Just get rid of it. What currently exists is like something from a police state. It's evil, tyrannical, and will fail stop a future attack against the traveling public inside the United States.
If this gross violation of liberty and due process must continue for legitimate reasons of public safety, because the consequence of projecting power abroad is being targeted for reprisal, then at least grant immunity for offenses unrelated to aviation safety.
But that will not happen, because the people who enable and profit from these checkpoints aren't subjected to them at all.
> But that will not happen, because the people who enable and profit from these checkpoints aren't subjected to them at all.
Don't worry - you can pay ~$100 to have the privilege of being "randomly" selected for "reduced" screening (ie, pre-9/11, with a metal detector).
Of course, this is certainly not random at all. I don't have a random sample, but based on what I can see, it's very unlikely that they actually select people randomly and fairly[0].
The existence of this program means that we're separating travelers into two groups - those who can afford the $100[1] to be exempt from these draconian checkpoints, and those who can't (or who can, but are still forced to go through them anyway).
[1] Not just the fee, but also the time (you have to go for an in-person "interview", which is really just so that they can fingerprint you... I don't remember them asking any real questions)
I applied to - and was granted - the TSA Precheck clearance. Let's face it; it's $100 for five years. And the interview took well under an hour including waiting time. Works out to be an almost negligible increase in cost compared to the cost of the travel it covers.
No, in fact, precheck generally means you don't go through the AIT device and instead go through the metal detector. If you refuse to go through the metal detector (or if you set it off, or you are the 'zone 5' "random" person), you get a (hilariously perfunctory) patdown that they use to collect particles for the explosives test device. Nothing like the Freedom Grope™ in the plebe lanes.
If this gross violation of liberty and due process must continue for legitimate reasons of public safety, because the consequence of projecting power abroad is being targeted for reprisal, then at least grant immunity for offenses unrelated to aviation safety.
But that will not happen, because the people who enable and profit from these checkpoints aren't subjected to them at all.