A note about these newly posted non-link reviews.

This is another book that I got via the LibraryThing.com “Early Reviewers” program. If you're not familiar with the LTER, it allows site members to put in requests for review copies from a list of a hundred or so books being offered by publishers that month. Each book has a certain number of copies, and there are typically five to ten times (or more) the number of requests than the number of available books. This is where the “Almighty Algorithm” comes in … a complex mix of factors that connects the offered titles with readers who will, hopefully, be the best match. This has proven to add yet another source of variability in my reading, as I typically win something every month.

I am very pleased to say that Permanent Emergency: Inside the TSA and the Fight for the Future of American Security by Kip Hawley and Nathan Means was one of the more interesting, engaging, and well-written books that I've gotten via LTER (which does tend to be a bit of a “pig in a poke”). Needless to say, that is not what one would expect of a book which is, at its most basic level, the story of the development of a government agency. I'm going to be referring to Kip Hawley as “the author” here, as he is the person brought in to the Department of Transportation to help develop the Transportation Security Administration, and so this is his story, but I strongly suspect that the readability and pacing of the book are the work of co-author Nathan Means, which has me considering looking up some of his other titles.

Permanent Emergency features an interweaving of two narrative threads, one being in Washington, with the development of the TSA, and one internationally, with the evolution of the terrorist threat. The book starts with the chaos of 9/11, with the DOT, FAA, FEMA, and the military trying to find out what was happening and what they had to do. There is a section recapping that prior to Hawley being pulled back to D.C. … he had been a Transportation advisor in the Reagan administration, a Vice President at Union Pacific Railroad, and was an executive with a Silicon Valley transportation supply-chain software venture when Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta's staff convinced him to come on board to help build the new organization.

Obviously, everything had changed in a moment about flight safety … after decades of the “standard procedure” being to cooperate with hijackers because they were likely to have the plane land some place they could collect a ransom and disappear, it was now evident that new players were in the game, and were looking to rack up maximum body counts … any way they could. Following the 1988 cargo-hold bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, most attention was directed in things being checked on the flight, but following 9/11, everybody going on board a plane was now having to be considered a potential threat.

Hawley paints a picture of an on-going cat-and-mouse game with the terrorists on new technology. Some of these will be instantly familiar … the attempted “shoe bombing” that has an on-going legacy of having to go through security checks unshod, and the “underwear bomber” whose attempts to set off a chemical mix in his drawers raised an entire different set of concerns. There are a LOT of “odd rules” that have been in place over the past decade or so which get explained here. For instance, the “3-1-1” rule – 3oz bottles, in a 1qt ziplock bag, 1 bag per passenger – is based on the study of the various chemical mixes that the terrorists were using. The 3oz size proved to be too little material to be able to efficiently mix an explosive (even though they had to admit that the answer to the question of “could multiple terrorists mix their individual sets of liquids and make a bomb?” was a somewhat disconcerting “maybe”).

One of the on-going “technical” threads here is the development of explosives based on hydrogen peroxide – one of the key liquids of concern. Fortunately:

The hydrogen peroxide formula was extremely sensitive to minute variation, meaning that a spilled drop made a difference in whether or not it would work. Even with a world-class laboratory, the success rate in mixing the formula was around one in three. In addition, the fluid was dangerously corrosive and would cause severe burns if exposed to skin, not to mention that it had a strong pungent odor that would attract attention in airport secure areas …
… the baggie took al Qaeda's explosive of choice off the table for aviation attacks, obviating years of their research and development and pushing them to consider less effective bomb formulas.

Further technical advancements (like a device that can “sniff” even microscopic particles seeping out of containers) have led to the easing of these rules over time.

In 2005, Hawley becomes TSA Administrator and is thrown in to the deep end of the intelligence world … one thing that he implements, while not quite up to the Israeli model, are “BDOs” - Behavior Detection Officers, based on a program independently started by Paul Maccario at Boston's Logan Airport.

The BDOs were trained to refer to a sheet that scored various behaviors – distress, fear, fidgeting – on how alarming they were. BDOs used a cocktail of targeted emotions that drive the point-based system. By weighing different behaviors on a score sheet and confirming that they observed multiple alarming emotions, BDOs were able to incorporate a more objective approach to what is perceived to be a very subjective technique. Every day in America 2 million people walk onto planes from every possible ethnic, religious, cultural, and racial background. The score sheet was meant to provide some sort of threshold before selecting people for additional screening or questioning, and hopefully protect us and the passengers alike from mistakes driven by preconceptions of what a terrorist looks like.

There is also a significant amount of material here about Hurricane Katrina, as the agencies involved in the terrorism fight also were pulled in for that. Especially inspirational was how the Air Marshals were able to be mobilized from postings all over the country to act as key “first responders” keeping order at airports in the affected area.

Frankly, both sides of the story are sufficiently complicated and detailed that I really can't do justice to them in this review, but Permanent Emergency follows both with the tenacity of a good spy novel. There is obviously a lot of stuff we're not being told, but the amount of information here is really remarkable. Very useful, also, are sections at the end listing the names of all they key players (on both sides), and page after page of organizational acronyms, going into what they stand for and what those organizations do … fascinating stuff. There is also a time-line from 9/11/01 through 07/01/10 when a new permanent TSA Administrator was put in to replace the author.

