The old saying, “Don’t just stand there, do something!” could pretty well sum up the TSA & Homeland Security’s approach to selecting airport security measures. Per Reuters, No proof airport security makes flying safer:study

Airport security lines can annoy passengers, but there is no evidence that they make flying any safer, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

A team at the Harvard School of Public Health could not find any studies showing whether the time-consuming process of X-raying carry-on luggage prevents hijackings or attacks.

They also found no evidence to suggest that making passengers take off their shoes and confiscating small items prevented any incidents.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration told research teams requesting information their need for quick new security measures trumped the usefulness of evaluating them

I have traditionally ascribed the pointless harassment we call “security” in airports to incompetence, a desire to exert control over others and political expediency rather than any real interest or understanding what would produce effective security. DHS/TSA seem to view air travelers as a group to be handled in a matter akin to a prison population, where everyone is 100% “bad” and must be controlled to prevent chaos rather than citizens who, on any given day, are almost certainly 100% good.

But to have the effectively admit that they don’t care if their security measures are effective or not really makes my blood boil.