Sensible Thinking about Aviation Security

"A Pilot on Airline Security" is the best reading on commercial aviation security that I have seen since Patrick Smith's excellent "Ask the Pilot" column on Salon.com. The pilot in question is none other than David Mackett, president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, an "all-volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan organization that provides expert information and guidance to the public and policymakers to implement sensible and effective aviation security measures that provide REAL enhancements to the safety of airline passengers and crew, and REAL deterrents to terrorism directed at the commercial aviation sector."

The key point that Mackett makes is one that will be quite familiar to readers of Schneier on Security: spend money only on security that works regardless of the threat. Security measures that rely on predicting the type of attack (e.g. banning liquids on planes) are a waste of money, and worse yet, amount to crying wolf. If you've ever rolled your eyes at airport security, the terrorists have already won.

Here's a money quote from the blog post:

In the end, we should be starting with defending the smallest spaces — the cockpits and cargo compartments, and working outward to the limits of our resources; instead of starting with the airport perimeter and working inward, ignoring the actual defense of those spaces that are actually the terrorist targets. And we should be using the resources already in place to the greatest extent possible, instead of trying to bring new, untried methods into play, then waiting to find out they don’t work nearly as well in reality as they do on paper.

And before I go, let me leave you with this jewel: even mechanics walk around with their tool.