A prediction on the end of passengers’ shoe removal at airports comes across as a welcomed change in procedure at security checkpoints and erroneously gets wide print and broadcast coverage Wednesday, as what happened with Homeland Security Department Secretary Janet Napolitano peering into her crystal ball, observes Grumpy Editor.
Television jumps at the news, showing footage of shoes being removed at airports, then giving the impression that the procedure is at, or nearing, an end.
But somewhere along the line, news editors miss the announcement that shelving the airport shoe biz is “in the future.” Make that distant future.
An Associated Press story on the shoe business distinctly has Napolitano saying that technology to scan passengers’ footwear for bombs doesn’t yet exist and may not be available soon.
The AP story then underscores that with, “No technology meets government standards to screen shoes for explosives at airports while passengers wear them.”
Can’t be much clearer than that.
Footwear removal at airports is an added security measure since an al-Qaida member unsuccessfully tried to detonate a device built into his shoe almost 10 years ago.
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