On 3 Jun 2003 at 16:14, Herr Nagengast wrote: > The only truly effective security system is one that is completely > random. If it's not random, then all someone who wants to beat the > system must do is figure out what doesn't meet "the profile" and mold > themselves into it. Anything less is simply a sham passed off as > security; possibly enough to make you feel secure, but not nearly > enough to keep me from quaking in my boots. Sorry...having been in the security industry for a number of years, I can tell you that the most effective security system is the one that concentrates on detecting the most likely intrusion/suspect, with secondary focus on the remaining possibilities. Applied to the issue of passenger screening, that would mean devoting greater attention/assets/resources to likely suspects, with some lesser application towards the unlikely ones. That lesser "random" application is the check on defeating the "profile". But you don't make the entire system "random". So, to give a hypothetical example, you would devote 2/3 of your resources towards young, single males of a particular origin/nature/profile characteristic. The other 1/3 goes toward the 80 year old white Jewish grandmothers who might have been brainwashed into helping the "primary" suspects. And the like. This is definitely "profiling". But profiling is not a dirty word. At least not if you are genuinely concerned about security as a higher priority than political correctness. All security/police work is profiling, in one way or another. Imagine having to say this about a bank robber: "A person, of undisclosed age and sex, undisclosed height and weight, of undisclosed race, wearing undisclosed clothing robbed the First National Bank this afternoon. This person is armed and dangerous. If you have information about this individual, contact your local police department immediately". Hah...somewhere along the line, you have to focus your attentions. Otherwise, you aren't really doing the job in the most effective manner. Somewhere along that same line, you have to make distinctions. Otherwise, it is just a non-offensive activitiy, designed not to offend, rather than effect a security solution. So, let's make our choice. Is it window dressing that is important, or the desire to effect security?? Don Fan of reality, not PC