When I see 21 out of 21 failures to detect common weapons such as knives and guns during random testing, it only makes me wonder about the real threats. Background checks on employees fail to uncover even some basic problems. What about plastic automatic guns that look like curling irons with barely any metal parts, ceramic and nylon knives, checked luggage lacking screening via X-Ray or explosives detection, etc.? If it's going to happen again it's going to go down a whole lot differently, and all of the collected nail files will be shown for what they are... an il-conceived, poorly executed, and pointless effort to appear to PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER. as if the government is doing "something". Gah... don't get me started.

Scan ALL luggage for weapons and explosives, use both computer, human and animal detection. Put Air Marshals on more flights. Secure flight cabins with hard-core doors and security cams. Arm the Pilot and co-pilot - many are ex military anyway. Require all flight crew to train in Martial Arts. Require all ground and flight crew to undergo extensive background checks. Pay even the lowliest folks more money. Make all employees responsible for any safety or security violations in their sphere of influence punishable with a temporary downgrade of pay with escalating consequences for repeat offenders including loss of employment. I could go on...

I like to fly and I think the TSA has it's place and that it's good to have a consistent approach to safety and security. However, the airlines have continually pressured the FAA to choose economics rather than safety and many believe the organization to be a shell left for appearances. The same thing seems to apply to the TSA. They could be doing a lot more... they all seem to have tunnelvision. If my tax dollars are going toward paying these folks, it seems to me that they should be effective and you'd have a hard time convincing me that's the case currently. The more we say things like "we should cut them some slack" (I'm paraphrasing... <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> ) the less likely things are to improve. I'm not saying that disallowing items like lighters and knives is wrongheaded... it's just that it's so randomly enforced and only a tiny part of the equation.