Big Brother Landing at an Airport Near You

Re “Foreign Visitors to U.S. Will Cross Digital Divide,” Jan. 5: One can only applaud the latest in the administration’s crusade to ensure that those who threaten life and liberty are readily identifiable. Fingerprints and photographs are a good start, but we should not stop there. Why don’t we make all visitors to the United States wear a large, colored badge embroidered onto their clothing? We could color-code the badges for nation of origin and perceived threat level. This would assure that good, honest citizens would be able to spot the untrustworthy on the street -- then point, stare and hold whispered conversations about them.

Hold on a minute. We could attach global positioning system trackers to the badges.... Someone pinch me, please. Are we really all passively watching 1984 arrive?

Jon Phillips

Torrance

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Re “Twice-Canceled Flight Leaves Britain,” Jan. 4:

Al Qaeda no longer needs bombs or box cutters to win. All it needs is chatter to disrupt air travel and cause millions of dollars in damage. If intelligence indicates that a flight is to be attacked, of course extra precautions are in order, but precautions in secret.

Why should we publicize our interception of their communications and give them victory by canceling a flight? Is the whole thing just show business?

Royce D. Stauffer

Carpinteria

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Those of us living in the flight path of Los Angeles International Airport are ecstatic over the international resistance to draconian U.S. requirements for air marshals. Since 9/11, our three-per-minute noise assaults have eased to one per 20 minutes. We encourage the feds to please continue their thoughtful efforts to reduce noisy inbound flights to just one per month.

Anthony Pereslete

Culver City