The Illusion of Security
I’ve mentioned it before but I thought I’d bring it up again: airport security is an insecure gongshow and worse, no one seems to care. But perhaps they’ll care after tonight’s Fifth Estate (Tonight at 9pm on CBC) which, according to an article on CBC.ca, exposes some major problems with security at Canada’s airports.
What I found most disturbing is that Mark Duncan, chief operating officer for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, thinks that CATSA is doing just fine since in a recent poll 90 per cent of the people were satisfied with the security process. Have I mentioned I hate the way society has become? It’s all about perception and politics now instead of actual results. CATSA, for those who don’t know, is the agency responsible for airport security. And CATSA is happy with the current security measures since most people think things are okay. It doesn’t matter that they aren’t actually keeping airports secure; what matters is that the general public thinks that things are secure. How very emu-like of CATSA. And the general public for that matter.
It’s time to pull our heads out of the sand and demand better security for our $2 billion of tax payer money. And if the system is perfect, we should demand further improvements, because wherever there is a fence, in today’s world there will always be someone trying to get through it. For more reading, CBC has an Indepth on airport security.
Update: the Fifth Estate’s investigative report last night was amazing. And scary. And frustrating at the government’s lack of concern. According to Liberal Senator Colin Kenny there’s a lack of common sense over at the Ministry of Transport. Oh, and the guy who phoned CBC initially to report the descrepencies has now been suspended.
