What's the point of the "Airport Security" (aka: TSA) in the USA? Does the "Airport Security" ever actually scare away potential terrorists?

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

I mean, I read news articles that say the TSA fail to actually catch prohibited items like weapons or drugs most of the time… so what’s the point? Many people are calling this “Security Theater”… Does this “Security Theater” actually scare away a would-be terrorist?

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PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

Does this “Security Theater” actually scare away a would-be terrorist?

Basically, we can’t answer this because it’d require measuring how many events didn’t happen. I suspect it only really helps reduce improvised, spur-of-the-moment crimes, but then again, the sort of person who would highjack a passenger plan is usually pretty stupid.

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- walter_wiggles@lemmy.nz ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Passengers will not allow disruptions anymore either. The assumption now is that everyone will die if you don’t do something.
  
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  - IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Yea I hope people intervene if dudes with shivs are walking around the plane.
    
    Just suddenly thought about 9/11 for some reason, now I’m just randomly scare of flights. (Just weird OCD things… 😖)
    
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- TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  But you could test the system by trying to violate the rules and documenting the catch rate. Surely, they are already doing it to measure its effectiveness.
  
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  - spankmonkey@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    They are, and the TSA failure rate is astronomical.
    
    Failing 95% of tests in 2015
    
    Failing more than half the time back in 2017
    
    I’m having trouble finding anything more recent, which doesn’t seem to suggest that they have i proved significantly or they would be bragging about it. But even a 90% success rate would be preatty terrible due to the volume of travelers they screen. They should be failing either one or zero out of dozens of tests at the most bmto be considered reliable.
    
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  - PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    You can test the catch rate of illegal or dangerous materials, but this is a measure more of the chance of catching someone once an attack is already in progress. Basically, it just measures if its security theatre or not. To know if its effective at preventing attacks, we’d also need to know the number who wanted to attack and decided against it because TSA existed.
    
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NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
The terrorist is not scared away.

The one who can be scared away is no terrorist.

The whole thing works against small offenders, who forgot to store away their pocket knife etc. and hopefully it works also against clumsy criminals who make big mistakes.

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- homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  They also occasionally catch the guy with 50 parrots stuffed in his pants or something.
  
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fubo@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
They certainly do miss some dangerous items, including weapons; but they also do catch thousands of people per year trying to take firearms on planes.

How many of these people intended political violence against civilians (i.e. terrorism) is not determined. Some may intend ordinary nonpolitical violent crime. Some may be really stupid hunters who don’t read the signs that are all over airports telling hunters not to try to carry on firearms. Some may have just forgotten which backpack they put their handgun in.

tsa.gov/…/tsa-stopped-3269-firearms-airport-secur…

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Professorozone@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Well as usual it’s all about money. You can look it up because I can’t remember the guy’s name but a former politician owns a substantial stake in the body scanners used in airports.

I think they’ve gotten better but I remember reports in the past that said they missed over 90% of the guns/weapons that were put through as a test. So I’m pretty sure it isn’t about security, especially when mail was loaded into the cargo hold essential unchecked( this could have changed too, my data is pretty old).

I mean none of it makes sense. You can only bring what 3oz. of fluids, like two or three people can’t just combine fluids. But you ARE spending $5.00 for a bottle of water in the other side.

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Oneser@lemm.ee ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
It’s a Swiss cheese model of risk management.

Alone, each layer (slice) of the security system has holes. But, when you put more layers on top (each with their own holes) some of the holes are now covered. Add more layers, and cover more holes.

In an airport, it is not just TSA but also cameras doing pattern recognition in the airport for suspicious activity, add into the mix complex national security measures and you would hope there is sufficient layers/coverage to stop most serious cases.

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andrewta@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Others have mentioned how bad the TSA is, but with they aren’t mentioning is why it is so bad. It’s basically the third rail of . As soon as a politician starts to suggest that we redo the TSA they are accused of being weak on security and weak on terrorism. So because of it, there’s no real way to change what exist all they can do is add another layer. And yet the bad part or messed up part is still in place. Even TSA agents know that half of what they’re doing doesn’t make any sense.

And by the way, when I say half that’s a figure of speech, not a literal.

