mr president back to body scanners
i remain of the view that any measure which increases security for the travelling public must be welcomed
however it must also be proportionate and give innocent travellers the vast majority the respect they deserve
following the christmas day attempt to blow up the aircraft in the usa we have seen what amounts to a knee-jerk reaction to impose any possible means to enhance security
in some member states particularly my own the use of such machines is now mandatory with no alternative such as a pat-down available the so-called no scan no fly tactic
i fundamentally object to that policy
on the privacy front i have to say that the decision by the uk government to overturn child-protection laws in order to introduce body scanners is nothing short of a scandal
we have to look at the fact that on christmas day the issue that reopened this debate it was not down to poor security at airports
it was to quote the us president a failure in the system to properly exchange intelligence
some experts have already said that the explosives used would not have been detected by such scanners
finally i regrettably have to say that i now think we need to have a proper system of passenger profiling
