I was struck dumbfounded this weekend, when a report published in the Observer claimed that persons on the Terror Watch List were allowed to board airplanes with no questions asked. That should make those Olympic spectators feel real secure.
The enormous job of securing the Olympics has required the reliance on many part-time and temporary employees, who may lack the training and expertise of regular airport security personal.
That and the crush of spectators and athletes headed towards to the London Games creates a tremendous amount of pressure on screeners to get people through security as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The drawback is that the need for speed could allow criminals and terrorists to slip through the cracks of an over-stressed security system.
While security officials are urging the public not to worry, the mathematics of the problem favor the terrorists. If even one of the persons who boarded a plane in London commits an act of terrorism, than the counter-terror measures will be hailed as a disaster.
Even if British officials are right, do we really want to be playing the hope card here? These people were obviously flagged for the terror watch list for some reason. It wasn’t because of their auto club membership.
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