Yes, that’s right.  I am going to defend the TSA.  Shocking I know.  While it’s obvious that I don’t agree with some of the things TSA pulled in the immediate aftermath of DL/NW 253, I have to acknowlege that TSA is in a damned if you do/damned if you don’t situation.  They had to do something.  And I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt.

This happened on a holiday weekend, and I can’t help but think that the pincipals were out of town on holiday.  Yes, I know that no one is truly out of touch anymore, but I’m just sayin’…..  Couple that with the fact that TSA remains without a permanent leader, and I can paint a mental picture of well-intentioned people going a little overboard and implementing certain processes that proved unworkable in the end.  Thankfully, TSA seems to have recognized its error.

I support the idea of TSA, and I really do think that the overwhelming majority of TSA employees have the best interests of all travelers at heart.  I also happen to believe that we as a country need to rethink our approach to transportation security.  Our focus remains far too dedicated to finding objects and not finding people.  We expend untold security resources on taking Barney Fife’s belt buckle shaped like a gun (seriously, I saw TSA take a belt buckle from someone because it had a shape of a gun on it) while some jackhole that we knew was a bad seed waltzes onto an airplane unimpeded?  Come on! 

TSA needs to proceed full throttle with deploying the latest screening technology that would’ve spotted the explosives our new terrorist friend was packing in his underwear.  Privacy freaks are going to have to let it go…just a tiny bit.  We can’t hope to make flying 100 percent free from potential terror attacks, but we surely can do a better job.  I support sensible security and I know TSA can provide it.  We as a country have to muster the will to insist that our elected leaders find a way to help TSA meet its mission of keeping the skies as sensibly secure as possible.