The TSA are ludicrous... as are the muppets who run security at British airports... they lack intelligence and are utterly incompetent. In the UK pilots are subjected to ridiculous petty "security" procedures which make no sense whatsoever. For example, a pilot I know had his nail clippers and a sandwich confiscated. (The sandwich was deemed to not be "dry" enough). When challenged the moron at security said that it was possible he could use the clippers as a weapon and dangerous chemicals could be hidden in the sandwich. When it was pointed out to him that he was about to take charge of a huge, fully fueled missile with over 200 people on it with an axe in the cockpit.. he simply shrugged. Rules is rules.
This is about money and power. It has become an industry in its own right and the rules created are in part self interest. It is stupid to waste time screening the captain and first officer of an airplane, when they are about to be put in charge of the plane. Some things are out of our control. Pilots have the power to kill all their passengers and screening will do nothing to help. (Google Silkair and Egyptair crashes if you need proof).
Likewise, universal screening measures which target everyone means that vast sums of money and effort are being spent pointlessly. We need to adopt a profiling approach similar to that adopted by El Al. If the TSA was profiling and targeting higher risk passengers, Abdulmutallab would almost certainly have been reviewed. He was banned from the UK, his father had reported his radicalisation to security authorities in Nigeria and the US Embassy and he had previously travelled to Yemen, which is a hotspot for radicalisation and terrorist activity. Of course, the calibre of security staff is somewhat different too. The TSA might be forced to start recruiting from a wider pool of people than ex employees of TacoBell.
The pointless fake security measures being taken are little more than show business.
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