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This is going to be end up being like the reflecting pool, but on a grander scale. Tax payers are going to end up paying Trump's incompetent friends a ton of money to just make flying an even worse experience.
The REAL airline security benefit was 2 things:

Locks on cockpit doors

Vigilant passengers.

That's it. All the security theater is exactly that - it's a theater production.

The TSA can't even detect guns reliably. In 2023, they failed 95% of gun tests. https://www.travelcodex.com/tsa-misses-95-of-weapons-in-its-...

Or different sites require laptops in separate boxes, but this site is fine. Or shoes on, or shoes off. Porno scanners. Basically the TSA was a big corporate donation to security appratus, and a huge worthless make-work operation.

And if they're really worried about terrorism, it's still beyond stupid. There's still long lines BEFORE security that they could target.

But you know, that person with a small pocketknife is a "REAL DANGER" so the government thieves those evil weapons or how dare they bring 2.5 ounces!

Its stupid idiot theater all around.

SFO has had private airport security (Covenant) instead of TSA since 9/11. It’s been great.
The TSA has always been taxpayer-funded security theater, and routinely fails at it's own job.

Airports and Airliners should be paying for their own security.

This is the key insight: it's not a question of better or worse security. Airport screening doesn't enhance security. This can even be experimentally measured. Bottles of liquid get screened reliably while weapons don't get detected because it's rare for a weapon to pass through the baggage screening machine. The correct response to a lose lose situation like that is to minimize the cost and friction until someday it's announced that a magical technology can do mass walk-through "screenings," and we can stop paying the shampoo bottle screeners.
In Europe you have often private companies like G4S as a security with police doing only supervision and passport control.
we're taking security theatre and giving it to profiteers. That's awful.