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The Public Policy
Cut Those Airport Lines… And Catch Terrorists
Who says the TSA is the only alternative to terrorism in the skies?
Ever since the barbaric events of September 11, 2001, the air traveling public has become used to longer lines and ever more bothersome requirements at airport security. The Transport Security Administration (TSA) has become the butt of jokes — TSA stands for Thousands Standing Around. Yet terrorists, from shoe bomber Richard Reid to Times Square bomber Faisal Shazad, have gotten through their lines and boarded planes, despite being known to the authorities. The TSA’s repeated failure comes at an extremely high cost. We need a new approach to airport security.
According to transportation expert Bob Poole of the Reason Foundation, long airport lines cost the U.S. economy about $8 billion a year in wasted time. That means that in the nine years since 9/11, we have lost about $70 billion. Worse still, the lines have caused people to drive rather than fly. Overall, driving is more dangerous than flying, and research suggests the lines have led to an extra 1,200 deaths a year since 2001 — so the death toll from people trying to avoid lines is now much higher than the carnage of 9/11! This is truly a case of “death by regulation.” The Department of Transportation values loss of one life at just under $6 million, so the lives lost in car accidents just about double Poole’s cost estimate.
Given its failures, does the TSA approach justify the $140 billion national investment? Clearly not. Yet there is no reason to think that the only alternative to the TSA approach is multiple terrorist attacks. There are three things that could be done now to reduce lines and increase the effectiveness of airport security.
First, a degree of competitive discipline must be introduced into the TSA. The agency has become a bloated bureaucracy, with all that entails. A 2007 study found that private screeners performed better than the nationalized industry that is TSA, but the TSA suppressed the results (and was heavily criticized by the Government Accountability Office for doing so). By giving airports a genuine ability to opt out of the TSA program and to use qualified private screeners instead, the TSA would be forced to get its act together.
Second, the risk model that assumes every passenger is equally capable of being a terrorist must be revised. This suggestion normally triggers an outcry that it will result in racial profiling. That is not the case. Racial profiling is just as crude and ineffective as equal risk assumption and should be avoided like the plague. Instead, as noted military strategist Edward Luttwak pointed out in the Wall Street Journal in January, “easily recognizable groups that not even the most ingenious terrorists could simulate” pose little risk. Examples of such groups include “touring senior citizens traveling together (a category that contains a good portion of all American, European and East Asian tourist traffic), airline flying personnel who come to the security gate as a crew, families complete with children.” As Luttwak suggests, the critical question would be whether members of those groups “recognize each other as such.”
Finally, a genuinely risk-based Registered Traveler Scheme should be adopted. The most recent attempt to create one failed because it relied on the equal risk assumption, with no genuine background checks involved that would exempt one from the security rigmarole. All it could offer was the ability to jump to the head of the line, which was not enough to lure enough people to purchase an expensive pass. Instead, the TSA should agree to undertake the sort of full background checks for registered travelers that would enable one to get clearance to work in an airport or obtain a DOD security clearance. That level of clearance should then allow registered travelers to bypass airport security almost entirely, and would be far harder to fool than the current system.
With these improvements in place, the TSA could be streamlined, airport lines would shrink dramatically, and terrorists would be more likely to be caught rather than hiding in the herd. The cost to the nation would decrease dramatically, more lives would be saved on the road, and, who knows, airlines might become profitable again. That’s a small price to pay for upsetting one ponderous bureaucracy.
About the Author
Iain Murray heads the Center for Economic Freedom at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and is the author of Stealing You Blind: How Government Fatcats Are Getting Rich Off of You.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (30) | Leave a comment
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martin j smith| 5.28.10 @ 7:16AM
Our nations security is hampered by our own politics--and the term Political Correctness.
Part of me feels that the TSA and long airport lines have one and only one rational: Harass the traveler so that eventually they demand to take the TSA away and then we are back to pre 9/11 mentality.
Serious efforts to stop terrorism would including profiling in the following terms: Ethnically,politically,behavioral.religious background. Interviewing would be part of the process. Mandating passenger lists till their is compliance including those planes coming from other nations--we of course would reciprocate.
Let me go back to profiling: It is obvious to an aware observer that not all people with bad intentions are necessarily of Arab or Muslim origin. We have our own homegrown variety. People of other nations such as in Western Europe such as native French,Germany,British can just as easily be involved in terrorism. Asians of any nationality etc etc.So ethnic and religious profiling alone would not be effective. Interviewing travelers about their origins and destinations etc on a random basis and also based on "hunches" or even observation or specific information about them. This is a more serious approach. In the meantime we put up with inconvenience because we have no alternative so far.
Richard Baker| 5.28.10 @ 7:24AM
Young Moslem men are the threat and we treat grandmothers and Medal of Honor awardees as an equal danger. This is insane. However, never assume that a government bureaucrat or politician won't consider such insanity as good policy. These people are nuts. My dream is that we put all the bureaucrats running this lunacy on a ship and then sink the ship.
Melvin| 5.28.10 @ 7:28AM
We have to look no further than El Al in how to conduct airport security.
