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The Transportation Security Administration

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The Problem with Airport Security:
An Analysis of the Effectiveness and Cost of the Transportation Security Administration
Since the beginning of air travel, airport security has been a problem because of matters such as terrorist attacks. Recently, the Transportation Security Administration has been in charge of security in American airports. Many problems plague the TSA though. Much research has been done on these issues. Although there are many threats of terrorist attacks since the 9/11 attacks, the TSA should be abolished because of its high cost and poor effectiveness. Before the attacks on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001, airport security was not a large concern. The Transportation Security Administration was not established …show more content…
Airports weren’t even required to screen until November 10, 1972 when the FAA required all airports to screen passengers and their carry-on bags (Meltzer). This finally came about after hijackers threatened to fly a plane into a nuclear reactor. Then, starting on August 5, 1974, congress required metal detectors and X-ray screening of all bags in airports (Meltzer). Everything changed after September 11, 2001. The Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda coordinated a series of four suicide attacks using hijacked planes (Taylor and Steedman). These attacks brought to light American security issues and showed that most Americans lived under a false sense of security. To combat these issues, the Transportation Security Administration, which is known as the TSA for short, was created by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act on November 19, 2001 (Taylor and Steedman). It was first headed under the Department of Transportation, but was assigned to the Department of Homeland Security on November 25, 2002 following the Homeland Security Act. The TSA didn’t include too much at first. It contained more law enforcement, the screening of all checked baggage, and passenger pre-screening (Taylor and Steedman). Over …show more content…
Much research has been done on these various aspects showing the TSA’s many flaws. First, full body scanners pose many threats to travelers. In March 2011, reports showed full body scanners emitting levels of harmful ionizing radiation 10 times higher than expected (Gregory). Full body scanners can also show graphic images of people without their clothes on to TSA officials (Gregory). This is a huge breach of privacy for many people. Second, The TSA has a budget of $7.9 billion and employs 62,000 people (Leef). These employees and money are being used ineffectively though. According to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the TSA’s Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques program uses subjective judgement and has variations in referral rates. This program employs 2,800 of the 62,000 TSA personnel (Leef). Finally, the TSA has failed to find many banned items in its screening. In June 2015, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General sent teams to try to get firearms and explosives through the screening process (Bradner and Marsh). The teams were able to get these banned items through the screening process in 67 of 70 tests. This rate of failure is higher than it was in 2007. Despite this high rate of failure, the TSA has spent $540 million on baggage screening equipment (Bradner and Marsh). In a survey of American adults conducted by Evan Dunning, who is a student at

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