TICKET AND ID, PLEASEE

Here's a confidence builder. A travel blogger recently announced on his web site that the Transportation Security Administration had "accidentally" posted a 93 page manual on-line, revealing its most closely guarded airport security screening procedures. It held a wealth of material for would-be terrorists, including pictures of ID documents required for congressmen and CIA officials, a description of when to allow certain firearms past a checkpoint, and when police, fire or emergency personnel may bypass screening.

The TSA insisted, however, that it was more of a " public relations blunder than a major risk, because TSA manuals are shared widely with airlines and airports and are available in the aviation community. While it's certainly a type of document you would not want to be released . . . it's not something a determined expert couldn't find another way," an official said.

Whew! I feel much better now. This wasn't an actual security breach, something that might require some kind of accountability and/or discipline, this was just a little "oopsy." Which means that all the BS we go through when we fly - the endless lines, taking off our shoes, playing toady to the minimum wage, minimum qualification personnel at security checkpoints, taking flack from every airport employee who could ruin our flight plan on a whim - is an exercise in futility, because in fact the information is already out there for any nutbag jihadist who knows how to use a computer. This is less a case of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold than it is The Three Stooges Take a Vacation.