Amazing what you find out when you start looking ...
More on the Tampa / Burbank situation and what appears to be a hole in the law big enough to drive a terrorist bus thru. As we all know, the Fourth Amendment (theoretically) prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, which was then reinterpreted over and over again to allow one exception to another. Check out the Border Search Exception:
Searches conducted at the United States border or the equivalent of the border (such as an international airport) may be conducted without a warrant or probable cause subject to the "border-search" exception. Most border searches may be conducted entirely at random, without any level of suspicion, pursuant to U.S. Customs and Border Protection plenary search authority. However, searches that intrude upon a traveler's personal dignity and privacy interests, such as strip and body cavity searches, must be supported by "reasonable suspicion.
Yup, Tampa is an "International Airport" so they can do what they want. Burbank (and Manchester NH, et al) are not "international airports", so theoretically all searches there must be supported by "reasonable suspicion". Makes you wonder about the legality of it all. So, if I were really a terrorist would I even bother with Tampa? or select a softer target (like Burbank or Manchester). As I said earlier, it's all Theatre, and not particularly well thought out theatre, either.
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Re: Security Theatre
Date: 2011-10-03 02:55 am (UTC)More on the Tampa / Burbank situation and what appears to be a hole in the law big enough to drive a terrorist bus thru.
As we all know, the Fourth Amendment (theoretically) prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, which was then reinterpreted over and over again to allow one exception to another.
Check out the Border Search Exception:
Searches conducted at the United States border or the equivalent of the border (such as an international airport) may be conducted without a warrant or probable cause subject to the "border-search" exception.
Most border searches may be conducted entirely at random, without any level of suspicion, pursuant to U.S. Customs and Border Protection plenary search authority. However, searches that intrude upon a traveler's personal dignity and privacy interests, such as strip and body cavity searches, must be supported by "reasonable suspicion.
Yup, Tampa is an "International Airport" so they can do what they want. Burbank (and Manchester NH, et al) are not "international airports", so theoretically all searches there must be supported by "reasonable suspicion".
Makes you wonder about the legality of it all. So, if I were really a terrorist would I even bother with Tampa? or select a softer target (like Burbank or Manchester). As I said earlier, it's all Theatre, and not particularly well thought out theatre, either.