The Amiel Blog

The TSA machine to opt out of

This is the X-Ray machine at Oakland airport. Note it is comprised of two parts, which contrasts it with the more familiar round single unit. The round unit is typically radio waves, which is fine to "opt in".

I was all ready to say "opt out" but the machine was not in use. However, I did manage -yet again- to proceed through security with my ziplock bag containing a mysterious white powder with no questions asked.

On an interior level, I noticed remarkably little irritation at having to participate in this security theater. Perhaps the experience of being with Jacob at home while he mischievously attempts various con jobs to stay up later at night has increased my patience with farce, foible and shenanigans.

First flight out, last flight in

It's now after 11pm, and I'm about to walk to my car at Portland Airport. I've taken a few one-day round trips by plane in my life, but this may be the longest one.

Spent 13 hours in the Bay Area: half at SFO and the rest on the BART or in Berkeley. 2 1/2 hours with a client and 90 min with a close friend. Slept for 2 1/2 of the 3 hours of flying time and meditated for half of the 2 hours on the BART train. And I lifted weights before I left (4:30-5:15 am). A full day. And although it was a wacky way to do it, the day actually included a good ebb and flow of high intense performance/conversation and periods of renewal. A good experiment!

White powder not a security risk

Evidently a white powdery substance in a ziplock bag neither is a security risk nor raises eyebrows in the war on drugs. I made it through security at Portland airport this morning with ease and promptly applied two scoops of the mystery substance (erithrytol, sugar alcohol that is 0 on the glycemic index) into a cup of coffee.

However, I did go through the big machine that strips you bare on the screen. As I did, I heard the guard ask, "surgical implant?" and turned to see a woman pointed toward the old fashioned X-Ray machine. How did he know she qualified? I didn't see a card in her hand or any sign other than the fact she had very large breasts in a small frame. Is this what things have come to?

Seriously, have you also noticed that if you have a baby with you, they also give you a pass? So I guess this means terrorists neither bear children nor are creative enough to borrow one from a similarly fanatical friend. Security theater indeed!

Opting out with TSA

If strangers are going to look at my naked body, I want to get paid for it. And if I'm going to expose myself to radiation, I expect to get a diagnosis out of it. These are two of several reasons I chose this morning to declare "opt out" while approaching the relatively new TSA full body scanners.

What happened next? I walked through the old machines, received a full body pat down ("back of the hands on the sensitive regions"), and was done. It took all of three minutes. and I felt content by this small experiment.

Then I saw three adults stroll through the old machines without needing to get the pat down for the simple reason they had babies in their hands. Makes sense from a humanity perspective but is utterly nonsensical from a security point of view. If our country is truly committed to eliminating security holes, do we really think a clever and determined terrorist would not find a baby to carry through?

The obvious answer is no. This is why so many experts on security and quality journalists refer to TSA's airport procedures as security theater. It doesn't actually protect us, just puts on a show. Some would go a step further and argue it's a Bush/Cheney test of our willingness to surrender our liberties that Obama has perpetuated.

As Julie knows all too well, every time I experience this farce the different parts of my brain battle and fortunately the part that governs patient thoughtful response wins. Today was the first time I actually tested the system.