Is the TSA a waste of money, time and even lives?

In most areas of life we usually accept some amount of risk, even the risk of death, in the name of convenience or not compromising our lifestyle. We do what we can within reason to minimize the risk but if the risk cannot be entirely eliminated with reasonable means we accept it. Flying on an airplane seems to be the exception though. In a way, the TSA is the ultimate proof that the terrorists won. We wouldn't put up with this if we weren't collectively terrorized, and still terrorized to this day.

I still think we need to be on our guard against terrorists, but maybe there's a smarter way to do it, which doesn't involve every passenger spending a half an hour or more waiting on line to take off their shoes, empty their pockets, take off their belts and all of that?

The TSA is a waste of money that doesn't save lives and might actually cost them

Here's the kicker:

Quote:

So Homeland Security officials looking to evaluate the agency had a clever idea: They pretended to be terrorists, and tried to smuggle guns and bombs onto planes 70 different times. And 67 of those times, the Red Team succeeded. Their weapons and bombs were not confiscated, despite the TSA's lengthy screening process. That's a success rate of more than 95 percent.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1OxLNBn