There are no terrorists

 

There are no terrorists.  At least, there are no organized terrorists.  Attempts to thwart attacks by organized terrorist cells are a waste of effort, because there are no such cells plotting any such attacks.  To say that TSA, as one example, protects us from terrorists is demonstrably untrue.

Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that there are terrorists just itching to blow up another plane.  Thank goodness for TSA, you say; they prevent that by searching everyone at the airport.

Along comes a terrorist suicide bomber ready to cause death and destruction.  She arrives at the airport fully-wired.  She buys a ticket, then gets on line for her TSA pat down.  She's 200th in line.  The line moves and more people join the end.  She's 100th in line.  In the middle of the pack, she blows herself up, along with 200 random passengers waiting to be searched, 8 TSA agents doing the searching, and $4 million worth of expensive electronic gear.  The police rope off the area.  The FBI starts examining evidence, bagging body parts, and collecting DNA samples.  This TSA inspection area, possibly the entire airport if it's small enough, is closed until the FBI is through with it and airport maintenance workers have cleaned up all the blood and gore and repainted the walls and ceilings.

Okay, no airplanes were harmed in the making of this terrorist incident, but several hundred people are dead and lots more are now afraid to be anywhere near the airport.  TSA agents are rethinking their choice of careers.  They got blind-sided by someone who hadn't yet been searched.

Why hasn't such an incident happened in the more than a dozen years since 9-11?  There are a few possible explanations.  One, there may be a critical shortage of dedicated suicide bombers; that would do it.  Two, planning an operation that actually brings down an airplane takes years of work and lots of money; maybe they're broke.  Third, the terrorists (we're assuming that such people still exist) don't need to do anything more because we're already terrorized; they have us where they want us; this is far more likely.  This third possibility is actually the scariest of all.  If true, the terrorists can simply disband and assimilate back into the population — mission accomplished, let's go home.  I believe this is what has actually happened: they've lost their raison d'être.

If that's true, then TSA has no raison d'être either, except that they get regular paychecks.  That's actually the only real accomplishment of TSA: they get paid for making us think they're accomplishing something.  Protecting us from terrorists?  Highly unlikely verging on 'don't make me laugh'.

 

Security Theater

 

I've given up flying.

It's nothing to do with false modesty.  It's simply that I refuse to put up with security measures that do nothing to improve my odds of getting to my destination and which simultaneously violate both the Constitution and rules of common decency while putting me at an unacceptable health risk.  Don't even get me started on 'the presumption of guilty until proven innocent'.

I mean, really, if I were a suicide bomber intent on causing chaos, do you think I'd try to blow up a plane?  Puh-leeze!  After 9-11, there cannot be found anywhere under any circumstances an airplane full of people who will meekly stand by while someone tries to light their shoe or who will do anything but laugh at a hijacker with a Swiss Army knife.  Think about it.  Somebody announces they're taking over the airplane.  Even if they have a pistol, how much ammunition can they have ready-at-hand?  30-some-odd shots?  And while they're shooting at First Class, somebody in Coach is going to sucker-punch them into next Tuesday because everybody on board understands that they're all dead anyway if the terrorist gets hir way.

The terrorists understand that, too.  They know they might kill a dozen or so before they're brought down, and their chances of seeing an airport during their remaining lifetime is approximately zero, or close enough for government work.

No.  A terrorist intent on causing chaos buys a ticket on any flight and heads for the TSA checkpoint.  There the terrorist blows hirself up, killing 80, 100, maybe 200 waiting would-be-passengers, all the TSA agents, all the screening equipment, and turning the entire departure area into a crime scene.  Got it?  That terminal will not be used for arrivals or departures until the police forensics boys and girls are done collecting evidence, and there will be a lot of evidence to collect.

And all of this happened before the first TSA agent said "Please step forward into the scanner area."

Net result:  one dead terrorist, same as in the hijack-this-plane scenario above; dozens or hundreds of victims including a whole bunch of TSA grunts, lots more victims than the hijack-this-plane scenario above; no planes destroyed, but an entire terminal (in some cases, that will be the whole airport) shut down for the indefinite future.

You'll stop worrying about getting on an airplane.  You'll worry about going to the airport.

Hijack an airplane?  What?  Do you think those terrorists are stupid?  They may be crazy, but they are not stupid.  They may be religious nutballs, but they are not stupid.  They may be amoral killers, but they are not stupid.

TSA?  They're stupid.