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Do we need the TSA?

E. Kent Golding
@EKentGolding
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Let me state right up front that people who work should be paid. If TSA workers are asked to show up for work, they should receive a check. On their regular pay schedule, not at some undefined time in the future.

However, do we need the TSA?

Does the TSA make us feel safer?

Does the TSA make us actually safer?

Could the security job be performed better, cheaper, more effectively, and less intrusively by local airports or by the airlines?

Would armed U.S Marshals on the planes be a better alternative? Maybe arm the entire airline crew?

The current system seems like the appearance of safety rather than actual security.

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Discussion (24)

  • namlliT noD@DonTillman

    I wrote about this... checking... 15 years ago, July 2011:

    “Abolish the TSA”, as a Campaign Issue

    Quote:

    Having just done some travelling, I’ve decided that I’d like to see some of the presidential candidates get behind this simple proposal:

    ”Abolish the TSA”

    The arguments are compelling:

    • TSA screening operations are a word-for-word literal violation of the fourth amendment.
    • Contrary to the fundamental principles of the US government, the TSA has no mechanisms of checks and balances, no mechanisms to limit its power, and no mechanisms for the public to redress grevences.
    • TSA policies are completely ineffective. The TSA has never thwarted a terrorist operation, and nobody believes that it ever will.
    • Since the TSA security procedures are spec’d, would be terrorists know exactly what they need to work around to pull something off.
    • The TSA costs $8 billion per year. And growing.
    • The TSA has been shown to negatively impact general commerce, to be harmful to the airline business, and cause an increase in the use of less appropriate and more dangerous automobile travel as travelers avoid airports.
    • We still need some form of airplane security, of course, but it should be something that has a chance of being effective.

    I’ll suggest replacing the TSA with a much simpler system:

    ”Cops and servicemen fly for free”

    This would be a round-robin voucher-based system, with spending limited to 1/10 the current TSA budget. The statistical chance of a police officer or serviceman on any given flight would be pretty high; and the combination of their presence and an alert flying public has a much better chance of taking down any terrorist plan than the TSA ever could.

    And right now, with an upcoming election, is the time for candidates to step up. I think that an “Abolish the TSA” platform would pretty much secure the air traveller vote (maybe about 150 million citizens in the US) at the expense of the TSA worker vote (a little more than 50,000 people).

  • Fritz@Fritz

    I have not flown it but have read that the Israeli airline does a very good job of screening passengers by <clutch pearls> profiling them and interviewing some, looking for the patterns of behavior and/or appearance that may call for closer scrutiny.

  • MarciN@MarciN

    I'm squarely in the Keep the TSA column.

    The day before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, my daughter flew from Boston to Ireland for an internship after college. My son, husband, and I took her to Logan to see her off on her adventure. :) We went to Terminal E, which was the international terminal. It was under construction, and the chaos was very high because of it. We saw several school groups and their very frustrated chaperones trying to keep everyone corralled. We had never seen so much disorganization, and we talked about it all the way home. We even said that if ever anyone wanted to pull off a terrorist attack, that would be the place. Readers can imagine how we felt the next day.

    Whether the TSA has ever prevented (or thwarted) a terrorist attack cannot be known for sure. Deterrence is a funny thing. My husband and I went on a tour of the old U.S. military fort in Newport, Rhode Island. Fort Adams has one primary function: to keep invading navies from gaining entry to New England through the Narragansett Bay, which connects to seven rivers. Our tour guide pointed out that the weapons had never been used. It was an amazing feat of deterrence, just it's being there.

    A little closer to daily life, it was always interesting how quickly a group of teenagers settled down as soon as an adult was present.

    I've been thinking these past few weeks, with the newest Iran war, it was irresponsible of everyone involved to allow the TSA to fall apart the way it has. That it has done so with so much publicity is even worse. Why don't we just say, "Come get us!"

    If I were involved with the airlines or the airports or the airport authorities, I would figure out a way to pay the TSA agents. Or I would shut down the airports. The states have plenty of money. They absolutely could pick up the bill for this payroll. That they didn't step up is irresponsible. There are some bills you pay when you have to do so, and you figure out how to reimburse your emergency cash fund later. Or you don't proceed. There are only two choices.

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