We opted not to report on the Fake Boarding Pass Website created by Indiana University student Christopher Soghoian. Soghoian’s website could generate Northwest Boarding Passes close enough to pass a visual inspection, but not a machine inspection. While Soghoian created the site to call attention to security issues originally raised by Bruce Schneier and other qualified experts, the FBI raided his home and they and the U.S. Attorney’s office investigated.
Soghoian is still fighting the good fight…here is his blog report on the issue…The Federal Government seems to think any public scrutiny and attention called to flaws in airport security or otherwise are somehow disloyal activity. We agree with his analysis of the airport security situation.
Airport security has two areas of concentration: preventing weapons or bombs from getting onboard airplanes and preventing dangerous people from getting onboard airplanes. On numerous occasions, we have stated that preventing dangerous people is the more effective way of securing an airplane, citing the El Al model of security.
Soghoian’s analysis of protecting from dangerous people focuses on the no-fly list. He is not the only one to point out the list is a joke. It is not pruned, updated, or otherwise dynamic. Terrorists do not identify themselves, and suicide bombers can have clean pasts, as it is not an offense you can commit twice.
He makes an indisputable point against racial profiling of Muslims. Terrorists try to avoid detection. They are devoted to their goal and will intelligently and methodically probe for weaknesses in the system. They have recruited individuals who don’t fit the usual ethnic profile of a terrorist, and will run their candidates through “dry runs” to ensure they know how not to arouse suspicion.
He agrees with our view that ID checks at the gate would be a way of alleviating the possibility of someone getting on the plane without proper scrutiny. Many other countries already do check ID at the gate, or are supposed to. If we continue to check ID at security, there must be some way to verify boarding pass documents. Finally, if the goal is to prevent people on a no-fly list from flying…the fact you can legally travel without ID doesn’t really help.
In the end, despite his noble effort…airline security is not responding to these threats.
