This essay examines the efficacy and efficiency of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) since its expansion following 9/11. The paper argues that the TSA has failed to achieve its core mission through three primary failings: a 70% failure rate in detecting weapons and explosives, systematic violations of Fourth Amendment protections and personal privacy, and massive wasteful expenditure of taxpayer funds on ineffective screening technologies. The author contends that policy reform or organizational restructuring is necessary to address these practical, moral, ethical, and economic shortcomings.
While technology has afforded modern travelers the ability to cross the world in relatively short time spans, a great cost is associated with this luxury. The dangers that terrorism has presented since the attacks of 9/11 have transformed air travel and security measures. The United States Transportation Security Administration has been a massive failure, wasting millions if not billions of taxpayer dollars with little to no demonstrable reduction in terrorism. It is time to reexamine the efficacy, efficiency, and economics of the TSA as they relate to common sense travel security.
Due to the large increase in global air travel and growing technology to produce undetectable weapons, the United States should take the lead with other nations to secure the skies. The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate how the TSA is ultimately ill-equipped to address this challenge and that a new solution is necessary. This essay will highlight three main problems with the TSA and its approach to airline safety before concluding with a message urging reform.
The most important and obvious failure of the TSA since 9/11 is its blatant ineffectiveness. Terrorism itself is an almost impossible threat to defend against due to the ambiguity of the term and the charged emotions that accompany its usage. The TSA is not capable of handling such security checks. Blakely (2013) agreed with this assessment, writing that "the TSA has been notoriously terrible at catching threats. The failure rate of 70% on guns and knives is comically bad, and in March a TSA agent was able to sneak a bomb in his pants through two checkpoints and a pat-down."
Statistical context further undermines the TSA's claimed necessity. Given that the rate of terror attacks has fallen exponentially since 1970 and the odds of dying in a terror attack are about one in 20 million, what difference does the TSA actually make? To put this in perspective, Americans are twice as likely to be struck by lightning as they are to be killed in a terror attack. They are 200 times more likely to die by choking, possibly on airline food.
The question remains: why does the government allow these agents to continue working when, in actuality, they are undermining the security capabilities of the American people? The TSA does not make sense if it cannot catch terrorists. For this reason, its existence should be questioned, and Americans need to determine if this organization is worth preserving.
Besides being grossly ineffective at their job, the TSA also violates the human rights of everyone who passes through these searches and seizures. The American way of life has been threatened as unnecessary screening checks are haphazardly applied while the privacy and human decency of each traveler is violated. The humiliating experiences of removing clothing and going through body scanners simply to travel from one point to another demonstrates the tyrannical nature of the U.S. Federal Government and its inability to control situations responsibly.
The U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment was intended to protect against this type of unlawful invasion of personal freedom. However, due to exaggerations of the terrorist threat by media and politicians, the nation is stuck with a despicable organization. There has been much debate about this problem, but Macsata (2010) explained the violation when he wrote: "Benjamin Franklin once said, 'He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.' Apparently, members of Congress agree with our founding fathers, as they are lining up against TSA's new security measures. On November 18th, Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. told the Knoxville News Sentinel, 'The American people should not have to choose between having full-body radiation or a very embarrassing, intrusive pat-down every time they fly, as if they were criminals.' Rep. Duncan also called into question the lucrative nature of the contracts being secured by some of the private companies represented by former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff."
"Inefficient procurement and deployment of costly equipment"
The report came days after the Electronic Privacy Information Center released a November 2011 Department of Homeland Security report that "identified vulnerabilities" in the scanners, which cost up to $200,000 each and are being used as primary screening apparatus at 45 airports. This massive investment in unproven technology, combined with documented equipment failures and inefficient deployment, represents a significant drain on public resources with minimal return on security outcomes.
For many, the TSA needs to be changed if not eliminated entirely. The moral, ethical, practical, and economic problems stated above prove that this organization has been a failure and that policy must be reformed. In the coming days and months, this problem will continue to grow as more people find alternative ways to avoid the TSA, flying, and government overreach in general.
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