The American Spectator

Following the Transportation Security Administration body scan and pat-down policy furor, we’ve heard some airport administrators say they would like to replace the agency’s personnel with outside contractors to handle security (although they’d still have to follow TSA procedures). Count Charlotte (N.C.)/Douglas International Airport Aviation Director Jerry Orr as one of those who would like to fire TSA. Why? Carolina Journal reports:

If it were up to Orr, far fewer travelers would be subjected to x-ray machines and pat-downs.

“We spend an awful lot of time putting an awful lot of people through things that are obviously unnecessary,” he said. “The process from the very beginning has been to look for things - and typically the things they look for are yesterday’s threat … we need to be looking at people with intent.”

Orr said security guards should be allowed to evaluate passengers “based on a number of criteria” and determine which of them should be selected for extra screening.

“If you’re looking for a perpetrator, you must look for the perpetrator,” he said. “If you want to call that profiling, then sure. It certainly raises your opportunity for success.”

But here’s where Orr thinks a real difference can be made:

There are 464 TSA employees at the Charlotte/Douglas. Their only responsibilities are passenger and baggage screening.

“To put that in perspective,” Orr said, “we have about 350 [employees] to run the entire airport, which includes perimeter security, the airport police and all of the people who keep this airport running.”

In addition to being more efficient, Orr thinks a private company could provide friendlier customer service than the TSA.

“They’re not very flexible. They operate based on protocols, which means they do the same thing to everybody all the time,” he said.

And just imagine how much more inefficient TSA would be if they were allowed to unionize. Yeesh.