They’re just people doing a job that I regret is necessary…
I think this is the difference, many people believe that the TSA are not necessary nor effective.
9/11 (which was the fuel to create the TSA) happened because at that time the expected response when you (as the passenger) plane was hijacked, was to stay calm and sit and wait for the plane to land, while random demands/negotiations were made with local governments. Yes, a few people might be killed as an “example” or threat, but if you wanted patiently your government would save you.
9/11 shattered that illusion/“rules of engagement”. Now, all of the sudden, if your plane is hijacked you’ll find yourself as an unwilling participant in someone’s suicide run and your only way to survive will be to fight as though your life depends on it (because it does).
I this respect, the complacency of 9/11 will never happen again regardless if the TSA exists or not.
I mean, sure, if the only threat you can imagine is an exact replica of 9/11, sure, I guess they’re useless. But there have been far more people killed by bombs on airliners than 9/11, and someone needs to do the screening.
It can be true that the TSA are assholes, and also that US airport security was laughable before 9/11 and someone probably ought to be checking baggage for threats. Particularly while, as a nation, you seem to be doing everything in your power to make every country in the world except Russia hate you.
And don’t forget that airports were unprepared, and took years to figure out how to handle it. Arguably they still don’t, since I last year I had to wait in a security line that stretched outside the terminal, and down the sidewalk
I still find it fairly wild that on US domestic arrivals they seemingly dump your baggage straight onto the sidewalk and you have to race to get to it before the nearest tramp does… There is much about US airport design that seems absurd in an international context.
Are the airport facilities (i.e. how much space is given over to security, how many scanners there will be, the queuing arrangements, that sort of thing) part of TSA’s remit, or is that someone else’s problem and they just work with what they’re given by the airport authorities (genuine question)? Because as an outsider, it doesn’t feel like “having basic airport security” is an absurd thing - it’s “doing it badly with completely inadequate capacity” that is. It doesn’t have to be that way (nowhere else in the world seems to have this problem), but it seems like in the US instead of doing the job properly they’ve instead decided to just come up with an endless number of schemes to allow people to pay to jump the queue instead of actually fixing the queue. I guess if that’s the TSA’s responsibility, I’d probably hate them too…
Sure, the inadequate airport facilities are part of the problem. Facilities have generally been sufficient for the older approach where airlines were responsible for security and have had huge problems scaling up. I think the airport really gives space, and tsa decides how to use it, how many scanners to set up, how many people to have on duty at any time, etc. It doesn’t help that it’s one more entity to coordinate with for airports As terminals are remodeled over the years, they have been getting better. However many of us still feel like we need to get to airports two hours ahead of our flights and expect to spend most of that in the security line
Personally I’m surprised it hasn’t caused a terrorist attack. If “terrorist” is largely about how many people you can terrorize … Instead of everyone being scattered across many gates where they can’t be reached without going through the airport and dealing with security, now you have hundreds of people clustered near the entrance, seemingly much more vulnerable, for a much larger attack. It seems like an obvious security hole and none of the security theater addresses it
I think this is the difference, many people believe that the TSA are not necessary nor effective.
9/11 (which was the fuel to create the TSA) happened because at that time the expected response when you (as the passenger) plane was hijacked, was to stay calm and sit and wait for the plane to land, while random demands/negotiations were made with local governments. Yes, a few people might be killed as an “example” or threat, but if you wanted patiently your government would save you.
9/11 shattered that illusion/“rules of engagement”. Now, all of the sudden, if your plane is hijacked you’ll find yourself as an unwilling participant in someone’s suicide run and your only way to survive will be to fight as though your life depends on it (because it does).
I this respect, the complacency of 9/11 will never happen again regardless if the TSA exists or not.
I mean, sure, if the only threat you can imagine is an exact replica of 9/11, sure, I guess they’re useless. But there have been far more people killed by bombs on airliners than 9/11, and someone needs to do the screening.
It can be true that the TSA are assholes, and also that US airport security was laughable before 9/11 and someone probably ought to be checking baggage for threats. Particularly while, as a nation, you seem to be doing everything in your power to make every country in the world except Russia hate you.
And don’t forget that airports were unprepared, and took years to figure out how to handle it. Arguably they still don’t, since I last year I had to wait in a security line that stretched outside the terminal, and down the sidewalk
I still find it fairly wild that on US domestic arrivals they seemingly dump your baggage straight onto the sidewalk and you have to race to get to it before the nearest tramp does… There is much about US airport design that seems absurd in an international context.
Are the airport facilities (i.e. how much space is given over to security, how many scanners there will be, the queuing arrangements, that sort of thing) part of TSA’s remit, or is that someone else’s problem and they just work with what they’re given by the airport authorities (genuine question)? Because as an outsider, it doesn’t feel like “having basic airport security” is an absurd thing - it’s “doing it badly with completely inadequate capacity” that is. It doesn’t have to be that way (nowhere else in the world seems to have this problem), but it seems like in the US instead of doing the job properly they’ve instead decided to just come up with an endless number of schemes to allow people to pay to jump the queue instead of actually fixing the queue. I guess if that’s the TSA’s responsibility, I’d probably hate them too…
Sure, the inadequate airport facilities are part of the problem. Facilities have generally been sufficient for the older approach where airlines were responsible for security and have had huge problems scaling up. I think the airport really gives space, and tsa decides how to use it, how many scanners to set up, how many people to have on duty at any time, etc. It doesn’t help that it’s one more entity to coordinate with for airports As terminals are remodeled over the years, they have been getting better. However many of us still feel like we need to get to airports two hours ahead of our flights and expect to spend most of that in the security line
Personally I’m surprised it hasn’t
causeda terrorist attack. If “terrorist” is largely about how many people you can terrorize … Instead of everyone being scattered across many gates where they can’t be reached without going through the airport and dealing with security, now you have hundreds of people clustered near the entrance, seemingly much more vulnerable, for a much larger attack. It seems like an obvious security hole and none of the security theater addresses it