Syracuse.com: SU student questions VA security actions. A Syracuse University graduate student taking photographs outside the VA Medical Center says she was questioned and ordered to delete several images by hospital security officers Thursday afternoon. Mariam Jukaku, 24, of Michigan, said the officers also photocopied her university ID and driver's license and asked if she was a U.S. citizen. She wonders if her appearance played a part in how the incident was handled.

Let's be clear: The security officers had no authority to order this woman to do anything of the kind. And if this incident occurred as described (there's no reason to doubt it), it's entirely probable that appearances were part of the reason.

These kinds of paranoid acts by officials do nothing to increase security -- nothing. They only provide a demontration of what others have called "security theater" -- the pretense of protection that does more harm than good.