Airport security: Knives, yes; shampoo, no

It’s still too dangerous to let passengers take a water bottle on a flight, said Newsday in an editorial. But if you have a small knife, a golf club, or a hockey stick that you want to carry onto the plane, that’s just fine. Under new rules announced by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration last week, passengers can carry pocketknives and sports equipment when they board planes—a decision that’s “baffling a nation.” The government says that freeing up TSA inspectors to stop searching for small pocket-knives, screwdrivers, and other implements will make security lines shorter. Even for the often-mocked TSA, this is madness: Small blades can do plenty of damage, as hijackers with box-cutters proved on Sept. 11, 2001. And why allow knives in the cabins when we’re still “taking off our shoes, submitting to full-body scans, and measuring our shampoo bottles”?

“The answer: Pocketknives and clubs can no longer bring down a plane,” said USA Today. Since 9/11, cockpits have been locked during flights, and passengers have shown themselves easily capable of overcoming someone armed with a small blade. Moreover, 4-inch scissors and 7-inch screwdrivers have been permitted on flights since 2005 without incident. Indeed, “the terrorists themselves have essentially validated the policy.” Every post-9/11 plot has involved explosives, not sharp implements. And many of those plots have involved liquids, such as the 2006 plot to bomb 10 airliners by smuggling peroxide-based explosives onboard inside soda bottles. Besides, the new rule only permits blades shorter than 2.4 inches, said Karin Klein in LATimes.com. Screeners should be spending their time checking for dangerous contraband, not worrying about a “low-level Victorinox.”

As a former flight attendant, “I find that blatantly offensive,” said Tiffany Hawk in CNN.com. A small pocketknife might not be enough to bring down an aircraft, but it could easily be used to slit the throats of flight stewards or passengers. This is just more proof that “our security system is a catastrophe and needs to be overhauled.” Amen to that, said Alexandra Petri in WashingtonPost.com. A “wiser, more nuanced approach” like the Israelis use would focus on screening out dangerous passengers, rather than any object that could conceivably be used as a weapon. But since the TSA’s new rules will continue to require screeners to frisk “old men with plates in their hips and 4-year-olds, I cannot say that I am overly optimistic.”

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