Schneier Talks to the Head of TSA

Bruce Schneier recently had the chance to sit down with Kip Hawley, head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and discuss some of the frustrations travelers experience head-on. "In April, Kip Hawley, the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), invited me to Washington for a meeting. Despite some serious trepidation, I accepted. And it was a good meeting. Most of it was off the record, but he asked me how the TSA could overcome its negative image. I told him to be more transparent, and stop ducking the hard questions. He said that he wanted to do that. He did enjoy writing a guest blog post for Aviation Daily, but having a blog himself didn't work within the bureaucracy."

Ask him...

[Anonymous Coward]

Ask him the procedure for getting yourself off the no-fly list.

I'd ask myself, but I'd rather stay off that list, and since no one can say how you get on, this post might put me on that list, but I wouldn't know it until I couldn't fly next week.

P.S. Ask him if he admires Kafka and is trying to emulate his writings...

Q: Where is my pocket knife?

[sjonke]

n/t

Re:Dignity

[Anne_Nonymous]

>> When I made myself a pair out of paper-towels... insisted, I take them off too...

Yeah, well, they won't let me wear my tin-foil shoes either.

Re:Bill Maher had it right

[gnasher719]

'' He said, "Can we have another option to fly? We'll call it Fly At Your Own Risk Airlines. We won't screen for anything and you can pay for your tickets five minutes before your flight just like in the old days-1997." ''

Can you imagine the hilarity when you find out that the other 199 passengers are carrying bombs as well?

important transformer question

[SethJohnson]

Bruce should have asked him why "Toy Transformer Robots" are included on the Permitted / Banned items list [tsa.gov], but the threat of actual Trasnformer robots are ignored by the TSA.

Haven't they seen the documentary [transformersmovie.com] currently playing at theaters across the nation?

Seth

Some background on Bruce Schneier

[MadMidnightBomber]

Since no one else has posted yet: http://geekz.co.uk/schneierfacts/ [geekz.co.uk]

Yes

[Doc Ruby]

If you meant "reading that site about how Kip Hawley is an idiot [kiphawleyisanidiot.com]", then yes, I do feel better informed after reading that.

Re:Bill Maher had it right

[swillden]

He said, "Can we have another option to fly? We'll call it Fly At Your Own Risk Airlines. We won't screen for anything and you can pay for your tickets five minutes before your flight just like in the old days-1997."

They have this - commonly known as 'private' jets - though they are usually a commercial charter as well from a paperwork perspective. Thing is, most folks can't afford it.

Especially not terrorists. They could never charter a jet and then smash it into a building.

Spoiler?

[UP_Minstrel]

Bruce, you should have asked for a spoiler for the next episode of Security Theatre!!

Scene: Little girl crying no the plane and her mother is explaining to the person next to her how the TSA disallowed her Teddy Bear because it could have shed Lint.

LINT!

Haven't you ever heard of a lint bomb? All those fluffy pieces floating around just WAITING for someone to set fire to them. If ONLY they'd kept the ban on disposable lighters in place, we could have been safe from lint bombs and my little girl could have carried her Teddy Bear... *sniff*

[Fade to black over heroic music]