Oh, by the way did I mention that the security apparatus in Israeli airports is run by professionals, unlike the TSA.
Can't really fault the rank and file people in the TSA who are doing exactly what they are trained and allowed to do. You train a person to act like a bumbling moron, he will conduct himself as a bumbling moron.
Ken (Old Texican)| 5.28.10 @ 10:14AM
Melvin,
You nailed it. Copy El Al.
Enemy of the State #666| 5.28.10 @ 7:54AM
Come on, racial profiling is the answer. Anyone who thinks their grand mother and her side kick has any intention of bringing this damn plane down because her SSI check didn't come on time is about as assanine as this gubmint seems to be. Why not racial profile. When the police get a report of a certain individual of a certain race just robbed a convienent store, what do they do, they look for the person (s) fitting the description, they don't look for grandmother goose walking down the street with cart in tow. I have yet to encounter a 13 year old child with the intent of killing another class of people because they think them unworthy of living up to their standards. I have in fact met and killed a certain segment of this world with the same intent acting out on that intent, hiding behind their woman, their mosques, and children to act out on this assumption. And they did not look and act like my grandmother
Gubmint does the same thing the private markets do, they compete for the jobs. I cannot say they do as good a job as the private markets though, and the reason is because they are not held accountable for their actions, whereas, the private markets just fire the incompetent ones and replace them for better material. Even though the TSA is yet to be inionized, it is coming though, it still has the full backing of the big gubmint money, yeah our money, and we should have a say in the matter but this is nearly impossible because once again they compete for those jobs and we all know the fight directed in the direction of the gubmint jobs since the "won" started to rule, it ain't gonna happen. I am for racial profiling and for good reason. I've lost good friends to the intent of the target, and that is the men standing behind a political/social/religious/ cult known as Islam. Like it or not one does not have to be branded a bigot because they see the obvious.
JohnR1022| 5.31.10 @ 10:08AM
Of course TSA will be unionized.
The SEIU thugs will sign them up with the Mohammedan in Chief's blessings.
Jerry| 5.28.10 @ 8:07AM
TSA - Taxpayers Sodomized Again
Pete| 5.28.10 @ 10:34AM
The first suggestion about private competition makes way too much sense and will therefore never happen. Especially with this administration, the goal is to inflate the ranks of government drones who will vote for those who pay them and keep their monopoly safe.
Ned| 5.28.10 @ 11:44AM
I just don't fly anywhere, anymore... but of course few have that choice...
MikeN| 5.28.10 @ 1:15PM
1200 car deaths a year because of long lines at TSA? Does that sound even remotely plausible to you?
kpmsprtd| 11.21.10 @ 9:17PM
Good point, Mike. It might be a lot more than that.
Old One| 5.28.10 @ 3:56PM
The lunacy of strip searching 90 year old white or African-American grandmothers, waking sleeping infants to remove their diaspers in a search, and hassling this 70 year old male white retired teacher is insanity that could be installed and defended only by assinine guilt ridden liberals & cowardly Rinos to lacking in intestinal fortitude to call down leftard pc braindead democrats.
kpmsprtd| 11.21.10 @ 9:19PM
Good point, Old One, except for the fact that this whole security apparatus (DHS and TSA) was created during the George Bush administration. Time to stop the left versus right stupidity. All freedom-loving Americans need to pull together to stop this madness.
Dette Reh| 5.28.10 @ 11:49PM
The author of this article failed to mention one other group that should be given a pass through security: those with artificial knees, hips, and pacemakers.
I have two artificial knees. Two laminated cards were given to me after my surgeries for use when traveling. One has a photo ID and both have x-rays of the artificial knees. Yet every time I fly, I am profiled because of my physical disability.
My metal knees set off an alarm and I am relegated to a booth for examination by a "female assist". Having set off the alarm has qualified me as a suspected terrorist. Now I am required to stand silently while being subjected to a mindless, careless, physical search. This involves a pat down of the entire body.
It is a rare employee of the TSA who exhibits a wit of discernment or a genuine respect for the delicacy of the situation.
It will be a rare bureaucrat who will see the absurdity of these situations and amends them.
The Army Aviator| 5.29.10 @ 6:06AM
I'm a retired Army Aviator that happened to be wounded while serving in an "overseas contingency operation." I have several pieces of Iranian made schrapnel in my left thigh and lower leg. As usual, the TSA magnetometer goes ballistic when I walk through, necessitating an invasive search of my body to include the crotch area, for some reason, though I have no metal there. I tell them I have old wounds, have documetation from Walter Reed, but am still subjected to the same invasive and cold search, each and everytime I pass the TSA idiots! How does harrasing me stop guys like Abu Hassahola? Last time I went through this abomination, an 80ish "GrannyLady" was darned near being stripped down over her garter belt! Now that sure made alot of sense to me. We definitely looked like the "Bonnie and Clyde" of international terrorism! TSA probably thought we were working together to hijack our plane to Fargo! I have no problem with real security, but idiocy is another matter all together. This one really is Bush's fault.
