We can stop dancing around the issue while pretending we don't understand why the TSA exists.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the government has to be seen doing "something". This was the something.
Then, in the following years, the TSA evolved into a welfare program for veterans, because here in the US we can't dream of just giving people money, we have to invent bullshit jobs that make society worse.
No one values this work, and so it’s an identity and status issue. “Soldiers” vs janitors and people who keep the lights on. (“Support our troops”, “back the blue”, etc).
Someone mentioned upthread this is a job for veterans because we won’t pay UBI or similar. It’s status enough, in some cases (“make work for veterans”.
I don't think so, only a small portion is veterans. It's just a cheap jobs program for work that isn't really hard work and doesn't require much skill other than showing up.
TSA emerged in the aftermath of 9/11; TSA is USA specific. But why has every other country has adopted this useless security protocol. I don't understand that.
We probably told them too. I assume US won't accept airplanes into its airspace with passengers that haven't been cleared to a security specification that looks almost identical to what TSA does.
This might be a crazy idea, but maybe... it's not completely useless? Maybe if many countries deem it necessary, and many people who (I assume) have more expertise than most casual observers like us on HN also deem it necessary, maybe they might be right and we might be wrong about how necessary or not this is?
> In the aftermath of 9/11, the government has to be seen doing "something". This was the something.
No, that might have been true then, but the real reason is the same that Airlines suddenly unlearned how to group people who book togehter to sit together unless they reserve booking. The security theator is expensive to run, but it's less expensive than what you make selling more expensive methods of avoiding the security theather.
Airlines don't want you to have a nice and easy travel, unless you've paid the appropriate primum. They are perfectly happing intentionally pissing off 98% of their travelers to maintain the 2% who pay extra. And when you zoom out, that also means that what you pay for the premium tickets isn't to pay for extra luxery, its to pay for the intentional annoyance of everyone else.
The more likely reason for the creation of the TSA was to prevent victims from suing airlines into oblivion for failing to provide security. The government knew that if the airlines were found responsible the entire aviation industry could collapse, so the Feds stepped in and said "it's our job" and created the TSA to make that responsibility clear.
The situation is not dissimilar to how power tool companies would not deploy SawStop technology because that would make it clear to consumers that said companies knew their products were unsafe and would expose them to millions / billions in liability claims.
It'd be interesting to see a breakdown of percentage of veterans in different government positions. I'd imagine they are all fairly similar levels since it's most likely just a transition from military to government rather than specifically military to TSA. In any case, I certainly wouldn't call TSA "a welfare program for veterans" as the parent comment suggests.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the government has to be seen doing "something". This was the something.
Then, in the following years, the TSA evolved into a welfare program for veterans, because here in the US we can't dream of just giving people money, we have to invent bullshit jobs that make society worse.