At the time the TSA was hired the majority of workers had previously been airport security which is was low-skill/low-pay job. When Bush Jr established the TSA, those same people were federalized. Meaning Federal pay, benefits, retirement, etc for the same low skill level.
They haven't improved much since then. The organization has essentially made Security Theater an event with audience participation. Yet they routinely miss threats -- like they have a 95% FAILURE rate at points.
I accidentally brought a full-sized 4th of July smokebomb through TSA and didn't realize it until I unpacked after I got home.
I'm not talking one of those small, spherical smokebombs. No, this was one of those 5" long, 1" diameter sticks, and it was by itself in a pocket of my netbook bag, which didn't have room for much else, so it's not like the xray image would have been confusing.
Seems like tons of other people have had similar experiences.
TSA's impact on safety is largely imagination and wishful thinking.
That sounds about right, I took a domestic flight from SFO to PSP this week. I had a full-sized tube of toothpaste going there, with no issues, and they took it away coming back.
They haven't improved much since then. The organization has essentially made Security Theater an event with audience participation. Yet they routinely miss threats -- like they have a 95% FAILURE rate at points.
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/06/reassessing_a...
Incidentally, that post is fairly well known amongst the security minded as you see here.
https://reason.com/2021/11/19/after-20-years-of-failure-kill...