As usual, Bruce Schneier is a voice of sanity and reason in matters of security. Read his take on random bag searches on the NY subway and racial profiling in security checks. He basically believes that neither will increase security noticeably. This quote had me nodding agreement:

If we are going to increase security against terrorism, the young Arab males living in our country are precisely the people we want on our side. Discriminating against them in the name of security is not going to make them more likely to help.

I’ve been thinking, that security is not about making terrorist attacks impossible – it’s about creating a world where people are less likely to want to commit them. Imagine a society where security is so tight that it is impossible to detonate a bomb on public transportation, no matter how clever or determined you are. How good would security have to be? How Orwellian? How much freedom could be allowed in this society?

There’s a trade-off between security and freedom and Bruce Schneier’s is the clearest and most reasonable voice pointing this out.