These Boots Weren't Made For Screening - Tales From an Airline Passenger

In a couple of weeks many of us will be flying for the Thanksgiving holiday, so this tale - shared by a friend - seemed very timely.

What happens when a terrorism expert - traveling to Turkey at the behest of NATO - during a routine airport security check gets pulled over by the TSA for 'extra' screening? That's the story my colleague Amy Zalman tells in her post "Our Baggage, Ourselves -- Traveling in the TSA's USA."

Unlike Amy, I have never worked with NATO's travel agency to purchase an airline ticket to present a paper at a bioterrorism workshop in the Turkish capital of Ankara (and that ticket, bought within 24 hours of her flight, is likely what flagged her for extra screening). But like most women, I can relate to Amy's story about the perils of flying in fancy footwear:

My boots (a really fabulous short black suede pair) were checked with a handheld explosives detector, put through the x-ray machine a second time, then checked a third time with the handheld detector. Three different employees handled and discussed the boots. I told the third that I'd worn the boots many times on planes and that I'm not great even at getting sparklers to light. "I know you are," he said. He gestured in the direction of a TSA official in a booth about fifteen feet away. "Because if there was really something on these boots, it would be that guy over there, not me, talking to you."

Is all this security necessary, or just for show? Having gone through the more intense screening reserved for questionable passengers, what does a terrorism expert think about the TSA's ability to actually prevent acts of terror on planes and in airports? Read Amy's post and find out...and maybe you'll want to rethink what footwear you fly in this Thanskgiving.