For now, could we please apply a bit of common sense to this situation? Just how much risk is involved if we give border staff the discretion to work on the assumption that children under 10 and grandparents over 80 are not the terrorists named on the list? What if we have a four year old with the same name as someone flagged five years ago? Might we throw caution to the wind and declare the youngster not to be the terrorist? If we clear same name travellers once, why can’t their photos and I.D. go into a computer and be accessed the next time they are travelling? Why must we haul them aside, investigate, and then clear them each time?
While we wait for the authorization of major expenditures to set up a new computer system – one that will undoubtedly cost much more than $78 million annually and will come with numerous “bugs” that need to be worked out over an extended period – let’s adopt some simple, straightforward steps that spare innocent travellers.