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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Security Systems



Does anyone else wonder what we are getting for the huge sums of money spent on security? Are we any safer for the increased travel delays and hardships?

Remember the “virtual fence” on the US/Mexico border? You are supposed to forget it. A cool billion was spent on the scheme and it was quietly shelved.


Has TSA made us any safer? Turns out even their most expensive machines can be beaten without too much trouble.

How about this recent article about a stranded jet ski driver who walked past all the JFK security and never set off an alarm. He wasn’t even trying to beat security.

Bombs blew up in Iraq’s Green Zone. Gate crashers drop in on Presidential parties. Kids board airplanes without even having a ticket. Nuclear plants fail the most basic of security tests. Facial recognition scanners can be avoided in a myriad of ways.

It’s almost like we don’t know how to do security. That is not the case.

Bombs do not blow up on EL AL (Israeli airlines) planes. If they can do it, being a prestigious target, then anyone could do it.

A Vietnam Vet told me a story of two bases. The US base had rolls and rolls of barbed wire, mines, and machine gun towers. Stuff was stolen from there all the time. Right next door was a Turkish base. It had only one narrow strand of wire to mark off the base. Nothing was every stolen. Trespassers were shot and their heads put on a spike. That put a damper on petty theft.

Now are skies are going to be full of drone aircraft. How effective will those be? Judging from past performance, not very. How effective have security cameras been to prevent crime? Will putting the camera up in the air be any better?

None of this stuff is really about security. It’s about big paychecks for security firms and defense contractors. They are very effective at feeding at the government till.

-Sixbears

12 comments:

  1. I don't think it's about stopping terrorism or crime anyway. I think it's about getting us used to living in a police state.

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  2. There are many threats to our goverments security .They is a great need for checkpoints cameras everywhere and facial recognition programs.People in charge conduced a study 2 years ago and found over 320 million potential threats to their leadership. It was called the census!They have met the enemy and its us.

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    1. By their actions, they've earned the right to fear us.

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  3. I agree with all of the above! I just want to add that compared with the wretched conditions where most terrorists come from, Guantanamo is like Club Med.

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  4. You said it truly, Six. About wringing the last profit out of American taxpayers and calling it security.

    And the Turks? They've had a reputation for brutal efficiency for practically EVER....and it is low tech and low cost.

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  5. Me and my cigarette lighter waltzed right through airport "security", and even made it through a secondary random baggage check at the gate. I would add that all this "security" is also about intimidation, and keeping "the little people" in line. We are becoming a very Nazi-like police state...

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    1. It's all about the police state -but they can't even get that right. Good thing they do that as badly as everything else.

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  6. Were the Turks in Vietnam? I know they were in Korea, but was not aware they were involved in Vietnam.

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    1. That's what my vet buddy told me.

      By the way, we hired a lot of S. Korean mercenaries -nobody messed with them either. No sense of humor those guys.

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