Will New DHS Secretary Fix Broken TSA With Common Sense?

Newly appointed Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, has a litany of directives to execute her agenda. Can she finally fix the broken TSA?

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Kristi Noem Confirmed As Secretary Of The Department Of Homeland Security

Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem has been confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. While a focus of her task is the southern border and “fixing the broken immigration system” she is also over the Transportation Security Administration, TSA. President Donald Trump’s cabinet choices have been mostly confirmed like Pete Hegseth for the Department of Defense, Gov. Kristi Noem for DHS, and Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. (Rep. Matt Goetz did not go before Senate confirmation hearings.) Noem was approved by a vote of 59-34 with bipartisan support.

While border security and illegal immigration will be a focus of the new Homeland Security secretary, Tom Homan will likely lead that charge. This is not a post about immigration but rather the other major department that falls under her purview, the TSA.

TSA Is Improved But Still Broken

In a deeply politically divided country, one thing both parties agree on is that the TSA is broken. It’s inefficient, it’s ineffective, and some of it feels easily solved. Over the last few years, the TSA has improved, but it’s still broken. Here’s just a few examples:

The TSA routinely misses the vast majority of serious weapons at checkpoints often failing between 80-95% of the time
The liquids ban
Removal of shoes
More invasive security than necessary
Cash seizures
Real ID
Failure to implement regulatory reform from 2007 (73% compliant) and updates in 2021 (89% compliant)

Common Sense Approach

The theme of the new administration has been to implement a “common sense” approach to governmental reform. European nations ended their liquids ban (before temporarily extending them due to a technical issue.) Of the seizures that the TSA has made, the agency has not disclosed any seizures of explosives in shoes since the ban went into place in 2006 following a pair of foiled plans.

“Taking off our shoes at the airport has become the new normal for almost everyone traveling on a commercial flight. Exceptions to the rule: security pre-screened passengers with TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or CLEAR, the elderly (over 75), and children under the age of 12.” – ClickOrlando

Either the issue of shoe bombings is a concern or it’s not. The TSA Precheck background check is limited and except for those with criminal backgrounds, seems to be uniformly approved.  The same goes for removing laptops from hand luggage, or liquids in a marked container over three ounces. These rules are incredibly easy to circumvent for nefarious purposes. Should they remain in-force at all?

A common sense approach would say that rather than make everyone take off their shoes, everyone remove their devices, throwing away sealed commercially sold water bottles, random tests are likely to expedite the majority of screenings but may be more likely to actually catch real issues simply because more attention is paid to those random inspections.

It’s not just about speed, it’s about efficacy. For Sec. Kristi Noem, Homeland Security should hold all its departments to a higher standard and the TSA should be a prime target. Historically, the TSA misses the vast majority of guns going through checkpoints. While those rates have improved the last few years, the best audit I could find on record found that 80% of guns were missed during internal audits. Extrapolating that means that of the 6,678 firearms apprehended last year at checkpoints (94% loaded) there were likely 26,712 that made it through – yet there were no reports of shooting incidents on aircraft in the US last year.

If anyone with $189 can join CLEAR and opt out of the more invasive security measures, why not streamline all TSA checkpoints, and keep a smaller but more targeted staff with spot checks?

By 2020, the TSA has also seized some $2bn at various checkpoints but this is strictly not their job, in their purview, or on its face illegal. I covered in 2020 the illegal seizure of $191,000 a business owner was taking from Tampa to Cleveland to buy trucks. It’s not illegal to travel with any amount of cash domestically in the United States. Civil forfeiture remains an issue, but this is a place where Noem has an opportunity to do the right thing and follow the law as an organization.

And if the Department of Government Efficiency wants to shore up some cash for the American people, it could start at the TSA’s nearly 63,000 employees which seems like overkill every time I pass through a gateway with 3-4 standing around regardless of the airport.

Conclusion

Noem could do two simple things to improve the department and benefit all US travelers.

First, require some accountability. If anyone in the private sector failed at their core job 80-95% of the time, they wouldn’t not have one. When the stakes are this high and performance has been subpar for this long, the time for excuses is over. Second, take a fresh look at the process. This is security theater at best, and in a time of radical change there’s an opportunity to make lasting change.

Secretary Noem has made it clear that her top priority is to “secure our southern border” but when the senate confirmed Kristi Noem, it confirmed her for the whole department and the TSA is ripe for reform and an important part of her duty.

What do you think?