[dschwartz88]

It's been proven these arbitrary restrictions don't actually enhance security. We need to see the TSA move to behavioral analysis for them to actually make a difference.

[chimeracoder]

> It's been proven these arbitrary restrictions don't actually enhance security.

Agreed.

> We need to see the TSA move to behavioral analysis for them to actually make a difference.

They've tried this. In practice, it ends up being a very thin cover for racial profiling[0].

Of course, when the TSA itself admits[1] that there is no evidence of a threat of terrorism against aviation in the US, it's not surprising that more "advanced" techniques of detecting terrorism prove to be ineffective.

[0] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/us/racial-profiling-at-bos...

[1] http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/tsa-admits-...

[waps]

Of course there's a flip side of this coin. I think it's a very good bet that this action was not taken in a vacuum. So someone disguised a weapon or a bomb as an electronic device in their hand luggage, and got it on board and was caught.

So who takes responsibility ? Because that's the million dollar question, although in this case, more like 100 million dollar question. If you make the TSA less onerous and the result is a plane plowing into a skyscraper, who pays ?

I think this action is at least partially the result of insurance companies saying "not us".

Do you have a better answer ?

[middleclick]

I am quite naive in these matters but I see two reasons why this won't happen: 1). This will effectively tear down the security theater (again, I assume this is what it is and may be uninformed that there is a real threat). 2). It is difficult to train a large number of personnel to perform behavioral analysis given the traffic the US airports handle.

[ams6110]

israel reportedly does a good job at it. Of course they only have to deal with a few airports.

[infectoid]

Yeah, I have to admit that they do a good job of screening you without making you feel like you've done something wrong.

Still felt that I was targeted for some reason, but they helped me skip a few queues once they confirmed everything was in order.

Net result was a fairly neutral experience. Which is kind of good I guess.

[MBCook]

Israeil has a small population/traveler count and a relatively direct threat. The US has a huge population/traveler count and a vague possibility of threat.

That may not work here.

[ZanyProgrammer]

I wouldn't want to travel to Israel as an Arab or a Muslim though.

[chrismcb]

To make what sort of difference? Abolishing the TSA would probably have the exact same effect.