sheer potentiality

Interesting piece on a New York Times blog arguing for the TSA to handle inspection of cargo placed on passenger planes, instead of letting the airlines do it themselves under TSA supervision. The basic argument?

The Transportation Security Administration largely relies on the airlines to do any screening that is done. But we all should know now from the painful experience of 9/11 that, left to their devices, airlines put profit and speed ahead of security on their list of priorities. 

I tried posting a comment (it’s in their moderation queue as of now but should be posted), but thought I’d share my thoughts here as well. Comment is below:As far as I’ve been able to tell, the TSA itself tends to put inconvenience and the public illusion of security ahead of security itself on its list of priorities.If you investigate the value of United and American Airlines stock before and after 9/11, or Pan Am stock before and after the Lockerbie attack, you will discover a greedy, shallow—but effective incentive for private airlines to secure themselves.What we should know from the painful experience of 9/11 is that airlines, hamstrung by FAA regulations and forced to allow boxcutter knives to be carried on board with no provision of protecting the cockpit from a potential hijacking, lost four crews and hundreds of passengers. They couldn’t have a barricaded cockpit door, because that would violate FAA regulations. They couldn’t have security personnel on board, because that would violate FAA regulations. They couldn’t buy aircraft with cockpits physically inaccessible from the passenger compartment, because FAA regulations prevented any such airplane from being designed and sold. They were required, by FAA regulations, to immediately surrender control of the aircraft to hijackers under a doctrine of “passive compliance”.And after being hamstrung, set up, and forced to allow their property to be turned into missiles targeted at the World Trade Center and Pentagon, it was the airlines, not the FAA, who were blamed for letting it happen.But it’s the flying public who are put through a facade of security by the TSA, and the taxpayers who have to foot the bill.Nonetheless, I can’t see the airlines complaining about the TSA taking over cargo screening, just as they didn’t complain about the TSA taking over passenger screening. Perhaps in a different world we would ask for corporate responsibility—and allow it to happen. In this world, we stand in the way of corporate responsibility, and when the inevitable consequences happen, we let the government do the company’s work (poorly), saving the company money and ultimately leaving no one accountable for getting the job done.