Tucker Scott ‘26
Staff Writer
If there is one thing that all Americans can agree on, it is that airport security and the TSA are the absolute worst. Whether it’s the insanely long lines, incredibly ridiculous rules, or just inane inefficiency, it is a guaranteed thing that every American hates the TSA. I have yet to meet a single person who has ever had a good time with the TSA, or barring that not having a TSA horror story.
What I don’t understand is, why aren’t the airports responsible for security? The TSA is a government agency. If the airports were responsible for hiring security that would encourage them to hire better people, get better tech, etc. because the airline and airport that is most efficient and has the best experience will have the most customers. I understand having some government oversight setting basic standards but this is just ridiculous. The lines at TSA are ridiculously long and ridiculously inefficient. The fact that we still have to take our shoes off, every piece of technology out of our bags, throw away all our food and water, just so we have to buy the incredibly expensive airport food, despite technology advancing so far, is ridiculous.
It’s not as if the TSA is doing a good job keeping us safe. Like with most things in life, the more government gets involved the more inefficient things become. Multiple studies, including those conducted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General, have shown that TSA screeners struggle to detect weapons and explosives in undercover tests. For example, one study revealed that TSA screeners failed to detect weapons, drugs, and explosives almost 80 percent of the time. Some experts have even labeled the TSA as “security theater” due to the perceived ineffectiveness of its methods.
Now some might say that there should be no room for competition because the stakes are too high and one mishap is too many. But you could make that argument about all security for any building but most security is privately run. The US trust, for example, has privately hired security. Most federal and state buildings have private security. Except for obviously buildings like the Capitol, Congress, and the Supreme Court who have a special police force. I’m not saying there should be no standards, obviously that’s where the government would come in and say there are base standards. But what I’m saying is when it’s up to the government to run and hire people it’s very inefficient and very ineffective. There was a study done that showed that TSA agents miss like 96 percent of dangerous items on something like that. Currently, the government has a monopoly. But instead the airports would have to hire their own security. That would force them to hire the best people or risk losing out on their share of the market because people would feel unsafe. That would also cause them to maybe try and make the system more efficient because again the easier it is for passengers the more people will come. Of course, like I said, there would have to be base standards because that’s the government’s job.
Featured Photo from Texas Standard
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