Transportation Security Administration head John Pistole has announced that, beginning April 25, passengers going through airport security can now bring onboard knives with blades no longer than 2.36 inches (6 centimeters) and no wider than a half-inch, along with previously banned sports equipment such as golf clubs (limited to two), pool cues and hockey sticks.
Pistole called his move a time and labor saver. “Frankly,” he explained, “I don’t want TSA agents to be delayed by these.” The TSA’s other stated reasons for the shift: to better focus on “finding higher-threat items” and “to align more closely with International Civil Aviation Organization standards.”
How much time will be saved when TSA agents have to whip out a ruler to measure knife blades, I am not sure. “Higher-threat items”, of course, refer to bottled water, shampoo, sunburn lotion, peanut butter sandwiches and cupcakes. And since when has the United States cared about measuring up to international standards in anything?
But notice there was no mention of the decision being made for reasons of better or more sensible security.
As any fool, excluding Mr. Pistole, knows, a knife-wielding maniac or terrorist can wound or kill with any size blade, or put the pilot behind the armored cockpit door in a difficult position by threatening violence on passengers and flight attendants. This is, after all, exactly what the 9/11 hijackers did.
Brandon M. Macsata, executive director of the Association for Airline Passenger Rights and a critic of airport security screening procedures, said he is not sure how the change will improve security or speed the screening lines at airports. "It seems to be a poorly thought-out decision," he said. "I don't pretend to understand the logic behind it."
Stacy Martin, president of Southwest Airlines’ flight attendants union, can connect the dots. “This policy was designed to make the lives of TSA staff easier, but not make flights safer," Martin said. "While we agree that a passenger wielding a small knife or swinging a golf club or hockey stick poses less of a threat to the pilot locked in the cockpit, these are real threats to passengers and flight attendants in the passenger cabin.”
So, for the record, 2.36-inch knives are okay, 2.37-inch knives are dangerous. Two golf clubs are fine, but three remain a threat. The TSA will still be patting down old ladies and four-year-olds as if they were wearing Osama bin Laden Fan Club sweatshirts, and we all still have to put our shoes and belts in a plastic bin.
I feel safer already.