TSA Once Again Fails to Do Its Job as Passenger Carries Firearm Past Security

By Brandon Morse | 8:30 AM on January 14, 2019

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A TSA pre check sign at a security checkpoint is on display for travelers to easily see at the Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport on Friday, June 29, 2018, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The TSA projected that Friday would be its busiest day ever, with agents screening more than 2.7 million people. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) was created to stop another terrorist attack like the one we saw on 9/11, but the agency has only proven that it’s good at making people feel uncomfortable and late for their flight. It also has allowed so many contraband items to go through its security checkpoints that it’s a wonder another terrorist action hasn’t occurred.

Especially because this recent failure by the TSA involved someone getting a gun through.

According to CNN, a passenger going from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to Tokyo Narita International Airport on January 3. The TSA had apparently lapsed in its duties and let the passenger through to this Delta flight with a firearm.

“TSA has determined standard procedures were not followed and a passenger did in fact pass through a standard screening TSA checkpoint with a firearm at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on the morning of January 3,” the TSA stated.

CNN speculated that this lapse in security is a result of the government shutdown, but the TSA squashed that.

“The perception that this might have occurred as a result of the partial government shutdown would be false,” TSA said. “The national unscheduled absence rate of TSA staff on Thursday, January 3, 2019, was 4.8% compared to 6.3% last year, Thursday, January 4, 2018. So in fact, the national call out rate was higher a year ago than this year on that date.”

The truth is, the TSA has always been horrible at detecting contraband items. In 2017, the TSA was tested by the Department of Homeland Security and was found to have a 95 percent failure rate, and has continued to prove itself unequal to the task of keeping the people safe both before, and since.

Despite this continued failure and waste of taxpayer money, the TSA will likely continue to be a costly security program that amounts to “security theatre,” meant to make the populace feel safe instead of actually making them safe. In the private sector, a 95 percent failure rate would be cause to shut a program down. In the government, they’ll likely ask for more money to fix the problem and get it just like they did in 2017

(h/t: DailyCaller)