TSA tester slips mock bomb past airport security. For what, the 100th. time?

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/28/tsa.bombtest/index.html

Jason, a covert tester for the Transportation Security Administration, has been probing airport weaknesses for five years, beginning with big mock bombs before switching to ever smaller devices as the TSA adapts to evolving terrorist.

So Jason -- looking every bit the middle-aged man on an uneventful trip to anywhere -- shows a boarding pass and an ID to a TSA document checker, and he is directed to a checkpoint where, unbeknown to the security officer on site, the real test begins.

He gets through, which in real life would mean a terrorist was headed toward a plane with a bomb.

While test results are classified and rarely leak out, those that have been disclosed typically don't inspire confidence. In tests conducted in 2006 and disclosed to USA Today last year, investigators successfully smuggled 75 percent of fake bombs through checkpoints at Los Angeles International Airport, 60 percent through Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and 20 percent at San Francisco International Airport.

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. And amazingly, in all that time there have been no terrorist

bombing of commercial planes, or hijackings of commercial planes.

Like maybe the threat isn't quite as dire as some would have us believe?

[cobalt1999]

2. As someone who flys weekly...

I know the TSA goal is not 100%. If it was, we'd have security like Israeli (manually go through every piece of luggage by hand). The goal is NOT 100% though. They won't publish their goal, but it should be enough to make people think there is a good chance of being caught.

What is the target %? 50%? I don't know. I doubt it is 25% though.