My post yesterday on Israeli airline security prompted the following response from reader Steve Checkoway, a computer science PhD candidate specializing in security issues:

Mr. Wittes is incorrect to write that a great deal of the criticism of the TSA has to do with whether the TSA should behave like the Israelis. The rest of the post seems quite correct to me (my own experience at Ben Gurion was roughly similar: a woman approached me as I entered the airport and asked me a few simple questions in English; I received minimal hassle from the security; I left feeling like they were professional and courteous) and explains nicely how the U.S. is not like Israel. Even though some have certainly suggested that the TSA should be more like Israel, this misses the point entirely.

The primary criticism is that the TSA has overstepped its authority—or if it has not, then it has too much authority—in implementing invasive new security procedures. The new full body scanners are of dubious utility and there are unresolved medical questions. Either of those by itself should be enough to preclude their deployment. Still those aren't the biggest issues and not what has caused such outrage. The problem is that the government has decided that having naked-ish pictures taken or being groped in a manner that when performed by any other stranger would be sexual assault can be made a precondition of flying. What's worse is the standard pat down is quite-clearly retaliatory with TSA agents reportedly calling out things like “We've got an opt-out!”

Much has already been written on this topic and I won't attempt to duplicate it here. Bruce Schneier has collected a great deal of links to the public outcry and criticism of the TSA on his blog. I think this is a representative sample of the criticisms of the TSA. It has nothing to do with how the TSA should act, it's a criticism of how the TSA is acting.

Circling back around to the professionalism I experienced at Ben Gurion contrasted with the TSA, I'm reminded of another thing Mr. Schneier has written several times, “If you ask amateurs to act as front-line security personnel, you shouldn't be surprised when you get amateur security.”

Mr. Wittes further writes, “Do you prefer groping and technonude pictures of yourself, or do you prefer giving tens of thousands of TSA employees the power to decide who's just not that scary.” This is a false dilemma. There's no reason we need to have either. “Deadly terrorism existed before 9/11” and we, as a country, did not see fit to subject ourselves to virtual strip searches or aggressive, genital-groping pat downs.

Finally, I note that per Mr. Wittes disclaimer at the beginning of his post, I am at fault for reading his post.