J.D. Tuccille Talks Bogus TSA Spidey Senses and Security Theater on RT

There's no evidence that the Transportation Security Administration's Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques program actually works, the Government Accountability Office reported last week—for the third time. The GAO asked, given the lack of scientific support for the approach, why the TSA is deploying thousands of behavior detection officers, at a cost of $200 million dollars per year, to exercise their spidey senses in airport terminals.

Just days later, independent security researcher Evan Booth, of Terminal Cornucopia, demonstrated that you can build a grenade with materials purchased at the airport after you pass through the TSA checkpoint. In the past, he's built incendiaries, crossbows, and other weapons on the same principle.

As you can imagine, this provided the basis for an interesting conversation about airport security with RT's Ameera David.