Captain Smith has made an excellent effort to underscore the ludicrous procedures and attitudes of airport "security" personnel. The procedures are absurd for the fact that they manifestly lack any meaningful deterrent effect to the terrorists they're aimed at thwarting. The billions of dollars wasted on this charade each year could pay off the national debt. Terrorists have many points of access to aircraft, should they desire to pursue this mechanism of terrorism again in the future. Remember, the September 11, 2001 terrorists entered the aircraft despite airport security, that while lacking some of the farcical aspects of today's system, was nonetheless as robust as can be expected to thwart commercial aviation attacks through concerted efforts.

The people of TSA are something else again. They are brimming with the self-righteous fullness of their mandate. They are employed by an agency that thrives on the threat of terror, real or imagined. They believe and are trained to believe, that they cannot be questioned or challenged, no matter how downright ridiculous some of their decisions and actions may be. This is a dangerous thing in a free republic. This agency, the people who run it and the employees that work for it, need to have their sails trimmed.

What is needed is for Congress to thoroughly examine the policies and procedures of the TSA in light of a realistic, non-hyperbolic assessment of the actual threat that exists in commercial aviation. Most aviation professionals believe that terrorists have had their day with aircraft and will not employ that method again. There is also a large consensus that the upper-echelon terrorist organizers have gained an objective in the huge economic price being paid as a knee-jerk reaction to "9/11" and that they view the billions being spent as part of their effort to bankrupt America. They have a point.

TSA and other U.S. government regulators have made flying so inconvenient, unpleasant and costly that the industry is in an economic spiral that threatens the continuity of the national air transportation system that was built in the post WWII era. The system needs to be fixed and fast, or commercial aviation as we know it is headed for the ash heap of history.