An airport checkpoint before the checkpoint?

Long waits at security checkpoints have become the new normal at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where officials say the ranks of screeners has fallen while the number of travelers is rising. Leila Navidi | Star Tribune via AP

When I was in a massively long line near the check-in counter in Phoenix earlier this month, it occurred to all of us that the size of the crowd made a good target for terrorists. It’s the sort of thing that comes to mind now whenever we’re in a big crowd. In the parlance of the new world: We were a “soft target.”

It’s worth noting that today’s attack at the airport in Brussels occurred in the “departure area,” the area before security.

“Terrorists are adjusting to our security measures,” Michael Morell, former CIA deputy director, told CBS This Morning today.

“Does this mean that we’re going to have to have checkpoints before checkpoints just to get into the airport?” CBS News host Gayle King asked Morell.

This is the part where we’ve come to expect even the most hawkish security experts to say, “We have to live our lives; we can’t prevent all attacks and locking down public spaces is impractical.”

“Absolutely,” Morell quickly responded to King’s question.