I can't speak for the TSA, but here in Australia I am routinely "randomly selected" for bomb screening.<p>I have a terrible beard. I know it, my family knows it, my friends know it, people on who drive past on the bus know it. But it conceals the chinese phone directory beneath my jaw, so it stays.<p>But it definitely gets unkempt and quickly. If I forget to clean up before I fly, bam, I'm chosen for the bomb test. If I'm clean shaven or have trimmed that day, I sail through.<p>It's absolutely random, I'm assured. No bias whatsoever. When asked to show a random number generator the staff tend to get a bit grumpy. Appeals to the combinatorial unlikelihood of being chosen so many times in a row fall on dead ears.<p>Because my beard makes me look like a convert to Islam, I get bomb tested. It's as simple as that, in my opinion.
I've got one of those stories.<p>My parents live on the opposite side of the country. I flew to see them one Christmas and then flew back home. As I unpacked after the trip, I discovered that my huge hunting knife had accidentally been in my carry-on bag the whole time. I had carried it through both Salt Lake and Philadelphia International Airports. Literally no one bothered me about it.<p>Someone once told me that America is "fully prepared for the past" with regards to terrorism. This experience makes me wonder whether even that is really true. And indeed, when I read up on the actual security practices, I discovered that on an alarmingly frequent basis, it is not our security measures that foil terrorists, but their sheer ineptitude. The underwear bomber, the attempted Times Square guy, and a whole host of other idiots had the opportunity to seriously hurt people, and had they even a modicum of expertise, they would have succeeded. Our security forces may be able to take credit for stopping some of these events, but how many? These were incredibly simple strategies, and given that they still couldn't identify and neutralize the threat before it would have been too late, I can't imagine it's an astonishingly high number.<p>In spite of this I'm not worried about terrorism at all. If someone started a security-free airline, I would fly on it every single time I had the option. What does frighten me is that we spend so much money on this stuff. Why isn't the TSA held accountable by the government? (And if it is, why are they so bad at it?) Do we honestly know that increased spending in technology catches more terrorists? We are trying to identify very sparse features, and it is not at all obvious that this is the best way to catch them. On the other hand, the American government has eliminated (I'm told) 200 of Al-Quaeda's top leaders. This seems like a much more effective method for demolishing this behavior.
From the comments, made my entire week:<p><i>They were obviously homeopathic bombs. Security found no traces of explosives, which had been diluted to the point that it wasn't present - thus making the devices even more effective.</i>
Heh. A couple of years ago I tried to carry on a microphone stand (something like this: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stage-Stands-7701B-Tripod-Microphone/dp/B000978D58/" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Stage-Stands-7701B-Tripod-Microphone/d...</a> ). TSA freaked, ran it through the x-ray a couple of times, escorted me out of the security area and stood buy while I checked it, watch as it went through the baggage scanner, and then finally allowed me back through the security checkpoint.<p>This story shocks me not at all.
The TSA did them a bit of a favour, confiscating this stuff: <a href="http://www.alivewater.net/prod/owr.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.alivewater.net/prod/owr.htm</a>
from the comments:<p>> <i>I have a college degree. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa. I work as a substitute teacher, and I make about $8.25 per hour, have no benefits, and have to find alternative work in the summer.</i><p>$8.25 is £5.24; that's less than UK minimum wage which is £6.08 if you're over 21.<p>I have no idea why Americans accept this. Why are Americans allowing billions to be spent on security theatre while schools struggle for funding?
The TSA let me board with a lighter and an aerosol form alcohol. Didn't realize until I'd landed that they'd let me board with materials for a small-scale flamethrower. I donated the lighter to a smoker I saw at the airport and checked the other in my additional luggage before my return flight.