My little ditty about profiling brought a storm of comments, pro and con. I can see that you folks have strong feelings about this.

So do I, and I see the issue in very simple terms. We’re under attack, at war with enemies who will stop at nothing and don’t care about their own survival. Passenger planes are big juicy vulnerable targets. The enemy is going to continue to attack them because they know our air security is very porous, and if they keep sending in creeps like Reid eventually one of them will succeed. We need to figure out the best way to stop them.

A simple issue. With life or death consequences. If we don’t do everything we can to make air travel safer, Bin Laden’s hope of bringing America down by striking at its economy will become a reality—because the disasters will continue until no one wants to fly.

The passengers who kicked Richard Reid’s dumb ass did a courageous thing; air travellers are now very aware they are the last line of defense, and that’s part of the way to solve this problem. But if Reid had been better prepared (or less stupid) nothing could have prevented him from blowing a hole in that jet. It was sheer luck that he was caught.

Therefore, we should consider profiling techniques (which are more sophisticated than simply strip-searching anyone with dark skin)—because they work. And here’s proof, especially for those who commented that profiling wouldn’t have caught Shoe Boy Richard Reid: Israel Was Wary of Suspect.

During the pre-boarding security check, Reid aroused the suspicion of El Al ground personnel, said the airline’s spokesman, Nachman Klieman, but would not elaborate on what Reid did to set off warning bells.

The El Al security official said Reid was considered suspicious because of his appearance and because he was traveling only with a hand bag.

El Al profiles passengers, and Arabs and some foreigners routinely come under closer scrutiny. Arabs, including those with Israeli citizenship, usually have their suitcases searched, and some belongings are screened individually for explosives.

Reid was subjected to a “very rigorous check of all the items he was carrying, as well as a personal search, including the removal of shoes and sending the shoes to be checked,” Klieman said. “Everything he was carrying was checked.”

The search did not allay suspicions and Reid was given a window seat in the back of the plane, with an armed sky marshal next to him in the aisle seat, said an Israeli source, speaking on condition of anonymity. The source said Israel had received no advance intelligence warnings about Reid. …

The El Al security official said he believed Reid flew to Israel to check the airline’s security arrangements, in preparation for a possible attack on a future El Al flight. “He must have dropped this plan in a hurry,” the El Al official said. “It’s pretty hard to smuggle weapons onto an El Al flight.”

Nery Yarkoni, an Israeli aviation security consultant with clients in the United States, said the close scrutiny given to Reid indicates that profiling works. “What we see is that this guy was actually profiled as one who should be very carefully checked,” said Yarkoni, a former head of Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority.

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