Regular readers know I’m not a big fan of the Transportation Security Administration, though I confess I don’t know whether the inane policies are the result of dumb laws, foolish political appointees, or home-grown bureaucratic stupidity.
Regardless, I mock the TSA (here and here). I criticize their thuggish/overbearing approach (here, here, here, here, and here). And I highlight serious proposals to make the system better (here and here).
With my biases on the table, now I have a question. Can anyone tell me why you have to go through security after landing in the United States from overseas?
I’m not asking why you have to go through customs and immigration. I’m wondering what purpose it serves (other than more jobs for bureaucrats) to make people go through security when they already went through security before boarding a flight in another country.
I hope there’s a logical reason for this. Someone please tell me that this isn’t another example of government stupidity.
Maybe a failure to reach an agreement on security checks with the embarcation country. In Nairobi after passing the usual security to get into passenger area of the airport, you must go three exactly the same thing again at the gate not once but twice. Once by Kenyian officials and right after them by BA officials. Talk about stupid.
Well, there’s a somewhat logical reason.
Specifically, few if any countries have exactly the same security standards we do. Case in point: I was recently returning from Japan and decided I wanted a bottle of duty-free sake. I was reminded that while I could put it in my carry-on for the international flight I would have to check it for my domestic connection. It was more than 0.002 fluid ounces or whatever is the permitted amount. You can’t have a flight leaving a US airport with that!
Of course that “somewhat logical reason” is based on the fact that our standards make sense in the first place.
And it also begs another question: If our security standards are the ne plus ultra mix of efficiency, security and wholesome fun – why do we allow incoming international flights that vary from that?
I used to wonder the same thing, but after seeing some of the crazy/lax security protocols overseas, I’m not so sure some redundancy is a bad thing.
For example, I recall sitting in a restaurant in an airport in Italy in 2002 (obviously post-9/11) — a restaurant located INSIDE the “secure” area — and being issued regular cutlery. If there was anything stopping me, or anyone else, from slipping a knife into my carry-on, it wasn’t apparent. (Earlier that same year, I was lectured in Venezuela for having toothpicks in my carry-on. So, in a perfect bureaucratic result, toothpicks = bad, while steak knife = okay.)
Yes – After you clear Immigrations and claim your bag and go through Customs, you leave the sterile area. You must then check in to your domestic flight just like anybody off the street. That means your bag must be re-screened, and you have to run the wrath of the TSA (God help you). Remember to OPT-OUT of the naked body scanners. Tell them you don’t need any extra radiation after your long flight, or cite the example of Rolando Negrin, one of their own, who clobbered a fellow TSO after being harassed about his small size as displayed on the body scanner. Click on my name above for important radiological, safety and privacy information.
Google “Rolando Negrin” for more info.
Google “Dont Scan Me” for more info.
I just experienced this after returning to Orlando from the Bahamas. When I questioned why I had to take my shoes off again to enter the US, I was told “because I was entering a secure area.”
Funny, I had just deplaned after a previous anal inspection. What I didn’t realize, after two of these inspections I still had a 1/2 liter water bottle hung on the outside of my back pack. What a bunch of idiots!
My educated guess would be redundancy. In addition to what beancounter said about security standards varying from nation to nation, it’s also a matter of having a second layer of supposed protection. Have you seen some of the assclowns TSA has working for it? They’ve let through some pretty strident security violations, either because of corruption or sheer incompetence. I would guess that checking on both sides helps avoid screw ups?