The TSA
After the 9/11 attacks, airport security has beefed it self up, as to prevent any further attacks. The TSA(Transportation Security Administration) was formed after 9/11 to help stop terrorist attacks, but there is little evidence that they ever have. They suck at their job, leave liabilities open, and attack privacy to fake safety. In a series of trials, the Department of Homeland Security was able to smuggle fake explosives, weapons and other contraband past airport screeners in major cities across the country, according to ABC News(Campbell).
Those who were apart the investigation told the station that the TSA failed 67 out of 70 tests conducted by the department’s Red Teams who were undercover passengers who were supposed to attempt to expose any weakness. The TSA’s main job is to screen people, but they failed 95% of the time. So many people could be in and out with dangerous firearms and we wouldn’t even know. DIY hobbyist Evan Booth decided to see whether or not a person could build their own weapon, and he manages to create a fully functional blunderbuss(A large barreled gun) using solely items he purchased at shops and materials brought from home(Morse). Obviously this takes only a minor amount of technical knowledge to pull off along with a roll of tape and can definitely produce enough power to cause some serious damage if not some fatalities. Someone with just a hobby and not much technical knowledge could create a working blunderbuss that could cause fatalities.
That wasn’t even their biggest problem, as they suck so much at screening that they could let guns through. If they can’t notice a professional gun, why wouldn’t they notice a zip gun(A homemade gun)? You might be thinking, well they make me feel safe, which is in fact their primary purpose. In order to make you feel safer, they invade privacy just to commit what is known as security theater. Security theatre is, simply put, attempting to create the feeling of safety for people, while actually doing nothing to achieve it(Levenson). Making you take off your shoes, stop you from saying bomb, doesn’t actually make you safe, it just makes you feel safer, and creating a false sense of security can be dangerous too.
Instead of being a little more cautious, the more easily convinced fliers will drop any senses of security or action that could stop an attack before it’s too late. I’ve been a victim to this before, they’ll leave no stone unturned just to make some people feel safer while achieving no other safety. Knowing that this practice does nothing for me, I’d rather not have to go through this harrowing practice than think I’m a little less safe. I would know, as I was trying to fly back here after a trip; where the TSA are going through my stuff like I’m a bomb crazy 13 year old. They’re taking me into questioning, and wasting time, making me late for my flight because my phone seemed suspicious. Was all of that worth just making me and other people “feel safer?” I felt harassed and that this was unneeded.
I’m not saying that I can’t see the original intents of the TSA, but just for security theatre, not being able to actually screen well, and invading privacy of the customer, they all seem unnecessary and all at the expense of the people and their money. Rather we should be investing our money in more important things that actually stop terrorist attacks, such as intelligence agencies that can stop attacks before they even happen, and air marshals that can provide safety for the plane with a second loaded gun. Works Cited : Campbell, Andy. “TSA Fails 95 Percent Of Airport Security Tests Conducted By Homeland Security: Report.” The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost, 01 June 2015. Web. 09 Mar. 2017. Morse, Brandon. “Another Example Of How the TSA Is An Awful, Useless, Waste of Taxpayer Money.
” RedState. N.p., 01 July 2016. Web. 09 Mar.
2017. Levenson, Eric. “The TSA Is in the Business of ‘Security Theater,’ Not Security.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 31 Jan.
2014. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.
