AIRLINE SECURITY FOR DUMMIES
The New York Times reports that further revisions have been made to the "reforms" meant to improve the competency of airline security workers. It seems that 25 percent of them do not have a high school diploma. In the original plan to fix things after Sept. 11, the new workers would need a high school diploma. But now that seems too onerous, so it's been dropped. In defending the position a lawyer with a position in the case uses lawyer-speak to explain why it's good to have dumb people working in airport security:

The private security industry, which lobbied hard against the new law, agrees with that assessment. Kenneth P. Quinn, counsel for an association of the private airline security companies who will turn over their responsibilities to the government next year, said the repetitive nature of the screening jobs is often not a good fit for people with higher educational backgrounds.

"There's no demonstrable nexus between advanced educational degrees of any kind and the ability to perform at a high level as a screener," Mr. Quinn said. "In fact, the opposite is often true."

Tucked next to that story, the NYT ran an AP story about a man who had a loaded gun in his carry-on bag at Memphis. It was found after he was picked for a random search. But, oops, seems he had already gotten the same gun through security at Tampa and Atlanta. Delta acknowledged the event but had no further comment.
- posted by Amy @ 12/30/2001 12:59:00 PM