Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Politics

Does TSA = Troyer Squeezing Administration?

Nick Gillespie | 6.18.2014 7:10 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Actor Vern Troyer, best-known for his role as "Mini-Me" in the Austin Powers movie franchise, posted this picture on his Twitter feed with the tweet "Another day another flight. #TSAstruggles."

Let's be clear: Hashtagging this sort of indignity "TSAstruggles" is being overly polite. The inspection of passengers provided by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been a colossal waste of resources and time. Additionally, the process has normalized the sort of degradation captured above.

As Bruce Schneier wrote in a 2012 debate in the pages of The Economist:

Exactly two things have made air travel safer since 9/11: reinforcing the cockpit door, and convincing passengers that they need to fight back. Everything else has been a waste of money. Add screening of checked bags and airport workers and we are done. All the rest is security theatre. If we truly want to be safer, we should return airport security to pre-9/11 levels and spend the savings on intelligence, investigation and emergency response.

The TSA's latest innovation—identifying people in airports for extra-intense scrutiny—received a withering evaluation last fall as well:

The Government Accountability Office said its investigation found that the results of the TSA program -- called Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques -- were "no better than chance." Under the program, agents identify suspicious looking people and talk to them to determine whether they pose a threat. The investigators looked at the screening program at four airports, chosen on the basis of size and other factors.

"TSA has yet to empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of the program despite spending about $900 million on it since 2007," said Steve Lord, who directed the investigation for the GAO. He said the GAO, which is the research and investigative arm of Congress, "conducts active oversight of the TSA for the Congress given their multibillion-dollar budget." He said "the behavior detection program is viewed as a key layer of aviation security."

Read more here.

But it's all a small price to pay to win the War on Terror, right? 

Reason on TSA.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: Jacob Sullum on the Value of Ignorance in Preventing Warrantless Cellphone Tracking

Nick Gillespie is an editor at large at Reason and host of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie.

PoliticsTSAWorldNanny StateScience & TechnologyCivil LibertiesEconomicsPolicyTerrorismSecurityDepartment of Homeland SecuritySurveillance
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Show Comments (33)

Latest

Review: Detroit's Ford Rouge Factory Reveals Just How Far American Industry Has Come

Jason Russell | From the August/September 2025 issue

Brickbat: Out of the Woods (or Else)

Charles Oliver | 8.22.2025 4:00 AM

Georgia Woman Could Lose $30,000 After Local Government Denies Her Permit To Open Hair Salon

Tosin Akintola | 8.21.2025 5:07 PM

No, Tariffs Can't Replace Income Taxes

Veronique de Rugy | 8.21.2025 3:05 PM

Socialism Just Imploded in Bolivia

César Báez | 8.21.2025 1:50 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2025 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300
Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300
Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300