Let's Be Honest: We Need Full Body Scanners and Pat Downs at Airports

Yes, those full body scanners are intrusive and the pat-downs are irritating. TSA employees can be overzealous. But honestly, what is the alternative?

Those who favor the use of profiling for airport security are correct in pointing out that this vital tool is being avoided because of political correctness. But in all honesty, the enemy is too smart to keep using young Muslim men to carry out their dirty work. I’m all in favor of using profiling to protect ourselves. But what do you do about people like Jamie Paulin-Ramirez (below), who was arrested in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who angered Muslims? Or Colleen Renee LaRose (further below), AKA “Jihad Jane,” who was also implicated in the plot? Profiling is not going to work in those instances. Al Qaeda and other groups are adaptive, working hard to recruit blonde-hair and blue eyed members.

So let’s be honest about this. It’s fun to gripe, but profiling alone is not going to work in every case. Our enemies are going to come up with new techniques: the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber, etc. And they are going to recruit from different demographic groups. All it takes is one successful attack and we are facing catastrophic consequences. Until we destroy our enemies, these sort of airport inconveniences are going to be a fact of life.