On security

Quoted in whole from Bruce Schneier Blog:

December 22, 2006

Not Paying Attention at the Virginia DMV

Two men have been issued Virginia drivers' licenses even though they were wearing outlandish disguises when they had their pictures taken at the Department of Motor Vehicles:

Will Carsola and Dave Stewart posted Internet videos of their pranks, which included scenes of Carsola spray-painting his face and neck bright red and Stewart painting the top of his head black and sticking a row of fake buckteeth in his mouth in an Asian caricature. They each enter the DMV office and return with real licenses with photos of their new likenesses.

In another video, a shaved-headed Carsola comes out of the DMV with a photo of his eyes crossed, and another friend obtains a license after spray-painting on a thick, black beard and monobrow.

The videos are here and here.

The Virginia DMV is now demanding that the two come back and get real pictures taken.

I never thought I would say this, but I agree with everything Michelle Malkin says on this issue:

These guys have done the Virginia DMV--and the nation-- a big favor. Many of us have tried to argue how much of a joke these agencies and our homeland security remain after 9/11--particularly the issuance of driver's licenses (it was the Virginia DMV that issued state photo ID to several 9/11 hijackers who were aided by illegal aliens).

But few dissertations and policy analyses drive the message home more effectively than these two damning videos.

Thanks, guys.

I honestly don't know if she realizes that REAL ID won't solve this kind of problem, though. Nor will it solve the problem of people getting legitimate IDs in the names of people whose identity they stole, or real IDs in fake names by bribing DMV employees. (Several of the 9/11 hijackers did this, in Virginia.)

http://tinyurl.com/yf9v2a

AND

Sneaking into Airports

The stories keep getting better. Here's someone who climbs a fence at the Raleigh-Durham Airport, boards a Delta plane, and hangs out for a bunch of hours.

Best line of the article:

"It blows my mind that you can't get 3.5 ounces of toothpaste on a plane," he said, "yet somebody can sneak on a plane and take a nap."

Exactly. We're spending millions enhancing passenger screening -- new backscatter X-ray machines, confiscating liquids -- and we ignore the other, less secure, paths onto airplanes. It's idiotic, that's what it is.

http://tinyurl.com/ycgfl3

AND

Airline Security a Waste of Cash

http://tinyurl.com/yjv6oj