[k2enemy]

The TSA is also succeeding in another one of their goals. Their very public and very disruptive "security" measures are a visceral reminder that reinforces people's beliefs that there are terrorists behind every corner and that we need to be protected from them. And as long as we're afraid of terrorists the government can institute more sinister measures such as mass surveillance and domestic spying.

[rhino369]

I'd argue essentially the opposite. That TSA is there to make people believe they are safe from terrorism. Fear of flying crippled the airline industry post 9-11.

People have a very irrational fear of flying. It's the safest mode of travel, yet, single incidents panic people and multiple panic the entire country.

[ConceptJunkie]

That may be true, or at least was true when 9/11 was still fresh in our minds, but the TSA is also there to get us used to the idea of being manhandled, questioned and/or detained by government officials.

El Al has had a better security record without the digital "strip searches" and junk-grabbing. The USA accomplish the same... if it wanted (i.e., Congress/the unions/everyone but the taxpayers).

[chimeracoder]

> El Al has had a better security record without the digital "strip searches" and junk-grabbing.

Actually, El Al is just as bad as well. El Al also had an open and explicit policy of racial profiling until last year (when it was ruled illegal in court to practice this policy openly[0]). If you are white and carry a US or Israeli passport, you'll breeze right through. But the experience of flying El Al is very different if you:

a) have an Arab name, or

b) "look" Arab, or

c) are Palestinian.

El Al has been very heavily criticized by Arab Jews (yes, they exist) as well as non-Arab and Arab Muslims and non-Muslim Palestinians for treating the aforementioned groups very badly. There have been multiple cases of Arabs, Muslims, and/or Palestinians winning civil suits against El Al for their shocking treatment of these groups - in many ways worse than what the TSA is usually criticized for doing.

By the way, this doesn't happen only in Israel, but in other countries as well (including the US), which let El Al conduct their own security procedures at foreign airports for flights to Israel. In at least one lawsuit, the plaintiffs won and were awarded five figures in part because their mistreatment by El Al happened in New York, where open[1] racial profiling is illegal.

[0] emphasis on openly.

[1] emphasis on open.

[serge2k]

Honestly, I have had more issues with TSA jerks than with the NSA.

[benburwell]

That you know of, anyway :)

[hkmurakami]

I wonder if the the subliminal conditioning to think there are terrorists around the corner also make us distrust the guy lurking around the streetcorner.

[tracker1]

You mean that no-good, pinko commie!?

I don't think it's all that new... it's just another witch hunt... nobody is found, and the cycle continues... we need more military, more weapons, more useless tools, and projects to make a few people on this inside millions of dollars.