There has been a lot of banter lately about airline security in light of the recent attempt to bring down a Delta/Northwest flight outside of Detroit using a gonad bomb, and the myriad of incredible failures in the system.  Some are even going so far as to say that you can never fully secure an airline flight.

And they are right.

But we surely can do a hell of a lot better, and we can do it without dramatically impinging on civil liberties (especially those of our own citizens) and turning airline travel in another circle of hell.  How, you ask?

Stop focusing on weapons, and start focusing on people.  This is what El Al does, and when was the last incident you heard about on an El Al flight?

The simple fact is almost anything in an airline cabin can be turned into a weapon or device to bring down a plane.  Any moron who has ever watched MacGyver or paid just a little attention in high school physics knows this.  To secure an airplane in this matter – limiting the threatening devices instead of the threatening people  -- is ludicrous.

I’ve detailed some ideas here.  Read it over.  My basic premise is this:  US citizens are less likely to bring down an airliner, so when flying back to the US, they get less scrutiny than a foreigner trying to fly here.  And you move up from there, building an increasing number of filters to sort through the passenger list.  Starting with biometrics (fingerprints, DNA) and moving toward are stringent search policy for non-US-passport holders is a good start.

My basic premise also comes from this fact:  foreigners do not possess any Constitutional rights by virtue of their citizenship, and therefore, are not protected against more grueling background checks and invasive search procedures.  Flying to the United States is not a right, it is a purchased privilege.

I want to point out that this is no xenophobia.  Not every non-citizen is a Muslim terrorist looking to bring down an airplane, and I think we should welcome foreigners to come to the United States for the purposes of travel and commerce.  But welcoming them does not mean we have to lay down and roll over to be screwed with our pants on.

Focus on the dangerous people.  Keep them off the plane, and no matter what else comes on the plane will not matter.

The inestimable Jonah Goldberg has an excellent post over at The Corner on National Review Online about the different attitudes of and about John Ashcroft and Janet “The System Worked… Wait, It Didn’t So Much” Napolitano.

Fire her, now.  She is a hack. 

If it were up to me, here are the security procedures I would put in place for any airline traveler attempting to enter the United States not travelling on a US-issued passport:

1.  You must provide fingerprints, a DNA sample and two headshot photographs to the local US embassy at least four weeks prior to your flight and before receiving a visa for travel to the United States.

2.  You will undergo a full strip search at the airport before being allowed to enter any airplane (of any airline) travelling to the United States of America.

3.  Upon arrival at the customs checkpoint in the United States of America, you must provide a typewritten itinerary of where you will be staying, including phone numbers, addresses, and names of those you might be staying with. You will provide a second set of fingerprints and a second DNA sample to be compared to the first.

Information will be provided under penalty of perjury, which for those travelling to the United States on non-US-issued passports, will mean immediate expulsion. 

Violation of provision (or refusal to comply) will result in you being flown view C-130 on canvas jump seat to the US Air Force installation closest to your home country.

4.  You will not be afforded ANY constitutional rights in the event you commit – or attempt to commit – an act of terrorism.  You will be held as an enemy prisoner of war, subject to the appropriate articles of the Geneva Conventions on the Treatment of Enemy Prisoners of War.

5.  Anyone attempting to fly to the United States, purchasing a one-way ticket with cash, must purchase said ticket through their local US Department of State facility a minimum of eight weeks prior to travel and undergo a full criminal background check.

6.  No person on any “watch list” of any type shall be allowed transit to the United States of America who does not hold a US-issued passport.