October 2001 - cypherpunks-legacy

Los Angeles Times: Don't Go Postal on Airport Security
by Gabriel Rocha 22 Oct '01

22 Oct '01

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-000083377oct19.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2 Dcomment%2Dopinions Los Angeles Times COMMENTARY Don't Go Postal on Airport Security By JOHN R. LOTT Jr. John R. Lott Jr. is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of "More Guns, Less Crime" (University of Chicago Press, 2000) October 19 2001 If you had an important task in which speed and flexibility were vital, would it be better done by government or private employees? The answer seems obvious. Government salaries are fixed, and firing them is virtually impossible. Government bureaucracies are not known for quick adjustments or innovations. Nowadays, even the U.S. Postal Service hires Federal Express to help deliver mail. In the post-Sept. 11 debate, though, it seems taken for granted that the federal government should take over security at airports. The discussion so far involves anecdotal stories of how people were able to breach airport security. The assumption is that this would never occur if only these workers were federal employees. Yet does anyone really wonder whether reporters posing as illegal immigrants could cross the Mexican border? Airport screening is extremely difficult. Terrorists can evade metal detectors with knives made of plastic or ceramics. Thin metal blades can be hard to detect with X-rays and can be hidden in the bottom of shoes or made to look like parts of metal boxes. Even hand checks of all baggage do not guarantee safety. But there is a better approach. Western European countries started privatizing airport security in the early 1990s after spectacular security failures with government-run operations. The governments set standards but left it to the privately run airports to decide exactly how to meet the standards. Private security is not just limited to screening passengers and their baggage. In Britain, for example, private companies also provide gate, aircraft and catering security, as well as crew screening. Similar arrangements exist at such high-risk airports as Amsterdam, Belfast, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Paris. At Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, government involvement is more extensive, providing training and controlling access to the tarmac and other sensitive areas. Still, a private company conducts pre-boarding screening and other security operations. What is startling is how the drop-off in hijackings corresponds with the privatization of these services. There were 21 hijackings in Europe during the 1970s, 16 during the 1980s but only four during the 1990s. Out of these 41 hijackings, only three originated from airports with private security. With all the concern about getting qualified people to perform security, Europe's experience has another lesson. Europeans found that some people were too highly trained and got bored and inattentive staring at screens all day. In any event, training standards have nothing to do with workers being employed by the government. Barbers, real estate agents, doctors and others are required to meet minimum training times. In most states, you can't sell real estate without attending classes for at least six months, but no one claims that means agents should be federal employees. Many airlines are losing tens of millions of dollars each day. If they are to survive, people's fear of flying must be dealt with quickly. An airline safety bill that creates one government agency to operate security has passed the Senate and is moving to the House. That solution would eliminate competition that could create innovative ways to protect passengers. In their rush, senators re-created Western Europe's painful mistakes. Europe learned the hard way that some things are better run by the private sector. If these provisions in the Senate bill become law, the U.S. will be modeling its air security system after the post office. -- "It's not brave, if you're not scared."

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Re: ENVELOPE STUFFING JOB
by Steve Furlong 22 Oct '01

22 Oct '01

Eugene Leitl wrote: > > On Fri, 19 Oct 2001, Riad S. Wahby wrote: > > > How much laboratory experience do you have? Specifically, we're > > looking for people with experience handling white powders. Also, > > Laminar flow bench, dude. And it's brown, not white, but you knew that > already. Powder color is the thing that's been driving me up a wall the past few days. People are panicking about the wrong dang thing. I'm tempted to scatter baker's yeast in a public place and powdered sugar nearby, and observe which causes people to panic. All that's left is figuring out how to do this enough times for meaningful results, without getting arrested... -- Steve Furlong Computer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel 617-670-3793 "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly while bad people will find a way around the laws." -- Plato

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by EVS 22 Oct '01

22 Oct '01

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by Jim Choate 22 Oct '01

22 Oct '01

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FBI's Trial Balloon- Torture
by Matthew Gaylor 22 Oct '01

22 Oct '01

[Note from Matthew Gaylor: It is an established procedure of a government to first hint at something that they are considering to gauge the reaction. This has got to be one of the more disturbing items I've read over the course of the last couple of weeks. The US constitution and bill of rights recognizes, not grants rights. Any FBI agent who considers torturing a suspect should be fired and then prosecuted for conspiracy to violate civil rights. Such an agent is also a traitor to the US constitution. FBI agents when they take their oath pledge their allegiance to the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Any law enforcement officer who tortures suspects or carts suspects off to be tortured in a foreign land certainly deserve to be considered Un-American and an enemy of the rule of law.] <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/specials/attacked/A27748- 2001Oct20.html> Silence of 4 Terror Probe Suspects Poses Dilemma By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, October 21, 2001; Page A06 FBI and Justice Department investigators are increasingly frustrated by the silence of jailed suspected associates of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, and some are beginning to that say that traditional civil liberties may have to be cast aside if they are to extract information about the Sept. 11 attacks and terrorist plans. [...] Said one experienced FBI agent involved in the investigation: "We are known for humanitarian treatment, so basically we are stuck. . . . Usually there is some incentive, some angle to play, what you can do for them. But it could get to that spot where we could go to pressure . . . where we won't have a choice, and we are probably getting there." Among the alternative strategies under discussion are using drugs or pressure tactics, such as those employed occasionally by Israeli interrogators, to extract information. Another idea is extraditing the suspects to allied countries where security services sometimes employ threats to family members or resort to torture. Under U.S. law, interrogators in criminal cases can lie to suspects, but information obtained by physical pressure, inhumane treatment or torture cannot be used in a trial. In addition, the government interrogators who used such tactics could be sued by the victim or charged with battery by the government. [...] ************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt(a)coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor, (614) 313-5722 ICQ: 106212065 Archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/ **************************************************************************

