I've never liked the argument "how many shoe bombs have been intercepted?" or "how many terrorists have been stopped?" when it comes to TSA-style security. The presence of the security isn't necessarily meant to find people in the act of carrying out terrorism, it's mean to deter it in the first place since you will be found out (well, in theory anyway...). It's impossible to quantify how many plots have been deterred due to this.
I'm no TSA apologist, it's obviously security theater, but is it totally without merit?
Isn't hard to plenty of articles like these, so it certainly seems like they'd be ineffective at preventing an actual terrorist:
According to officials briefed on the results of a recent Homeland Security Inspector General’s report, TSA agents failed 67 out of 70 tests, with Red Team members repeatedly able to get potential weapons through checkpoints.
“In most cases, they succeeded in getting the banned items through. 17 out of 18 tries by the undercover federal agents saw explosive materials, fake weapons or drugs pass through TSA screening undetected,” KMSP reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the operation.
In Greece I would sometimes encounter packs of aggressive dogs roaming the streets. If you bend down and reach for the ground like you're about to pick up a stone then they disperse immediately. There doesn't even need to be a stone there.
I've not had the chance to try it with a tiger but if it works with them too then I'm afraid you won't fetch much for your stone.
I'm no TSA apologist, it's obviously security theater, but is it totally without merit?