traveling via airport or bus terminal

I’ve been on a business trip for a week now and I’ve noticed something. Security at airports and bus stations are a joke. Depending on where you live there may be more or less security than I will mention. I think that if it’s like what I encountered you will agree that it isn’t very good. Especially if you are traveling out of NYC.

I should mention that I don’t feel mentioning any of this information is a bad thing. I feel the information is blatantly obvious. I feel that all the terrorists are aware of this, and in part why they have generally entered the country from Canada. It is also part of the reason why NYC is a target of attacks. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what I have observed, nor is it a benefit to anyone to turn a blind eye to false security. Perhaps in mentioning this we can get one step closer to real peace of mind.

I needed to go into New York City for part of my trip. I generally enjoy going back home. I decided to take the bus in on this trip. There was 0 security checks when I got on the bus. To my knowledge there have not been any security checks on the bus from Binghamton to NYC, nor Syracuse or any other place into the city. There may be some checks if you are coming from Canada, I am not aware if there are.

If you are LEAVING New York City to go to Binghamton by bus, there is a security check. It’s not nearly as invasive as the airport but I will get to that. The check goes through carry on items, and I assume there might be some baggage that is also checked, but I doubt it. More important is the fact that there is an assumption that terrorist/bad guy X wants to go from a city of 20 million people to a town of 200,000 and injure them. That sounds completely counter to the manifesto and actions that people of this mindset tend to act on. They want large crowds and dense populations. They target high profile places. Binghamton doesn’t register under any of these criteria. Most native New Yorkers barely have heard of the place, and are generally clueless about where it actually is. I doubt terrorists know more about it than someone from this state.

If you are going on a plane OUT of NYC, you will encounter a similar situation. In traveling to Ft. Lauderdale I had the joy of waiting on a line for 40 minutes, before going thru a moderately invasive security check. That was at roughly 4am for a 6am flight. I shudder to think what the lines were like for later in the day flights. I am unsure how much worse the recent plan to attack 10 planes in mid-flight has made the process, beyond severely limiting the carry-on items that has been well publicized. The flight INTO NYC took 3 minutes in the line and security check. For a late afternoon flight back there was no crowd.

Again it seems that the protection is skewed. NYC is a massive target. Attacks on this city are being thwarted more times than we are told, I am sure. But I don’t see how the billions spent on enhanced security is worth it. I would imagine that similar actions are happening at L.A. and the other major cities. There is more concern of those leaving the area than coming to it. What real use is that?

Realistically, if someone was going to cause harm is the airport, the plane or a smaller lesser town the best target? Has there been even one time that someone was suspected of anything while leaving a major U.S. city? Port Authority alone has more people in it than any section of Binghamton I can think of. And if they did find someone with say a bomb, do you believe they would just give up because they were prevented from getting to the smaller target, or would they just attack right there in the high density, high profile location?

I don’t mean to scare anyone. The facts are obvious though, and hiding from the truth does not protect anyone. I’m no safer because of checks done for those exiting major cities. And I feel my money/taxes are better spent doing something useful. It may be a pain in the ass, but how about we check what is coming INTO these places. That is far more of a deterrent that what is in place now. And if small-town USA is stuck on a line as well, so be it. At least people will be safe rather than the false security they feel now. Of course the cost will be astronomical once all the useless policies are added onto this idea. And the feasibility study, and the study to figure out why the old plan isn’t effective.

Well this is what I think about it. Who else has been traveling lately? What is it like into and out of other cities. I’d love to here other experiences.