The Sky Is Falling, Hypothetically Speaking

Nov 1, 2003 12:00 PM, LARRY ANDERSON, Editor

When some guy put himself in a crate and mailed himself cross-country, the media spin on the story went something like this: What if he had been a terrorist? Couldn't a group of terrorists mail themselves on the same plane and thus defeat security?

What mayhem could a hypothetical group of terrorists, newly liberated from their cramped quarters, do to an airliner in flight — presumably using a bottle of bleach, some box cutters and some modeling clay as weapons?

That's another story that fed the media's obsession with security — the one about the student who managed to get those items on a plane undetected by security. The bleach, the box cutters and the clay were all found by the maintenance crew and apparently no violence was intended — the youngster was just trying to make a point. But what if he had been a real terrorist?

All these hypotheticals are enough to make security professionals sweat every detail and do everything in their power to keep their company's people, facilities and assets as safe as possible — except, of course, they do that anyway because it's their job.

Just last month, an office building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., was evacuated because of a toy gun. Questions came up immediately about what the incident means to the security of the Capitol, implying that somehow not enough is being done. As if, following the incident five years ago when a mentally ill man opened fire in the Capitol and killed two security guards, the government has not already taken every conceivable precaution. The argument seems to be: “Well if they are breaking out the toy weapons, it's time we really got serious.”

Which isn't really the point, one might say, because what if it had been a real gun, then what?

Again with the hypotheticals.

There has been a media obsession with security since Sept. 11 — you could say there has been a national obsession. The country is learning that the key to security is constant vigilance. And the media's version of constant vigilance is to keep security issues in the headlines, even if the angles are somewhat hypothetical. It's as if they are trying to make up for their oversights pre-Sept. 11. Aren't we all.

Here's a reality check: A toy gun is a toy gun. Modeling clay is modeling clay. There is no such thing as a 100-percent-effective security system. Human error is the ultimate uncontrollable variable.

And security breaches — real ones with possibly tragic consequences — are bound to happen again in spite of all we can do. We'll never be perfect, just as perfect as humanly possible.

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