Permanent Emergency just came out this summer, so is likely still out in the bookstores. It's available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook, and the on-line big boys have it at about a quarter off of cover price, which might be your best bet for picking it up since it hasn't seemed to have filtered down to the used channels to have a substantial discount (when individual shipping's added). I found this fascinating, and think it would appeal to anybody who likes spy thrillers, and books about politics.

CMP.Ly/1

A link to my "real" review:
BTRIPP's review of Kip Hawley's Permanent Emergency: Inside the TSA and the Fight for the Future of American Security (1245 words)

I have mixed thoughts on this book. On the one hand, it provided some explanations of the rationale behind seemingly arbitrary aspects of air travel (e.g., the liquids limitations) that made me far more tolerant of such measures. Had the TSA bothered to make these facts more well known among the general populace, one imagines there would be far fewer angry, frustrated travelers out there today. On the other hand, Hawley's book is something of a whitewash, and what he doesn't discuss at all or only once in passing (e.g. the massive cost overruns created by outsourcing security functions to private sector, for-profit contractors) are just as telling as the subjects he does describe in detail.

As far as writing is concerned, the book is far too repetitive, with descriptions of people, places, and procedures given over and over, sometimes within mere pages of each other.. The glossary at the end contains significant errors too. Having said that, this book is worth the read for anyone interested in this particular facet of post-9/11 history, at least until a more comprehensive, academic account is available. I just doubt Permanent Emergency's ability to appeal to anyone who isn't already a security or policy wonk.

As usual, I received this book for nothing and this time via the infinite monthly grace of LibraryThing. Despite that kind consideration I'll give my candid opinions below.

The summary of this novel is right in the subtitle. It goes into great detail to describe the people and processes that were put into place after the September 11th attacks to keep the country's air travelers from blowing things up. It is, in some ways, a response to the endless criticism that has been heaped upon this institution.

On the positive side, the book is wonderfully balanced as it covers all aspects of the TSA's efforts from the personnel, technology and training that are used today to the attackers themselves and their individual motivations and actions. I've seldom seen such a broad treatment of a single topic. It's also worth noting that author himself was a key contributor but his spin on the situation is wonderfully matter-of-fact and never falters into self-congratulation. He just recounts the events in meticulous detail whether those events be positive, negative or indifferent to his own reputation.

To the negative, the book is incredibly dense and will put some readers off significantly. This is a book best taken in small bites, say a chapter at a time and properly digested. Anyone attempting to read this in one sitting will likely be overwhelmed.

In summary, this is a deeply complex and fact-filled book. If you've ever wondered at the administrative origins of seemingly random TSA rules like 3-ounce liquid containers or why you have to take your shoes off then this book will answer absolutely every question you might possibly have. It's depth and breadth of topic is unparalleled. That said, it's not a book to be swallowed all in one go on a long Sunday afternoon. Highly recommended to the curious and the patient. ( )

This book is not what the title and the publisher's blurb from the Library Thing Early Reviewers book-selection page made me think it would be. Those suggested to me that this book would be a former TSA administrator's confession and damning revelation of the myriad faults of the Transportation Security Administration, the book that would do to that irresponsibly expensive and completely purposeless (except to let integrity-lacking politicians pander to ignorant but emotional voters by appearing to Do Something about an irresponsibly overblown "threat" elevated to apocalyptic prominence by sensationalist media hype and a hysterical overreaction to a rare event) agency what "Silent Spring" did to DDT and "The Jungle" did to early-20th century meatpackers. And that, I admit, is what I wanted this book to be.

However, that is not what this book is. It's more, I guess, of a colloquial memoir mixed with a very colloquial apologia of the TSA. And that, as prior (and quicker) reviewers have noted, is the biggest weakness the actual book has: the writing style

Anyone who has flown in the past decade know the challenges involved in getting from the airport parking lot to the door of the plane: Long lines, metal detectors, shoeless passengers, pat downs, and explosive detectors all stand in the way. While many Americans simply attribute this to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there’s a more complicated story of how they came to be. Innovation, experimentation, and revision. Federal laws, budget constraints, and conflicting desires. The pressure and expectation that the Government would be able to protect all 450 airports in the US, and the 2 million passengers who fly every day – a single unified effort that had never been attempted before, and which many people didn’t think was possible.

Kip Hawley, a former Silicon Valley executive who became the fourth head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in 2005, has written an interesting look at the agency, its people, and the challenges it faces every day. It’s an interesting book – not an autobiography, not an organizational history, but “a quick read for people who want to better understand that issues that play out in airports every day and counterterrorism in general.” I think he largely succeeds in this effort. The book is a mix of the history of the agency and the challenges they faced (from terrorists and bureaucrats alike). Intertwined are stories of individuals who played a role along the way and vignettes about situations they faced.

The book won’t magically make you happy if you’re standing in a long security line at the airport, or eliminate your frustration if you’re pulled aside for additional security screenings. But it will put a human face on a huge Government agency, and give perspective as to why you’re being asked to do certain things in the name of security. ( )