Truesoldier| 5.30.10 @ 11:39AM
Many of my friends have had the same problem as you (havinf left of shrapnel in them). My suggestion would be to contact your Congressman or Senator (if they will listen) or other state rep (if they will listen better) and urge more vets to do the same. The only way the harasment of our vets will stop is if we vets make sure that the country is aware and we drag our politicians (kicking and screaming in most cases) back to actually doing their job. This could easily be fixed and should be.
Marc Jeric| 5.29.10 @ 4:36PM
In view of the fact that 100% of jihadi terrorists are Muslims, and that 95% of these are young Arabs 18-30 years of age, it is clear that not to perform racial profiling is in fact a crime itself. A clear case of conspiracy to commit crime of terrorism.
martin j smith| 5.30.10 @ 8:02AM
The TSA is not even the issue its really the top( the president ) and other non-elected governmental agencies that develop and support these policies. GWB gave us color coding( remember yellow-orange and red ) ? Now we have a real incopetent party hack who knows nothing about national security at the helm. What does that tell you about TSA ?-S once you see the way the TSA is set up you get the idea that our security is not exactly being taken very seriously. Even under GWB but even worse now.
Its not just racial profiling that is needed. It is political and behavioral analysis and interviewing that are the keys to dealing with the problem of identifying potential terrorist. And, its not just at the Airport either. There are deals being made, behind our backs--secretly- that have motivated this behavior. I will leave it to your imaginations to figure possibilities. Here is a clue: Iran. Why is it, that inspite of all its threats and outrageous threats against Israel and even our country_ BTW- that under GWB and BHO we do next to nothing ?
Truesoldier| 5.30.10 @ 11:44AM
I couldn't agree with you more. You get what you pay for and let's face it, for the job that TSA is supposed to do they do not get paid enough nor are they backed up enough to encourage people of good caliber at that job. It is just like the border patrol, they are having problems finding people to hire because the word is out that they will throw you under the bus at the drop of a dime. I am sure the same thing goes with the TSA.
Just think if a TSA screener stops a Muslim for secondary screening they will have every liberal and Muslim group up in arms about racial profiling and would probably end up loosing their job over PC nonsense. On the otherhand, if a terrorist gets through they are used as the scapegoat with fingers pointing saying why did you not stop them it is your job to do that.
Grant| 5.30.10 @ 9:46AM
Iain - Your comments seem to purposely avoid the fact that background checks of this magnitude would require the bureaucracy needed to perform them to employ thousands more people. How does the cost of THAT figure into your overly simplistic reasoning?
martin j smith| 5.30.10 @ 12:17PM
Grant: Who is Iain ?
I am not sure what you are responding to. But, Taking the general thrust of your comment the issue
is the will do do it right. The TSA in theory could be a good agency but political deals and comflicting forces are at work here. Here is another clue as to the cause of hesitency to be effectiv that clue is BP ( that is correct the Big Oil Company accortding the the WSJ that is assisting Iran )
Jim O'Brien| 5.30.10 @ 3:32PM
While we wait in line to be searched at the airport, Obama and Holder are actively undermining national security by fighting Arizona's efforts to stop illegal immigration, which inevitably involves some terrorists determined to kill American citizens. Out of an estimated 12-13 million infiltrators, how many hundreds (or thousands) are terrorists quietly plotting another 9/11, or worse?
JohnK144| 5.31.10 @ 6:18PM
When they started to force everyone to remove their shoes because one terrorist tried to ignite a shoe bomb, I decided I would never fly commercially again. When my 85 year old uncle, Pearl Harbor survivor, was forced to remove his shoes to board a flight, I knew I made the right decision. We should not all be treated as if we were potential terrorists. When people told me "removing shoes" was for everybody's protection, I told them the actual terrorists would just move their "shoe bomb" components into their underwear, so you'd have millions of innocent Americans taking their shoes off, and being no better protected for it. And I'd ask these same people how comfortable they'd be when security would have to check their underwear, you know, for everybody's protection of course. They told me I was crazy, and then came "full body scanners." Most of them don't say I'm crazy any more. But then, how many times do you have to be right before they stop calling you crazy?
Richard Baker| 6.1.10 @ 10:09AM
I personally don't fly anymore because my cobalt steel left knee absolutely freaks these morons out. Takes longer but I don't have to submit to these mentally deficient government workers.
Mac| 6.4.10 @ 11:43PM
TSA is insane, I also get harassed everytime I fly because of injuries I suffered on 9/11 @ the Pentagon. I'm made to feel like a criminal by their searches when I all I did was serve my country.
fdjk| 7.1.10 @ 3:50AM
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David| 11.18.10 @ 1:31PM
I work in the Middle East and I have a U.S. Secret clearance,and I dread air travel. I went through a metal detector,(no alarm) a full body scan, (no alarm) and then was patted down?? This was in Amsterdam. At Logan, I watched an elderly woman in a wheel chair be lifted out of the chair, while three tsa stooges searched her chair?! Next time I travel in the states, I'm taking a train!