i was still in the service I accidentally flew with chained live rounds (machine gun ammo) in my back pack. Again no security picked it up. I am a fairly small sample size but thanks to these incidents I am thoroughly convinced that the TSA is utterly worthless. On the plus side they banned the carry on of lighters for our chartered flight to Kuwait. This was the same flight that we all hand carried our weapons on, go figure.

[jedbrown]

I flew with a 3-inch knife three times in the US and Europe last year without being noticed (accidentally packed when I was leaving home, wasn't checking a bag, so took my chances).

A friend flew with a large aerosol can and a full box of live 12-gauge shotgun shells the day after the liquid bomb scare (supposedly super high security that day), and only noticed later when he unpacked his carry-on.

In almost 100 flights over the last three years, I almost always carry liquid in excess of three ounces in my backpack without putting it in a separate bag (toothpaste, contact solution). It has only once been inspected.

I regularly carry on rock climbing gear, including a "nut tool" which is shaped like an 8-inch steel blade. It's not actually sharp, but there is no way to tell that in the scanner and I have yet to have it hand-inspected.

[Lagged2Death]

It's a demonstration that the TSA cannot actually perform the functions it's supposed to be performing. In that sense it is a test.

If getting though security with fraudulent identification is not a problem, why does the TSA bother to attempt to prevent it?

[sliverstorm]

Perhaps to distract? The same way you might put $500 in a drawer near your front door, in hopes that a thief will find the $500 and, satisfied, bail before finding the $50,000 in jewelery (or what have you) in your bedroom?

[DanBC]

Attempting to get a weapon on board a plane carries a risk of being shot. In the head. I'm not that surprised that people don't try it.

[cgs1019]

I've always been amazed that with all the effort to keep "dangerous" objects off the plane, they still hand out aluminum soda cans which can easily be crushed/bent/torn into quite dangerously sharp forms. Why bother carrying a weapon on board when they're provided free of charge in flight?

[Terretta]

> aluminum soda cans

LOL (and I don't use that lightly) ...

Many airlines bring you silverware with your business or first class meal. A metal fork, spoon, and yes, KNIFE.

Several also serve beverages in glass, including stemware.

And many items taken from you at the security line can be purchased in the concessions: batteries, lighters, even fuel (vodka).

[mgkimsal]

but people in first and business class are just so nice - they couldn't be a terrorist!

[JonnieCache]

Last time I was on a plane I'm fairly sure they still said "When putting bottles of wine in the overhead compartment, please be careful because if they fall out onto people it can be dangerous."

They're giving you hints and tips.

(Also chlorine-based cleaning products are readily available from the cleaner's cupboard in the departure lounge.)

[caseysoftware]

I have a Founders Card. It's just a little credit card sized membership card... made of aluminium. The edge is sharp. I've flown over 40 times this year and haven't been stopped even once.

I've tested TSA quite a few times and documented it all. I don't post most of it online though.. I'd hate to get it misinterpreted. ;)

I share my antics on Twitter via the #fuTSA tag.

[zeteo]

If you can make a shiv out of a soda can, I'm sure there are a lot of high security inmates who are very interested in your recipe.

[Joakal]

The prisoners would be more interested in lock-picking. Here's an example: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Padlock-Shim

[shareme]

you do not have to sneak a 'weapon' on board a plane to bring it down..911 attacks was mainly focused on social engineering to get victims to cooperate with terrorists..if there was no cooperation attacks would have not succeeded

[akira2501]

What? The attackers had an easier time because hijackings didn't usually involve flying into a building / killing everyone on board.

Prior to 9/11 most hijackings were about taking hostages, flying to a friendly country, then awaiting your ransom. As a passenger, your job was just to sit tight, don't do anything stupid, and wait for the resolution. The hijackers didn't have to socially engineer anything, they just relied on the assumptions of the time.

After 9/11, passengers got more aggressive. The shoe bomber and the underwear bomber were shut down and restrained by alert passengers.

[mortenjorck]

Let's not forget that the hijackers' greatest asset was a unique, tragic coincidence, covered five years ago by the very same magazine: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/08/norad200...

Were it not for a scheduled drill that happened to bear just enough similarity to what was actually going on to confuse first-responders, the terrible events of that day might have been limited to the air. The chances of such a coincidence happening again are so incredibly low as to be nil.

That's what gets me—we were basically just outrageously unlucky that day. The universe rolled all ones. And we've structured our security procedures with the idea that straight ones are rolled every day.

[halter73]

The Vanity Fair article (which is great by the way) makes it very clear that, given policies in place on 9/11, there was very little chance of the military being able stop the hijackers even if the drill hadn't been scheduled for that day.

One major issue was the terrible communication between the FAA and the military. Not only did the FAA feed the military a lot of incorrect information (One example being the report that AA Flight 11 was heading towards DC after it had already hit the north tower), but they were extremely late in reporting the actual hijackings to the military.

It was only because an ID tech at NEADS (The Northeast Air Defense Sector which was in control of all the scrambled jets on the eastern seaboard) called the FAA's Washington Center trying to ascertain the whereabouts of the already crashed Flight 11 that the military even got wind of the AA 77 hijacking. NEADS also didn't receive any reports about the United 93 hijacking until 35 minutes after the FAA first suspected the hijacking was taking place and 4 minutes after the plane had already crashed into a Pennsylvanian field. Reports of the hijackings shot quickly up the FAA's chain of command, but they were not reported to the military in a timely manner.

Even when the military did get word of the hijackings in time to theoretically do something about it, they were unable to track the planes on their woefully antiquated radar. With so many planes in the air and the transponders on each of the hijacked planes disabled, NEADS old radar systems didn't stand a chance. The commanders at NEADS were unable to give their fighter pilots instructions any more specific than to head to Manhattan or to the White House. And even then, in the case of the White House, NEADS was unable to supply their fighter pilots accurate coordinates (which is amazing to me).

Lastly, even if the fighter pilots had been able to intercept any of the hijacked planes, they wouldn't have been allowed to shoot them down in the first place. It wasn't until 10:18, 15 minutes after the last hijacked plane crashed into a field, that President Bush gave the military authorization to fire on hijacked planes.

While having a drill scheduled for the same day certainly didn't help, I don't think there was any chance that "the terrible events of that day might have been limited to the air."

[grecy]

I'd not seen that article before. Thank you very much.

Highly recommend.

[maaku]

What's more, on the one 9/11 plane that was taken down by it passengers (United 93), the passengers fought back only after hearing about the fates of the planes in New York and D.C., making it clear that an extended vacation in Cuba was not what was about to happen.

[bigtech]

Agreed, but this is a major building-block in that it allows evildoers to make multiple trips through security to deliver small amounts of items without detection.