funsec mailing list archives
Re: Fun with (In)Security
From: Paul Schmehl <pauls () utdallas edu>
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2006 14:55:40 -0600
--On January 28, 2006 1:41:53 PM +0000 Drsolly <drsollyp () drsolly com> wrote:
The big fear is terrorists entering the country from Mexico or Canada with suitcase nukes. From what I've read, suitcase nukes are a fantasy. The amount of nuclear material that could be carried in a suitcase, with an explosive mechanism, is negligible and the half-life of the radioactive material makes them worthless in a relatively short period of time.On Fri, 27 Jan 2006, Fergie wrote:Yeah, I saw that last night. :-) All that smoke... but I digress. What I meant to say is,given how porous the U.S. borders are, it makes one wonder just how serious they really are on the 'war on terror'.I've never really understood why people conflate "war on terror" with "US porous borders". I can only think of two major (or minor, come to that) terrorist attacks on the USA in the last decade or so, and they didn't come from either Mexico or Canada.
But that doesn't stop people from freaking out over the idea.
You're assuming rationality enters into the picture when people are worried about bogey men.Of the two major attacks I can think of, one came from a home-grown nutter (Oklahoma) and the other flew in legally via scheduled airlines. The anthrax stuff is unproven, but seems to be generally thought to be of US origin.
I don't mean to minimize the threat. There are definitely bad men who want to sneak into the country and kill a lot of people (as London unfortunately learned), and we need to find rational and efficient ways of stopping them before they strike. But irrational fears about fantastic weapons that don't really exist only serve to enrich lobbyists and politicians at our expense.
Paul Schmehl (pauls () utdallas edu) Adjunct Information Security Officer University of Texas at Dallas AVIEN Founding Member http://www.utdallas.edu/ _______________________________________________ Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts. https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.
Current thread:
- Fun with (In)Security Todd Towles (Jan 27)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Blue Boar (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Technocrat (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Dude VanWinkle (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Technocrat (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Drsolly (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah (Jan 28)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Fergie (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Drsolly (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Paul Schmehl (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Drsolly (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security David Lodge (Jan 29)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Drsolly (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Blue Boar (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security TheGesus (Jan 28)
- RE: Fun with (In)Security William Lefkovics (Jan 29)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Paul Schmehl (Jan 28)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Technocrat (Jan 29)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Valdis . Kletnieks (Jan 29)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Drsolly (Jan 30)
- Re: Fun with (In)Security Valdis . Kletnieks (Jan 30)