The pre-Barack Obama visit package of security measures yesterday announced by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd are about protecting air travellers from from the same acts of civil terror and carnage that are supported by Australian involvement in military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They are also useless in guaranteeing such an outcome, according to former customs officer and security deficiency whistleblower, and now convicted felon Allan Kessing.
Looked at clinically, the $200 million worth of body scanners and other upgrades are a case of futile measures meeting an impossible task.
Yet they are also part of the much wider picture, that of a war in which the massacre of civilians as the necessary collateral cost of anti-terrorist actions is somehow going to win Taliban-controlled regions or even the “national” government over to a durable democracy.
The carnage that every bombed wedding party, burned down school or destroyed village causes smells and looks no different to the consequences of a terrorist attack on an airport, an underground railway station, a sports stadium, a rock concert or a city pub at lunch time.
They embitter the survivors for generations, and fuel their outrage, and determination for revenge.
The chances of militarily forcing all of Afghanistan into a state of grateful democratic social enlightenment are exactly the same as those of comprehensively eliminating the risks of a terrorist attack on Australian targets. Zero.
Kessing says the package is yet another case of “back to the future” by a government incapable of acting on fundamental security failings, some of which are caused by its reliance on private industry contractors who are chosen on price and are unable to put their obligations ahead of their commercial interests.
“The component which is for improved training is commendable,” he says, “except that it fails to remove the commercial imperative in which sub-contractors set out to deliver the service as the lowest possible cost and highest profit to themselves.
“These hi-tech toys are only as good as the operator, and are essentially for window dressing purposes and are ultimately ineffective at doing anything but making the lives of travellers more miserable.
“The best counter-terrorism activity is done before the terrorist leaves for the airport, not when the terrorist in the queue waiting for checking or scanning.”
Which is the worst possible place to discover a suicide bomber, a place packed with people.
Kessing agrees with overseas reports that the “stick figure” body scan system being introduced at only international terminals in Australia next year would not have detected the explosives concealed in the underpants worn by the would be Christmas Day bomber had he passed through one of the scanners at Schiphol Airport on his way to Detroit.
“The partial introduction of some of the measures (body scanners and air cargo scanners) only serves as a signpost to different targets at airports or elsewhere,” Kessing says.
Surely one of the basic concepts of terrorism is to commit unexpected acts – repeating the same tactic over and over again is the province of the conventional military. Constant responses to already executed activities only serve to increase the level of tension in the population while making our leaders “look” like they are responding to threats.
$200 million would go a long way to protecting vulnerable infrastructure – like water supply, power generation, telecommunications.
I am sure travellers will make sure their underpants are clean. With dodgy food on some planes, explosive skid marks are indistinguishable from real explosives and will be picked up by those scanners.. Perhaps pull- ups for adults might become fashionable.?
http://oosterman.wordpress.com/
It may not detect terrorists, but it’ll certainly pick up ‘commandos’
Didn’t I read somewhere recently(In the health section of the Australian?) that full body scans are no longer recommended for children(unless strictly necessary)due to the amount of radiation (much more than an ordinary X-ray). The medical opinion was that later (maybe 20 years) it could cause cancer. How, I wonder, will this affect young frequent fliers if they are scanned at every airport?
Mary Mackenzie
I am all for a German newspaper’s recommendations – for everyone to fly naked with no luggage.
Much safer – and would make lining up for airport security checks all the more interesting – instead of the dull, painful boredom it is now.