Here are two questions to ponder.

First, what is the best error rate you would realistically expect for an airline security screening system that handles 710 million passengers per year?

Second, what changes would you make to improve TSA's error rate to that level?

TSA budget is about 7.75 BILLION. With 710 million passengers that is over a grand PER PERSON for screening. It should be darn good for that much money.

Is not about managing 710 million people but to do one correctly 710 million times (just like your bank checks).

TSA is way beyond improvement, TSA and HS is the answer to a question that nobody ever asked.

So, if the budget were only $10 per person, would you expect the screening to be much worse?

Now go recheck your math.

Lol.... minimum wage.

TSA Screener's Salary - TSA Salary Data - Average Salaries - PayScale

I checked a handgun two years ago in Jacksonville, FL. My seat was in the very last row on the plane. Just as we touched down, the flight attendant tapped me on the shoulder and said the captain wanted to see me before I deplaned. As I made my way to the cockpit, another flight attendant told me the same thing. I was getting nervous. I went to the cockpit and introduced myself.

Captain: Are you a leo?

Me: No, I'm a taurus. Why? Oh, you mean cop. No. Why?

Captain: I have you on a list as having brought a handgun aboard.

Me: Yeah, but I checked it in my baggage.

Captain: Well, they don't tell me those things.

Me: So why are you asking me after we've landed?

Captain: Well, you could be a sky marshal. (I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt)

Me: What good would I have done you sitting in the last row with my sidearm checked?

Captain: It's no big deal, just curious.

Thank you! Only an idiot first carries ammo on a plane, then even a worse idiot tells the FA about it!

How about just staying on the flight and taking them out of the bags once he makes it to his destination?

True Story - one of our neighbor friends got 'detained' by TSA going to Mexico. She had three dildos in her carry-on. She was going to Cancun with her husband. They let her keep them but needless to say it was a bit embarrassing for her - he just laughed it off or so she says.

My question to her was "Three? You only use one at a time, why three?" Her reply, "You guys might only use one at a time..."

Tupperware party.

Lube,

This is not uncommon. The TSA jerks do this often to embarrass the ladies.

One of my FA's had this happen until I told her to stand up to them. They opened her bag in front of everyone and held the dildo up asking her "whats this for" and she spoke in a loud voice "if you do not know what its for, bend over and I will show you! Now are you finished trying to embarass me big boy its time to get on my jet!" They never bothered her again...

My father collects old cast iron penny banks, was coming home from a auction and had a bank made out of a WWI grenade in his carry on bag. This was after 9/11, they never found it!

The problem for the TSA screeners, I would think, is that you have a high and relentless volume of bags to inspect on the X-ray, and you are looking for something that almost never shows up. 710 million passengers per year, if each puts 3 items through the carry-on bag screener (briefcase, laptop, shoes, jacket, etc), that is 2.1 billion items. The screener has maybe 5-10 seconds per item. What % of those items actually have bombs, guns, ammunition in them? 0.00001%? So you can't really get much real-world practice.

Given that, I'm curious how well the TSA uses technology and incentives to improve the accuracy of the screeners.

For example:

- What is done to ensure that the screeners encounter more bags with bombs and guns? I would think there is an ideal frequency of "positives" that you'd want the screeners to see - maybe 1 in 1,000 (just guessing). You can't send enough physical "test" bombs through security to reach that frequency. But images of bags with bombs/guns could be digitally inserted in the stream of images that the screener sees.

- How are the screeners' accuracy measured? Right now, I doubt a screener's real-world performance can be meaningfully measured, if he only encounters a bag with a bomb (including test bombs) a couple times a year (if that). If you start inserting images, you can start measuring performance.

- Do screeners have incentives to perform well? If they can be measured, they can be incentivized. Poor performers can be re-trained or terminated. Strong performers can be bonused. If you are, let's say, in the top 5% of screening accuracy, you should be able to earn a good living.

- Is TSA maximizing the labor pool it selects from? When you think about it, the screener's job can be done remotely, from any place with a data connection. So TSA should be able to hire from people living far from major airports, disabled persons including veterans, stay-at-home parents, etc. There is no reason why, say Detroit's airport is limited to employing screeners who live in Detroit.

- Is TSA deplying its screeners most efficiently and effectively? If you use remote screening, you can start to shift screeners around to where they are most needed, nearly in real-time - you just move the data feed around. Rather than have too many screeners in an airport when traffic is slow and too few when traffic is high, you can flex the number of screeners "working at" each airport, perhaps following the timezones. You can also assign the best screeners to the airports that are at the highest risk. During the busiest periods, you could have two screeners working each belt, examining alternate images. One can even imagine a system in which you even assign the best screeners to the bags of the passengers with the highest risk (perhaps based on their passport or where they are traveling from) - barcode stickers on the carry-on bags would enable this.

- Are the screeners given any software aids for identifying bombs? Pattern-recognition software combined with machine vision can do interesting things. Even if the software cannot conclusively identify a bomb or gun, it may be able to flag the images with a higher probability of showing a bomb or gun.

You also have to wonder if we are asking too little from the flying public. Right now, it seems like people bring as much as they can carry on the plane, which means an extremely large number of items for the screeners to examine. Suppose we cut that number by 1/3?

Finally, I don't know why the TSA should be a financial burden on the taxpayer. US airline revenue is roughly $125 billion/year. TSA budget is $7 billion. Increase ticket prices by 5% and that funds TSA. Kind of makes sense, that those who fly should pay for airport screening. (I confess I don't know how TSA is funded today.)

The airport I referred to is not in the USA. And the inspectors are minimum wage contractors.

The security personnel where I work make about $15 an hour, and don't have x-ray machine or special wands or aything like that.
But they found some ammo in a contractor's truck last year under the seat. The sheriffs handcuffed him and hauled him off, it's illegal to bring stuff like that into a place like this that's covered by homeland security and Transportation worker indentification credentials (TWIC cards). I've been told it's a felony but I can't swear to that.

He didn't do it on purpose and I don't think they pressed charges but he is never again allowed on our property for any reason and I believe he's on several lists now.

I don't understand why the guy decided to notify in the first place. He was past the security portion of the trip. Even with multiple stop itinerary he would not have been searched again...well as long as he didn't leave the passenger terminal somewhere along the way.