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RESEND: FBI considers torture as suspects stay silent
by Incognito Innominatus 22 Oct '01

22 Oct '01

FBI considers torture as suspects stay silent http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001350021-2001364909,00.html AMERICAN investigators are considering resorting to harsher interrogation techniques, including torture, after facing a wall of silence from jailed suspected members of Osama bin Ladens al-Qaeda network, according to a report yesterday. More than 150 people who were picked up after September 11 remain in custody, with four men the focus of particularly intense scrutiny. But investigators have found the usual methods have failed to persuade any of them to talk. Options being weighed include truth drugs, pressure tactics and extraditing the suspects to countries whose security services are more used to employing a heavy-handed approach during interrogations. Were into this thing for 35 days and nobody is talking. Frustration has begun to appear, a senior FBI official told The Washington Post. Under US law, evidence extracted using physical pressure or torture is inadmissible in court and interrogators could also face criminal charges for employing such methods. However, investigators suggested that the time might soon come when a truth serum, such as sodium pentothal, would be deemed an acceptable tool for interrogators. The public pressure for results in the war on terrorism might also persuade the FBI to encourage the countries of suspects to seek their extradition, in the knowledge that they could be given a much rougher reception in jails back home. One of the four key suspects is Zacarias Moussaoui, a French Moroccan, suspected of being a twentieth hijacker who failed to make it on board the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Moussaoui was detained after he acted suspiciously at a Minnesota flying school, requesting lessons in how to steer a plane but not how to take off or land. Both Morocco and France are regarded as having harsher interrogation methods than the United States. The investigators have been disappointed that the usual incentives to break suspects, such as promises of shorter sentences, money, jobs and new lives in the witness protection programme, have failed to break the silence. We are known for humanitarian treatment, so basically we are stuck. Usually there is some incentive, some angle to play, what you can do for them. But it could get to that spot where we could go to pressure . . . where we dont have a choice, and we are probably getting there, an FBI agent involved in the investigation told the paper. The other key suspects being held in New York are Mohammed Jaweed Azmath and Ayub Ali Khan, Indians who were caught the day after the attacks travelling with false passports, craft knives such as those used in the hijackings and hair dye. Nabil Almarabh, a Boston taxi driver alleged to have links to al-Qaeda, is also being held. Some legal experts believe that the US Supreme Court, which has a conservative tilt, might be prepared to support curtailing the civil liberties of prisoners in terrorism cases. However, a warning that torture should be avoided came from Robert Blitzer, a former head of the FBIs counter-terrorism section. He said that the practice goes against every grain in my body. Chances are you are going to get the wrong person and risk damage or killing them. In all, about 800 people have been rounded up since the attacks, most of whom are expected to be found to be innocent. Investigators believe there could be hundreds of people linked to al-Qaeda living in the US, and the Bush Administration has issued a warning that more attacks are probably being planned. Newsweek magazine reports today that Mohammed Atta, the suspected ringleader who died in the first plane to hit the World Trade Centre, had been looking into hitting an aircraft carrier. Investigators retracing his movements found that he visited the huge US Navy base at Norfolk, Virginia, in February and April this year.

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22 Oct '01

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Re: Another precious moment from shrub...
by Nomen Nescio 22 Oct '01

22 Oct '01

The really peculiar thing about Bush's speech was that while he was giving his war talk, you could see through the window behind him that people were flying kites in the park. How bizarre to juxtapose the fragile innocence of kite-flying with the harsh reality of warfare. And anyone notice that Rumsfield is losing it? At his last press conference he was shaky, he wasn't answering the questions, he was trailing off and losing his train of thought. Reminiscent of Reagan in his second term.

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22 Oct '01

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Re: Another precious moment from shrub...
by Bill Stewart 22 Oct '01

22 Oct '01

At 12:30 AM 10/20/2001 -1000, Reese wrote: >At 01:51 AM 10/20/01 -0700, jamesd(a)echeque.com wrote: > >In Latin America one Soviet sponsored tyranny was overthrown, and replaced > >by democracy, > >Name? If this is the Soviet sponsored tyranny that replaced 40 years of "He may be an SOB, but he's OUR SOB" brutal dictatorship, it's Nicaragua. And the US government spent $9/voter (or maybe vote, I don't remember which) on campaign funding for the election where Chamorro beat Ortega - that's far beyond the amounts spent in normal US elections - plus they'd funded military resistance and civil war against the Sandinistas, so the economy was seriously damaged not only by Marxist stupidity and traditional cronyism and corruption, which would have done a number on it all by themselves, but by the need to spend large amounts on the military, the destruction caused by both sides of the conflict, and the diversion of otherwise-productive people into war, and of course by the serious limitations on international trade caused by the US military mining their harbors.

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