More Bush Admin Security Theater

Posted on May 20, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Some Ships Get Coast Guard Tip Before Searches.
I would understand this better if someone were being bribed. But 24 hours notice before searching ships for bombs, terrorists, and contraband generally, as a policy?

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3 Responses to More Bush Admin Security Theater

  1. James Wimberley says:
    May 20, 2006 at 2:33 pm

    What’s the applicable coastal waters limit? 3 miles or 12? The concerns of the shipowners over delays could be reduced if the Coastguard could inspect on the high seas, or inside the 200-mile economic zone. Oh, you would need a multilateral treaty or lots of bilateral ones to do it, or the casual disregard for international law that this Administration has made its mascot. But how much resistance could Liberia or Panama put up to serious US pressure on the issue?

  2. Thomas says:
    May 20, 2006 at 8:34 pm

    Well, no, not as a policy. At the discretion of local officials, based on information available to them. Of course what we need is more micromanaged security policy from DC (except, of course, when that’s exactly what we don’t need, and we’ll decide after the fact which was the appropriate choice).

    It is a bit ironic that the same folks who would defend the choice to shut down a program that, according to experts, would have prevented the 9/11 attacks because the program was too aggressive now want to pretend they’re security hawks.

  3. Michael says:
    May 20, 2006 at 11:05 pm

    I don’t see what’s odd about being against waste of time, money and effort.

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