Spencer S. Hsu and Robert O’Harrow provide an uncharacteristically confident intro paragraph for a Washington Post story in their piece about airport security:

Aviation security could be improved with the use of databases containing passengers’ personal information, technology such as body scans and better information-sharing. But the changes would require greater tolerance of intrusions and far more effective government oversight, security specialists say.

So the assertion is that our airports and airplanes could be safer — it’s just a question of whether it’s worth the money and curtailment of privacy. Hsu and O’Harrow cite a “vast network of supercomputers” that are “designed to use passengers’ travel reservations, housing information, family ties, credit reports and other personal data to identify potential threats.” But the evidence doesn’t really seem to back up the claim that this network will definitely thwart future terrorist attacks. Hsu and O’Harrow repeatedly return to mismanagement at the Transportation Security Administration.

It’s a neat parliamentary debate question — liberty v. security. However, what seems closer to the truth is that systems are being proposed that will definitely curtail privacy and only maybe improve security.

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