December 8, 2009 12:52PM 

# Security-by-Obscurity Is Weak 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

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And we’re better off when it fails [this way](http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/massive-tsa-security-breach-agency-secrets/story?id=9280503) than when we learn the hard way that someone found an exploit.

Watch for the TSA to give extra scrutiny to wheelchairs, casts, and orthopedic shoes now that the screening manual giving those items a pass has been released.

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) 

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