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As a retired international airline captain, my relationship with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been fraught ever since its inception after 9/11. Before that seismic event, I logged countless hours as a Delta Airlines pilot, operating in an environment defined by professionalism and mutual respect among crew, passengers, and airport staff. Today, I view the TSA not as an indispensable pillar of aviation safety, but as an institution whose practices have needlessly burdened travelers and which, after more than two decades, may do more harm than good to the spirit and efficiency of air travel. 

Personal Experience with TSA 

My experiences with TSA have run the gamut: some screeners are cordial and efficient, while others act with indifference—or outright hostility. Despite my decades in aviation, both my wife and I found ourselves subjected to heightened scrutiny and what felt like constant harassment at security checkpoints. This pattern was not isolated to us; colleagues and fellow travelers shared similar frustrations. The inconsistency in treatment reflects deeper problems in TSA’s culture and priorities. 

More troubling is my memory of reporting suspicious activities in airports and on airplanes long before 9/11—concerns that were either ignored or dismissed. In the worst cases, I was treated not as a professional fulfilling a duty of care, but as an alarmist, or, unconscionably, accused of prejudice. These failures of the pre-TSA security apparatus were tragic enough. The answer, however, was not to swing to the other extreme by creating an agency whose methods too often resemble performative security theater rather than effective defense. 

TSA: Record Size, Questionable Effectiveness 

The TSA today is larger, wealthier, and more technologically advanced than at any point in its history: in 2024, it screened over 900 million passengers, processed nearly half a billion checked bags, and employed the largest screening workforce on record.  The agency celebrates its lowered attrition rates, large-scale recruitments, and new technologies, but these metrics only tell part of the story. What goes unaddressed mainly is the pressing question: has all this intrusion, inconvenience, and expense made us significantly safer? 

Transport Security Administration, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 

The Missed Mark on Threat Detection 

Despite record numbers and impressive-sounding statistics, TSA’s actual record at intercepting truly dangerous items or persons remains suspect. While in a single year thousands of firearms are confiscated at checkpoints (6,000+ in 2024), these incidents are exceedingly rare given the total passenger volume—meaning the overwhelming majority of screenings catch items that pose no meaningful threat. What’s more, multiple leaked audits and inspector general tests over the years have shown that screeners have missed a high percentage of weapons or prohibited items that testers tried to sneak through. These findings, widely reported and discussed in government circles (if less so in agency press releases), raise fair questions about whether the vast resources and the system of hassle add up to meaningful security. 

The Cost to Travelers and the Industry 

The true price paid is not measured just in dollars, but in lost time, privacy, and dignity. Every frequent traveler has a story of embarrassment, excessive pat-downs, or arbitrary confiscations of harmless items. Many, deterred by the perceived hassle, choose to drive or avoid travel altogether, siphoning away revenue from airlines and damaging the industry’s bottom line. No amount of technology or public relations can obscure the fact that TSA’s regime has fundamentally altered the public’s relationship with flying, rarely for the better. 

An Agency Ripe for Scaling Back—or Dismantling 

After more than twenty years, the time is overdue for the Department of Homeland Security and policymakers to rethink the TSA’s size, scope, and even its very necessity. The statistical benefit gained, compared to costs in efficiency and trust, simply does not add up. Many security functions could be streamlined, privatized, or shifted back to airlines and airports themselves—entities that have proven capable of innovation and accountability when properly empowered. 

The most recent policy change to leave shoes on is merely lipstick on a pig.  We suggest evaluating Israel’s security measures as a more effective and efficient alternative to the TSA’s approach of throwing billions at a problem.  Israeli security involves profiling passengers through observation and questioning.  Perhaps cutting 90% of TSA employees and retaining the top 10%, training them in counter-terrorism and customer service, while paying them twice as much, could be a possible solution.  Technology just keeps getting better, and AI could also be used.  This redo could save the American taxpayer 60 to 80% of the current TSA budget, and improve the flight experience.  I have no reason not to welcome profiling because if you’re not doing anything wrong, bring it on.  One additional comment would be enough with the facial recognition.  We all have photo IDs, and we don’t need our faces, fingerprints, and retinas floating around a system that has repeatedly proven itself to be unable to secure our data.  

As someone who carried responsibility for thousands of lives across global skies, I never underestimated the importance of security. But absolute safety requires rigor, not ritual. The TSA, as it exists now, delivers far too much of the latter. Disbanding or significantly scaling back the agency would free American aviation from an era of bureaucratic overreach, restoring a focus on security that actually makes us safer—and a travel experience worthy of the public’s trust.  Repeal and rework the Patriot Act now! 

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