Auckland Secondary Screening Line
So, it’s been awhile since I posted because I was traveling internationally and kind of being lazy at the same time. But I was aware enough to snap this picture for a post – which is what you’re now reading.
This picture is from the secondary security line in the Auckland, New Zealand airport. Secondary security lines were only for flights bound to the USA, and from what I understand, this secondary screening applies to every passenger on every international flight to America. This was implemented sometime after the Christmas Day attempted underwear bombing. In my case, I flew from Auckland to San Francisco and had to go through screening. My prior connector was from Brisbane, Australia to Auckland and I had no secondary line. But flights out of Brisbane to LAX did have the extra line.
Let me describe the screening a bit. First, they checked every single person getting onto the plane. And they checked everything. There was an initial pat down by a security agent of the same sex as the passenger in full view of the line of people waiting. Then there was a second station where one’s carry-on luggage was checked. In my case, I just had my computer bag with a few things for flying like a book, some water, headphones, etc. The agent literally rifled through everything and asked several questions. She even flipped through the pages of my book – which made me thankful I chose not to smuggle contraband this time Shawshank style…
Shawshank Bible
The image that sticks into my head was that of a girl in front of me who had to be around 2 years old. The secondary screener had her mom take the girl’s shoes off and then examined them ridiculously closely. Mind you, this is after everyone had already passed through the normal screening of x-ray, metal detection and random explosives trace testing. This second set of security, which none of the passengers were told was there until you literally walked up to the gate, took about an hour to get through.
It is just a shame that things have come to this. No one hates the United States and wants to terrorize and kill our citizens just because they ‘hate our freedom‘. Enemies of America wish us harm because of American policy and ‘interventionalism’. It is a difficult question to discuss – whether our foreign policy is worth its price in terms of lives and treasure – because of the price already paid by the men and women of the military (and first responders) who have given their lives since 9/11/2001. These Americans gave what President Lincoln called their Last Full Measure of Devotion, and no one intends or wants to call into question their ultimate sacrifice and dishonor the soldiers or the families left behind. But the most difficult questions for a nation are its most important to ask, and they cannot be shied away from. If whatever we’re doing results in needing to double check a 2 year old’s shoes on an airplane, it is definitely time to examine if what our country is doing is worth it.
What Me Hearties R Sayin’