The TSA is hard to evaluate largely because it's attempting to solve a non-problem. Despite some very notable cases, airplane hijackings and bombings are quite rare. There aren't that many attempts, and there are even fewer successes.
That makes it hard to judge if the TSA is working properly — if no one tries to do a liquid-based attack, then we don't know if the 3-ounce liquid rule prevents such attacks. So Homeland Security officials looking to evaluate the agency had a clever idea: They pretended to be terrorists, and tried to smuggle guns and bombs onto planes 70 different times. And 67 of those times, the Red Team succeeded. Their weapons and bombs were not confiscated, despite the TSA's lengthy screening process.
That's a success rate of more than 95 percent. It's easy to make too much of high failure rates like that. As security expert Bruce Schneier likes to note, such screenings don't have to be perfect; they just have to be good enough to make terrorists change their plans: "No terrorist is going to base his plot on getting a gun through airport security if there's a decent chance of getting caught, because the consequences of getting caught are too great.
But even Schneier says 95 percent was embarrassingly high , and probably not "good enough" for those purposes. If you're a prospective terrorist looking at that stat, you might think smuggling a gun onto a plane is worth a shot.
Schneier isn't a TSA defender by any means. He likes to note that there's basically zero evidence the agency has prevented any attacks. The TSA claims it won't provide examples of such cases due to national security , but given its history of bragging about lesser successes, that's a little tough to believe.
For instance, the agency bragged plenty about catching Kevin Brown , an Army vet who tried to check pipe bomb-making materials. No longer limited to serving in major airports, the TSA now serves other areas. These agents will now serve in criminal justice jobs and be active in providing security in music and sports events.
The agency will also have an increased presence in commuter trains and Amtrak stations. Highway weigh stations will also be patrolled by the TSA agents as a part of the criminal justice efforts.
Other initiatives The agency recently implemented a more streamlined security protocol for travelers. The agency enrolls participants and those who qualify are able to avoid the more involved process.
The TSA Pre program is tailored to better serve the needs of the public by creating enhanced profiles based on intelligence and data driven metrics to gauge the level of threat for travelers. The program will allow travelers to move more quickly through security checkpoints at airports without having to undergo the cumbersome screening process.
It turns out it was a soldier bringing it back from Kuwait as a souvenir. In , the Department of Homeland Security revealed it conducted undercover tests at multiple security checkpoints at airports across the country.
Federal agents posed as passengers and attempted to sneak fake guns and explosives onto flights. The results showed they were successful in getting past security 95 percent of the time.
According to lawsuit documents, TSA implemented the program without any studies showing it worked and when they finally did the studies it showed it was no better at identifying threats than randomly picking people from a crowd.
Critics argued it leads to racial profiling. That program, which has used more than a billion dollars since its launch still exists today. The TSA promised to improve screening effectiveness at checkpoints. Last year they began rapidly implementing new scanning technology in bag screening machines, the same technology used in CT scans in hospitals. The real war is taking place in cyberspace in real-time. Investing in preemption rather than cumbersome point-of-departure security systems is not only likely to be more effective, but less intrusive and disruptive as well.
The safety and security of our air transportation infrastructure is vital to the well-being and growth of our nation. While some have argued that agencies such as the FAA should be privatized, air traffic controllers are undoubtedly necessary to the safe operation of our aviation network.
Conversely, the absence rates the TSA has faced during the shutdown emphasize how non-critical the agency and a sizable percentage of its workforce has become. Today, new technologies may allow us to start reclaiming our airports from our blue-shirted compatriots. The TSA was only ever a means to an end and, today, there are better means. This is a BETA experience.
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