Watch what? 73 employees identified on terror watch list

In case you missed it, the Transportation Security Administration is now admitting that 73 of its employees have ties to terrorism.

That's right -- 73.

Good thing we are doing all that random screening of 85-year-old women in wheelchairs, huh?

This announcement is not just embarrassing -- although it is monumentally so, especially after the recent failure of one security crew to find 95 percent of fake weapons being test-smuggled into an airport.

It is scary.

In our quest to be so uber careful not to offend anyone, we have reached a new level of ridiculousness in how we process people through airports. Try to fly and see what we mean.

The most fun is when you are targeted randomly for extra screening.

Does that even make sense, by the way?

Why wouldn't you target people who fit a profile and might be dangerous? Security lottery doesn't seem like a great way to stay safe.

Anyway, turns out, we have no handle on security in airports at all. We do not even screen the employees with access to tarmacs and airplanes.

If there was ever an example of bureaucracy gone wrong, this is it.

It is time to scuttle the whole business, redo the rules and create a security system that works.

And we need to do it sooner rather than later.

Published in Editorials on June 9, 2015 11:29 AM