The TSA vs. Homeland Security.

• Position: List - Transportation Security Administration - Brief article

Crypto-Gram Editor Bruce Schneier coined the term security theater to describe intrusive but pointless rituals that provide the illusion of safety. After the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) unveiled new travel regulations in response to the failed bombing of Northwest Flight 253 in December, we asked Schneier, a consistently persuasive voice when it comes to rationally assessing relative risks, to list three things that would make Americans genuinely safer from terrorist plots.

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1 Reduce the TSA'S budget, and spend the money on intelligence. Security measures that focus on specific tactics or targets are a waste of money unless we guess correctly, and the terrorists choose plots that deliberately avoid our guesses. Security that just forces the terrorists to make a minor change in their tactic or target is not money...