Many more elements of the War on Terror bureaucracy have become permanent, accepted features of American life. That would include the most visible, intrusive, and useless of them all: the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Created just two short months after the 9/11 attacks, the TSA nationalized a largely privatized, decentralized system of airport security that existed previously and replaced it with the federalized behemoth we know today.
It brought with it many of the things people hate most about airports: long lines, forced shoe removal, and dour government agents giving you the third degree for carrying too much toothpaste.
I got a good reminder of the TSA’s many excesses just yesterday when going through one of the agency’s once-controversial full-body scanners.
As I stepped out of the Orwellian picture booth in the Nashville airport, I was told that the machine had issued a “groin alert” and that I’d have to receive the requisite pat down.
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