Article on Necessity of Racial Profiling from the BYU Political Review

Racial Profiling: The Solution to Airport Security

Written by Ryan Burningham

On Christmas Day, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab stuffed his underwear with explosives and boarded an Airbus A330 in Amsterdam with 289 other passengers. By the time the plane reached Detroit, a single terrorist had nearly killed 300 civilians in yet another attack on an airplane over American soil. Despite heavy, invasive airport security, the passengers were saved only by a slight malfunction in the explosive and the would-be bomber’s own incompetence, which illustrated an uncomfortable yet inevitable conclusion: despite its efforts at obtaining security through overseas operations, the United States has failed to establish adequate security measures at home. The Department of Homeland Security’s same-day response was predictable and warranted: institute new, more thorough, and more invasive security measures to prevent similar attacks in the future. Leaked to the public by an anonymous TSA worker, TSA Security Directive SD-1544-09-06 instructed TSA personnel to immediately institute a series of heightened security measures, including the following: thorough pat-downs of all passengers before boarding, inspection of all personal property to be brought aboard the plane, restricting passengers to their seats for one hour after takeoff and one hour before landing, disabling all passenger communications systems (internet, on-board phones, etc.), and prohibiting passengers from having any blankets, pillows, or personal belongings on their laps for the final hour of the flight. Though the directive was obviously a response to the attack on Christmas (it was issued that very day, and many of its measures address Mutallab’s method), none of these draconian additions to already invasive airport security would have prevented the December 25 attempt, which makes them worthless in deterring future attempts of the same sort. Consider each of the measures individually: Thorough pat-downs of all passengers before boarding could not conceivably include the pelvic region of the body, where Mutallab’s explosive device was located. Inspection of all personal property to be brought aboard the plane (with an emphasis on liquids and syringes) would not detect liquids (like the acid Mutallab used as the catalyst in his explosive device) hidden on the passengers in areas not subject to pat-downs. Restricting passengers to their seats after takeoff and before landing would limit the scope and media coverage of terrorist attacks (planes brought down from the sky by an internal explosion would be less likely to land in larger, more populated cities), but with enormous passenger capacities on modern jets, one downed plane would still result in hundreds of deaths—a wild success for Al-Qaeda. Disabling passenger communication systems would further inhibit potential attackers from identifying cities or landmarks on the ground over which to detonate a device and would slightly limit the possibility of simultaneous attacks, but still does nothing to prevent an attack from occurring. And finally, prohibiting passengers from having blankets, pillows, or other personal belongings on their laps prior to landing would prevent attackers from surreptitiously activating explosives like PETN just before landing, but would not prevent the same activation at any other point in the flight. In short, none of the measures instituted the day of the attack would necessarily have prevented the attack had they been instituted the day before. Until now, the Department of Homeland Security and TSA have prevented attacks on airplanes in America by instituting increasingly invasive security measures. Without strip-searching every passenger, however, the PETN underwear bomb will continue to go undetected in most circumstances. Consequently, Americans face an unfortunate dilemma of priorities: should we continue to sacrifice personal privacy, convenience, and dignity in the name of American security? In a war with no rules, where would-be attackers make weapons of their shoes and underwear, there has been one glaringly obvious (but under-recognized) congruency among airplane attacks: every attack on commercial airliners in America in the last two decades has been committed by foreign-born, middle-aged Muslim men with the same eye, skin, and hair color. To effectively prevent terrorist attacks on American airliners, the Department of Homeland Security needs to utilize its greatest advantage in the war on terror: a homogenous enemy. But Americans cringe at the very thought of racial, sexual, or religious discrimination in any form. The mere suggestion of profiling foreign-born Muslims calls up images of southern segregation and internment camps for Japanese-Americans. The simple truth, however, is that 40-year-old American-born mothers of three do not fit the established profile of an airplane hijacker or bomber. Obviously, TSA’s standard airport security and technology are still unable to prevent terrorist attacks that could easily kill hundreds of American civilians. If Americans want a better solution, they need to be willing to consider and implement alternatives to traditional airport screening. A simple modification of security procedures—subjecting foreign-born, middle-aged Muslim men to increased scrutiny—would be much more effective in preventing terrorist attacks than the entire list of heightened security measures issued in December. What I am suggesting is not a perfect solution—such profiling cannot stop all conceivable terrorist attacks. It would, however, force organizations like Al Qaeda to recruit from the ranks of white, elderly, Christian, American-born women—an exceptionally difficult task. Though unsavory, racial profiling represents an effective option for alleviating the current airport security dilemma. Until another more viable and equally effective solution can be identified, Americans must consider its merits. I just want to get people to comment on the blog because if you can't find multiple points to critique in this article after taking this course for over half a semester then you shouldn't pass the class. So show what you know and see if we can get a discussion going related to this topic and how it relates to class and a Multicultural America.