TSA's problem is that they aren't screening for threats but for appearance. Liquid bomber? Liquids go in bags. Shoe bomber? Take off your shoes. Underwear bomber? Microwave scanners for everyone! They're a reactive, not proactive, organization by design, but the problem is they're not even good at being reactive. Would we really be in much worse shape if we just went back to pre 9/11 security? I doubt it. Whatever a terrorist wants to dream up, they'll dream up specifically to get around TSA, so all we're doing is wasting our own time and money. Dollar for dollar, there has never been a bigger guerrilla success than 9/11. We invented an entire cabinet level bureaucracy in response to it (forgetting all about the wars for a moment) that serves almost no meaningful function other than to make it a headache when an American tries to marry a foreign national. I'm all for totally abolishing the TSA. The TSA (and Homeland Security generally) is a great example of what FDR meant about fearing fear.