It is interesting to me that as much as the body scanners and body contour carressings have been decried as invasive, dangerous, degrading, silly, un-American, unprofessional and stupid, no one's yet come around calling them unnecessary or unjustified, probably because of the fact that actual terrorists were and are trying to exploit what was the rather limited use of these screening methods.
On the other hand, what would the public reaction be if the TSA said simply, "we will not be employing these advanced screening methods on the grounds that they are invasive and inconvenient"? This would then beg the question of why even have the TSA or any screening at all if they announce and intend to be not thorough in searching for carefully concealed non-metallic explosives. Who will want to fly then? How greatly will the feeling of well being created by not being harassed and inconvenienced by the TSA be curtailed when you're six miles in the air and realize that any of the passengers' nether crevices might explode at any moment turning you into an instantaneous crispy-fried single-use skydiver?
It doesn't matter what party has the White House or DOT/DHS/FAA because the reality remains regardless that 1.) there exist entities and individuals willing to kill themselves to bring down commercial airliners and 2.) our government is commissioned, paid, and expected to keep this from happening. Even if the TSA were to be scrapped and screening again privatized nothing will change except the guy groping your buns (have you been doing pilates?) will be wearing a different uniform and making a lower hourly wage. In this regard, the heads of the DHS/TSA are stuck with two alternatives: be hated, reviled, or slandered by the flying public for keeping them safe, or be crucified when Al-Qaeda executes a successful attack (for the glory of their peace-loving god). The bottom line here is that the public will never be fully satisfied (either they are not safe enough or their rights are being attacked) and the folks running the show will never be doing a satisfactory enough job because of its no-win nature.
The only real consolation is that however bloated, thick, incomprehensible, backwards, confused, arbitrary, and unpleasant the TSA can be, the fact remains that there has not, under either presidency post-9/11, been a successful attack on a US airliner, though there have been some close calls.
Given the reality of the threats and the amount of money the TSA has already spent on training and equipment I don't think it's likely that these aggressive screening methods will be going away any time soon. Though I do agree with others that advocate a kind of secure-flier prescreen program/database that would allow certain individuals to enjoy a faster, reduced screening, especially pilots and FA's. Such a system could also benefit the Air Force officer I saw enduring his humiliation the other day; vetted frequent fliers, other employees, military, LEO's etc. This would indeed be more convenient for those involved but it would come at the cost of the federal government having one more profile on you including a personalized threat assessment and record of when and where you fly, and that's assuming that the TSA could manage such a system and all that data effectively while keeping costs reasonable, and that's a tall order.
Partisan politics and lofty ideological quipping are convolutions and distractions of little worth beyond expressing self-righteous frustrations about government and the state of the world; the real threat here is not some totalitarian socialist conspiracy or Glenn Beck Kool-Aid Klub minutemen insurrection but that real discussion about issues of grave importance and dialog for generating working solutions are being abrogated by the ignorant tirades of angry morons with nothing to say insisting they be heard.
Ideals aren't very good at detecting explosives. Anybody have a better solution that would allow the TSA to detect carefully hidden non-metallic explosives without body imaging or close physical inspection?
Anybody?