Forbes Magazine Commentary: Abolish the TSA

Does running randomly selected people through a porno scanner (graphic image warning) that is graphic enough to show intimate piercings make us safe? Does groping randomly selected three year old children make us safe? No, not according to a top Israeli airport security expert. Does anyone think a fanatic who would blow themselves up or plant a bomb on their three year old would be deterred by a 20% chance of being randomly selected for a porno scan or groping? This is just security theater to make the appearance of safety. Even if everyone were scanned and groped, there would still be the risk a bomb could be on-board the plane. Cargo is barely checked and enougn explosive can be put in a body cavity to take down a plane. What's next? Should we all submit to a body cavity search for the privilege of flying?

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

Via Forbes:

In the spirit of bipartisanship and sanity, I propose that the first thing on the chopping block should be an ineffective organization that wastes money, violates our rights, and encourages us to make decisions that imperil our safety. I’m talking about the Transportation Security Administration.

Bipartisan support should be immediate. For fiscal conservatives, it’s hard to come up with a more wasteful agency than the TSA. For privacy advocates, eliminating an organization that requires you to choose between a nude body scan or genital groping in order to board a plane should be a no-brainer.

But won’t that compromise safety? I doubt it. The airlines have enormous sums of money riding on passenger safety, and the notion that a government bureaucracy has better incentives to provide safe travels than airlines with billions of dollars worth of capital and goodwill on the line strains credibility.