Crazy Security: Serving Up Ready Weapons On The Plane
By Christopher Caile
Editor’s Note: This is a companion editorial to
the FightingArts.com story “Terror In The Skies, Again” by
Annie Jacobsen, the chilling personal experience aboard a US domestic
flight which illustrated how U.S. government efforts to be politically
correct and non-discriminatory have undermined its anti-terrorist efforts.
Recently when we went through airport security on the way to Italy
on a vacation with my family, security found two small metal tools (used
to sink nails) tucked away and forgotten in a side pocket of my father-in-law’s
carry-on baggage. They were confiscated. Although it seems a bit short
sighted not to have a method for securing their return through some sort
of self-mailer, I did feel protected. The metal detectors did their job,
I told myself. I could feel safer.
I made myself comfortable on our Lufthansa flight and dinner was soon
served – WITH METAL UTENSILS, INCLUDING A KNIFE.
So while the gate security confiscates any little metal device, including
nail clippers (a family member joked “Now that would make an intimidating
weapon; imagine a terrorist standing up with one in his hand and yelling ‘Stand
back or I will clip you’”), the airlines then serve up alternative
potential and much more dangerous weapons, including a serrated metal
knife (although the blade was not large and it wasn’t very sharp)
and fork. How crazy is that.
When even such basic things as coordination between airline meal services
and gate security seems not to be well executed (at least in this instance)
it gives me an uncomfortable feeling that our airline security has not
yet reached a level where we can feel secure.
About The Author:
Christopher Caile is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of FightingArts.com.
He has been a student of the martial arts for over 43 years. He first
started in judo. Then he added karate as a student of Phil Koeppel in
1959. Caile introduced karate to Finland in 1960 and then hitch-hiked
eastward. In Japan (1961) he studied under Mas Oyama and later in the
US became a Kyokushinkai Branch Chief. In 1976 he followed Kaicho Tadashi
Nakamura when he formed Seido karate and is now a 6th degree black belt
in that organization's honbu dojo. Other experience includes aikido,
diato-ryu aikijujutsu, kenjutsu, kobudo, Shinto Muso-ryu jodo, kobudo,
boxing and several Chinese fighting arts including Praying mantis, Pak
Mei (White Eyebrow) and shuai chiao. He is also a student of Zen. A long-term
student of one branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qigong, he is
a personal disciple of the qi gong master and teacher of acupuncture
Dr. Zaiwen Shen (M.D., Ph.D.) and is Vice-President of the DS International
Chi Medicine Association. He holds an M.A. in International Relations
from American University in Washington D.C. and has traveled extensively
through South and Southeast Asia. He frequently returns to Japan and
Okinawa to continue his studies in the martial arts, their history and
tradition. In his professional life he has been a businessman, newspaper
journalist, inventor and entrepreneur.
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