The TSA isn't helping make us safer, they're just becoming part of the problem

New X-ray full body scanners appearing at more and more airports worldwide are a huge waste of money, expose travelers (especially flight crews who are asked to go through them several times weekly) and the agents themselves to unhealthy amounts of radiation and most importantly do not significantly increase security at all.

http://www.thehighdefinite.com/2010/11/seriously-tsa/

This video from a German TV show (no big deal if you don't understand German, the sound isnt really necessary to understand whats going on) is just 1 example of how easy it is to defeat these machines.



The public opinion on these new measures has been negative at best. Complaints range from being full-body scans not being even remotely random, intrusive pat-downs that border on molestation, poor standards for privacy and respect and most scarily inappropriate touching of minors by TSA agents during pat-downs.

Really? This is the threat that they are looking for? If they're trying to make overall air travel as painful as possible, lowering the number of people who choose to travel that way, limiting the number of flights in order to increase security... Congrats.

The TSA was forced to make a formal response to public outcries about these new procedures. The part that bothers me the most about it is the quote below -

"The so-called “pat-downs,” which in reality fall not far short of sexual molestation, have nothing to do with security. They are about ritualizing the process of making Americans submit to complete degradation at the hands of authority figures, no matter what level of humiliation that process encompasses. If you allow the government to get away with groping your children’s genitals there’s no limit to the abuse they will subsequently engage in."

Making innocent CITIZENS feel uncomfortable being in their own country isn't the way to increase safety at all. 3.1oz of shampoo will not being down a plane...

Where or not this is true, it still doesn't seem implausable based on what I've witnessed in the recent times I've flown.