The job of the venerable TSA agent seems to be nearly impossible to me. I am just back in the office from a couple of weeks of travel and man, there are just so many issues with airport security I am just amazed that there have been no repeat airline attacks.

In Charlotte, a man made it through the security screening a couple of weeks ago and got on board an aircraft! To make matters worse, the TSA response was to create a process of “Reverse Screening” where the passengers would be screened as they came OFF of the aircraft. Huh? What? Off of the aircraft? Isn’t it likely to be a little too late by then?

Meanwhile, it also came to light while I was traveling that another US airport shut down their security posts at night and that anyone with an official badge was allowed through unscreened. Apparently this had been going on for years, but had only become an issue when a local newsperson penetrated the area in this manner on video. I guess this security team had never heard of social engineering or counterfeiting of badges. Hey, it’s only airline security, right?

The problem is just so large, and the variables so very complex. Add to that the pressure from the American public to get it right – but without inconvenience or delays and you have a patented recipe for failure. I truly believe that the TSA issues are so bad and that the system is so broken that we may need to step back and rethink the entire approach to the solution. What we have now clearly is not working and it seems to me that we have been very “lucky” that there have been no further incidents. The problem with luck though, is that it often runs out…

What do you think about airline security? How much are you willing to tolerate in the name of safety? What do you think we should do to make it better? Drop us a line and let us know your thoughts!