Security comes up short (4/15/05)

You know the drill, if you’ve traveled by airlines since Sept. 11.

Stand in line. Watch your mouth. No joking. Make sure your carry-on luggage has nothing that might be viewed as a threat, right down to those toe-nail scissors you tucked in at the last minute. Take off your shoes. Put them in the plastic tub. Empty your pockets. Take off your jacket. Wait your turn. Then step through the metal detector.

If you hear a beep, you can be prepared to be “wanded” by a representative of the Transportation Security Administration. You may also be patted down in a pretty intimate matter. And your luggage may be subject to a random search that could include emptying the entire contents of your bag.

That’s the drill.

And American travelers have pretty much gotten used to it. They don’t like it. But they endure it because they believe such precautions make air travel safer and more secure.

But after an upcoming report by the Government Accountability Office, who knows what they’ll think.

The report, which has been seen by a few folks in Washington, will say that all the TSA procedures aren’t working. And a similar report by the inspector general of the Homeland Security Department comes to the same conclusion.

We’re spending billions. We’re inconveniencing millions of travelers. And we’re no safer than we were before.

It is, admittedly, a huge job. And it’s one of those jobs where 100 percent perfection is probably impossible.

But given the price that’s been paid — in tax dollars and in the loss of personal privacy — Americans have a right to expect more. — J.R.

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