Thoughts on the TSA Versus the US Military

As you may, or may not know, I have some strong opinions regarding the TSA. As a naturalized citizen who served honorably over 20 years in the U.S. military I am continually amused by the waste of money the government spends to keep this "agency" going. Does the TSA really have any authority? Look at the folks you see screening you as you attempt to get to your flight, no weapons, no handcuffs, no indication what-so-ever they could do anything more to stop a terrorist than call for help and pray there are military personnel, or local constabulary in the area. The real humor is, if you present a military ID, a person, with minimal skills in the English language, asks for a different form of identification, like a credit card. Yes, you read that correctly, in 2005, in an attempt to return home from Orlando, Florida, I presented my retiree military ID card and the TSA agent looked at it, then back at me, and in very broken English, requested a credit card for corroboration. According to the regulations governing personal identification, the government wants proof you are a citizen and the proof must be linked to your tax payer identification number. Last time I checked, a credit card was not valid proof of citizenship and could not be linked to your TPIN.

The past week as I traveled between Maui and Anchorage, TSA again annoyed me. We all know the drill, you are not allowed to bring any liquids (think water, tea, coffee, etc) past their secuity check points. In fact, personal hygene items are limited to 3 oz containers. Any attempts to bring anything larger will result in confiscation. Imagine my surprise (and amusement) when a TSA agent approached me at the gate and asked my to remove the lid to my 32 oz. drink container (yes, horror of horrors, I purchased iced tea from Starbucks). I informed the little girl, she looked about 15 years old, it was iced tea (she watched me drink roughly 6 oz and there was less than 16 oz remaining in the container). She asked me again to remove the lid, so I did. She held a slip of litmus paper over the rim of the glass, then removed it and sprayed it with a clear liquid and, to my amazement, and obviously hers too, nothing happened. While I appreciate their tenacity to pretend they are competent and have a real job, besides that of annoying our military and retirees, I must question their true competence, and usefulness.

Over the years, successive Presidents have downsized the military to the point where they are stretched thin fighting a war on two fronts. I heard the term, "do more with less" so much during my time in the service, I wanted to scream "how much more do you think we can do with less"? Now I watch TSA pretend they are as strong and competent as our military and shake my head. They have no authority, no visible means to stop any type of threat (unless you're talking about carpet stains), they don't require they be fluent in English (the language of the United States as voted on in the first Continental Congress), and it doesn't appear they require you be a US citizen.

While I appreciate the government's attempt to "save money" by downsizing the military, creating the TSA is not the answer. The TSA may be a cheaper agency; however, they certainly are not as well trained as our military, nor do they have any hope of protecting anyone. The wiser decision would be to beef up the military, implement better training of our military members, give them the equipment needed to do the job to fulfill the mission and dismantle the TSA. Once again the government has missed the boat.

The final chuckle, a person attempted to use a TSA badge as proof of identity when they did a credit application and when they asked me if it was proper ID, I got to reply, "I'm sorry, that is not proper ID" I didn't tell them it's not linked to their TPIN and it is no better than a union badge, I just didn't have the heart.