[quote=Sunfish;9849493]IsDon:
Given that Khazal was on a watch list already, why would updated screening produce a better result?
I am concerned that many pilots are falling for the tabloid newspaper philosophy that generates hysteria in the general public and does not account either for the cost of security measures, their efficiency or their unintended consequences.
Examples:
A drunken New Years Eve kiss to a female police officer can get you branded as a registered sex offender for life.
A drunken brawl at a pub (your fault or not) and a conviction for assault means you are never getting an ASIC and can kiss an aviation career goodbye.
Then there was the aforementioned lass who found an aviation job, but a Centrelink overpayment turned into a crime of dishonesty, so no ASIC.
Now of course there is the entire "domestic violence" feminist push that could potentially see you convicted without even the possibility of cross examining the accuser and with the onus of proof reversed.
Ask yourself if you really want to trust your employment to faceless bureaucrats with arbitrary powers.
Oh! And Khazal is still appealing.....
On 25 September 2009 the Supreme Court of New South Wales sentenced Bilal Khazal to 14 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 9 years, for producing a book whilst knowing it was connected with assisting a terrorist attack that would happen in Australia. In 2011 the conviction was overturned[1] and Khazal was granted bail by the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Sydney on 7 June 2011, after spending nearly three years in jail. Mr Khazal's barrister, Charles Waterstreet, said that his jail conditions had been "just one step down from Guantánamo Bay".[citation needed] The Australian Commonwealth appealed to the High Court of Australia which in August 2012 unanimously overturned the earlier dismissal and Khazal's bail was revoked by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal. That court is yet to hear an appeal against his original sentence./QUOTE]
I really don't get your point. Are you saying there shouldn't be any background checks because these checks are of little practical value and they might exclude someone who is not a threat? Presumably then anyone can work airside?
Are you just taking the piss?
The theatre that is airport screening of passengers and crew is a bureaucratic joke I'll grant you that. Especially once you consider that a large proportion of airside workers can just walk through a turnstile with the most rudimentary of security checks, or none at all. If this is your point I agree with you completely.
Behind the scenes checks of all operational and airside working staff is still important however. I don't want the likes of Kahzal anywhere near my aeroplane. Loading it, fuelling it, catering it, being a passenger in it, sitting in a tinny off the extended centreline of 16R with an RPG or waving at it from his backyard in Lakemba. If ASICs are what is required then so be it.
The real heavy lifting keeping our skies free from terrorism is not done by the security numbskulls at our airports. It's done by the invisible agencies using intelligence gained locally, and in collaboration with our international equivalents that have the greatest impact. You want bang for your buck, then spend it here. Not on white elephant full body scanners.