TSA



The Touch, Squeeze, and Assault Transportation Security Administration is a shitty display of security theater, which does nothing to make us safer while simultaneously violating everyone who wants to ride a plane. It's known for massively overreacting to everything, having never stopped a terrorist attack. In other words, it's a useless funnel of our money and yet another example of our wasteful response to 9/11. Liberal and conservative  sources agree that the TSA sucks. It's cost inefficient, overspending, and a waste of taxpayer money.

Effectiveness
A 2001 paper found it questionable that the TSA helps to prevent terrorist attacks similar to 9/11. The TSA director got reassigned in 2015: after testing by the Department of Homeland Security in which his administration failed to detect fake bombs and weapons 95% of the time. The US GAO (Government Accountability Office) had to step in to make suggestions that the TSA provide accurate and sufficient data on performance.

TSA's SPOT program has been found to be ineffective by the GAO and by Nature. The ACLU has criticized the SPOT program as racial profiling.

Body-scanners used by the TSA, the Rapiscan Secure 1000 full-body scanners, are not good at catching contraband or illegal weapons and can easily be bypassed. The TSA ended their contract with the maker of Rapiscan body-scanners in 2013 due to the privacy risk posed by the machines. Another body-scanner, the millimeter-wave machine, regularly reports false positives: it can mistake sweat as weaponry. X-ray body scanners may increase cancer risk. These scanners have been banned in European countries. The TSA removed the X-ray body-scanners in 2013.

Sexual assault and harassment


Two TSA screeners were fired for a sexual assault scheme against men in 2015. A former TSA employee stated that sexual assaults against passengers were common. At LaGuardia Airport, 2015, a TSA agent was arrested for sexually assaulting a woman. A female TSA employee's criminal charges over sexual assault at the Denver International Airport were dropped in 2014.

Rapiscan body scanners gave TSA agents low-res naked photos of screened passengers to inspect for weapons. TSA officers commonly shared low-res nudes of passengers without consent.

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) had to write a guide for victims of sexual assault regarding the TSA. Angela T. Rye, a journalist filmed her frightening pat-down where the TSA agent was very close to grabbing her private parts. Aida Rodriguez, a rape victim has said that the TSA pat-down made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. Sarah Beaulieu, a survivor of sexual assault, broke down in tears when faced with the prospect of a TSA screening. Gina Miller has recounted her sexual assault by a TSA agent.

In 2010, a new pat-down method included breast and buttocks groping and examining genitals. In 2017, the TSA introduced a new even-more invasive pat-down method, of which they warned police departments about increased complaints.

Neglect of duty


People cracked all seven master keys used to unlock luggage in 2015, and the TSA doesn't seem to care.

It took seven years for the TSA to finally respond to a journalist's Freedom of Information Act request. The TSA disclosed data on passenger complaints, four years after he requested the data.