I have long felt that many airport security measures are just for show — "security theatre", as Bruce Schneier puts it — but I now have some anecdotal evidence to back it up.
I fly frequently: from Dublin to my family in Durham, and I make the occasional transatlantic flight too. Before I realised it last week, I had taken a travel sewing kit in my hand luggage on seven flights, both short-haul and long. In Chicago, I even had my luggage hand-checked; they still didn't notice it.
Maybe they'd have been more thorough if I'd been wearing a turban.
The last time I flew I forgot to stick my leatherman in the checkin baggage. Bugger. Hid it in my laptop case - which was "xrayed" then "hand checked". No problem.
Turban? Does the USA have a problem with Sikh terrorists?