TSA Security Is Terrible, Investigation Finds

If you've ever waited in an airport security line and suspected the headache-inducing screening process was a big sham, there is now proof you may have been right all along. According to an ABC News report, an internal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security found that undercover agents were able to sneak banned items through a staggering 95% of the checkpoints the agency tested. During the investigation, Transportation Security Administration agents missed banned weapons and fake explosives in 67 out of 70 screenings. According to ABC, this isn't the first time that DHS has seen such dreadful results from a test of the NSA. Two years ago, an agent from one of the agency's undercover "red teams" managed to sneak a fake bomb past a metal detector and a pat-down at Newark airport. While TSA agents seem to fumbling their efforts to catch contraband, they've also faced repeated complaints for racial profiling, inappropriately touching black women's hair, snarling travel for mothers trying to fly with breast milk, and other abuses of power. It's worth noting that despite the TSA's spectacular failure on this test of its main mission, neither U.S. airports nor U.S. flights have been successfully targeted by terrorists in the 14 years since the agency's founding. So, we're probably all a lot safer than these results may suggest.