ABOLISHTSA

Transportation Security Administration

Security theater, billed to you at about $10 billion a year.

Official story

What they claim to do

Protects the nation’s transportation system through passenger and baggage screening.

Ground truth

What they actually do

Created in 2001, the TSA has repeatedly failed covert tests. Government inspectors smuggled mock weapons and explosives past screeners in most of the tests reported in 2015 and 2017. It runs on a budget of roughly $10 billion a year.

The libertarian case

Airlines and airports have every reason to keep their own planes safe, and some U.S. airports already use private screeners under the TSA’s own program, as do many airports abroad. Let them compete on safety and answer to passengers, not to a bureaucracy no traveler can fire. Abolish the TSA.

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