If the TS agent doesn’t do exactly what the rules require they’re just fired. Once you get fired from a government job good luck on ever getting another job in the government.

Instead of the politician, sitting down and asking what is working and what is not working and rebuilding the TSA. It’s just used as a for political, cheap shots and a way to attack the other side. Both Democrats and Republicans are doing the exact same thing. Anybody who says otherwise just lying to themselves

Insane amount of money are spent for just a small benefit. Meanwhile, it screws up travel time. There’s a reason why some people stand in for hours just to get on an airplane.

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Treczoks@lemmy.world ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
It is pure show. It might deter or maybe even catch the most stupid wannabe-terrorist, but tests have shown repeatedly that skilled people have no issues getting guns through without issues. All this while you can still build a bomb with stuff bought from the duty-free behind the TSA curtain.

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- IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Damn, if this is actually true, its kinda unsettling. They spend so much budget on military but not actually have a competent TSA… 🤦‍♂️
  
  Well lets hope the Cockpit Doors are strong enough… in case, you know… 👀
  
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  - Treczoks@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    If you want to cause trouble, don’t bother with the cockpit doors. Windows and doors are much easier targets.
    
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HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Three are IATA security minimums and the USA isn’t that far out of line compared to other countries; the biggest difference being the restriction on liquids and taking out electronics for non TSA Pre passengers. Terrorists could still attack the airport, but the flights are considered to be safer.

You also have other things that TSA or their local equivalent are looking for, including various forms of smuggling.

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xmunk@sh.itjust.works ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Millimeter wave machines are just plain worse than metal detectors - pur airport security has gone down because of the TSA.

It does absolutely nothing.

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Tanoh@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

Does this “Security Theater” actually scare away a would-be terrorist?

I very much doubt it. Also it would be a lot easier to just bribe/threaten/blackmail an airport employee to “forget” to lock a gate or similar and get anything you want in that way.

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Wxfisch@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
So many have noted how the TSA is security theater, and even explained why it’s so bad, but I want to offer some reasoning as to why it’s still worth it. In a nutshell, it makes passengers feel safer. We all know that TSA is mostly useless at actually stopping a motivated threat. It’s really only good for stopping poorly planned or spontaneous threats which are generally uncommon in air transit. But for the general masses, that intrusive security screening feels thorough and so people assume their flights are safe and continue to fly all over the country. This keeps airlines in business, taxes going to localities and states from their airports, and creates a ton of jobs from gate agents to coffee shop clerks to rental car agents and beyond. The minute people stop thinking air travel is generally safe and secure is when all of that collapses. So we pour money into theater to make things look and feel secure (though most of the effort to actually secure things is behind the scenes, DHS/FBI/CBP/etc. using threat intel to stop planned attacks long before TSA would ever need to interact with anyone).

To your second question, we don’t really know if it scares away threat actors, but it likely does to some extent. It preps passengers to be somewhat more alert that they are in a secured area past the checkpoints, and complicates planning attacks at a minimum. No security system is 100% effective, especially one that needs to work at scales like TSA does, but the theater isn’t really an accident and for sure TSA heads know that’s all it really is, and they are fine with that.

Lastly, it’s not just the US with screenings like this, flying through Heathrow in the UK was just as bad in every way.

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- spankmonkey@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  
  In a nutshell, it makes passengers feel safer.
  
  That is a shit fucking reason for the level of annoyance that they cause now.
  
  The pre 9/11 security accomplished the same feeling of security with a couple of guards and a metal detector.
  
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  - Wxfisch@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Perhaps for you, but for millions of Americans it no longer did. I mean I don’t disagree with you, but the reality is the increased presence and technology of airport screening is mainly an economic force to keep folks flying. The average American doesn’t really understand it frankly care that TSA doesn’t increase security in relation to the costs and hassle (and I’m not talking about the folks that ask questions like OP, or give TSA agents a hard time in line, or even uncle crazy that we all ignore at Thanksgiving as he rants about how mmWave machines give us all cancer, I’m talking about the folks that just grumble a little about how long it takes the once or twice a year they fly, then forget about it again, the 80% fliers).
    
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homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
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Blaze@feddit.org ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Feel free to crosspost to !AskUSA@discuss.online

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