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by DoofusOfDeath 2705 days ago
I don't think that statement, by itself, tells us much about the TSA's efficacy. Because their mere presence could be an effective deterrent.
2 comments

We know at least two made it through. Underwear bomber, shoe bomber.

We also know pre-9/11 how common it was (non-existent).

We also know that they consistently fail audits. Though they've gotten better! Most recently they only failed ~75% of the time at detecting things auditors were trying to smuggle in, instead of the prior 95%!

So, yeah, by itself it doesn't. But we have enough data to make a pretty solid eval.

Both the underwear bomber and shoe bomber boarded flights overseas (Amsterdam and Paris respectively) -- so no TSA involvement.
The TSA has operated overseas before, but probably not in these countries.

If they see a country isn't up to their standard, I think they either show up to implement it for flights headed to the US or at least consult with the nation.

Underwear bomber was Saudi intelligence/CIA, for the reader's info.
But the parent comment wasn't regarding the efficacy of the TSA, it was regarding the dangers of being a TSA agent
All the parent wrote was:

> The TSA has never found a bomb.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't understand how that supports your statement.

They were replying to a comment which implied that the main risk of working for the TSA is dealing with bombs. But the TSA has never dealt with any bombs, so clearly that's not actually a risk of working there.