A similar incident occurred at the Naval Academy when a Marine guard stopped the admiral in charge of the facility and asked to see some identification, as is standard policy for anyone entering academy grounds. The admiral, not in uniform, had a tantrum that the lowly corporal had the nerve to question him. Long story short, the admiral issued a full apology to the corporal and then resigned his post.

The problem McKinney faced that day isn't racism, it's arrogance -- unfortunately, her own. It's ridiculous for anyone to assume that all guards should recognize them on sight. There are 435 representatives and 100 senators. Nobody should be expected to remember so many people on sight, even if there are very few black female members. (Do I know whether white, male members of Congress are in the habit of not wearing their pins? No, I do not.)

From a security perspective, counting on visual recognition is also an extremely bad practice. A change in hairstyle might stump the guards, as it may or may not have at the congressional office building that day. People can resign or be fired, so even if a security guard recognizes them, they might no longer have legitimate rights of access.

Arrogance also dictates the adoption of a ridiculous "security practice" such as the lapel pin, which is an even worse idea than reliance on personal recognition. Congresspeople have shown themselves not to be paragons of virtue, and there is no guarantee that they won't bring in disallowed materials into their buildings. However, they like to believe they are superior to, or at least more recognizable than, the average person, so the security plan apparently provides for a way to be readily recognized. But a lapel pin? So stupid, it's unbelievable. I know this guy in Korea who makes great pins, and I'm sure he can make me a congressional lapel pin for about $5. I'm sure that there are thousands of people around the world with similar skills, and some of them just might be sympathetic to terrorists. All you need to do is put on a suit and a fake lapel pin and act arrogant, and you too can get into congressional office buildings without being checked.

Arrogance has been the cause of countless security failings, usually when the arrogant parties believe they're too important for security practices to apply to them. John Deutsch, the former deputy secretary of defense and CIA director, was found guilty of allowing his children to use classified computers, among other things. Similar cases happen with corporate executives. I have become immune to being surprised after repeatedly seeing arrogance as the cause of security problems even with low-level workers. Arrogance is even a source of poor systems administration passwords. I can't tell you how many times I have seen the easily guessable passwords of 'iamgod' or just plain 'god' on administrator accounts.