Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist and author. Described by The Economist as a “security guru,” Schneier is best known as a refreshingly candid and lucid security critic and commentator. He is also the founder and CTO of Counterpane Internet Security, Inc. The guy knows his stuff.

Too bad he’s not head of the Department of Homeland Security.

Here’s his take on the latest airline security issues, “Focus on Terrorists, Not Tactics,” which appeared as an Op-Ed piece in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune Sunday.

As he says:

“Security measures that require us to guess correctly don’t work, because invariably we will guess wrong. It’s not security, it’s security theater: measures designed to make us feel safer but not actually safer.

Airport security is the last line of defense, and not a very good one at that. Sure, it’ll catch the sloppy and the stupid — and that’s a good enough reason not to do away with it entirely — but it won’t catch a well-planned plot. We can’t keep weapons out of prisons; we can’t possibly keep them off airplanes.”

Amen.