Since the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day, policymakers and citizens have discussed the efficiency and accuracy of government security measures. Today President Obama called for improvements regarding security information collection, analysis, and dispersion. The New York Times summarized Obama’s statement:
The president called for the immediate strengthening of the nation’s terrorism watch lists. He said intelligence reports involving threats to the United States would be distributed more widely among agencies.
The problem with an ever increasing demand of security screening is the volume and complications involved in its execution. The aggregation of data will always overlook or misinterpret information, even with the large number of TSA employees, screening technologies, and government risk analysts. While improving the process will make things easier, these problems will always exist.
Additionally, increasing security measures can cause more hassle and costs for ordinary travelers instead of stopping threats. As Reason TV suggests, the TSA often exaggerates situations because of its extensive protocols and procedures.
Instead of focusing on increasing security measures and putting more emphasis on aggregated data collection, policymakers should recognize the limitations of this type of analysis and work to improve the information flows and ability for employees to use their local knowledge over protocol and procedures.
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