Even worse all that and they MISS another terrorist?
Will they then get more funding or less? Move the searches into our homes?
Tell me where exactly we draw the line.
It's not about drawing the line, it's about holding an uncooperative government to it. They're willing to go so far as shoot you if you don't let them cross that line and examine your coffee; you're not willing to pursue similar means to hold them to that line.
http://www.aclu.org/national-security_technology-and-liberty...
Some states are considered to lie completely within a "constitution-free zone": Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.
The border, however, has always been an exception. There, the longstanding view is that the normal rules do not apply. For example the authorities do not need a warrant or probable cause to conduct a “routine search.” But what is “the border”? According to the government, it is a 100-mile wide strip that wraps around the “external boundary” of the <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />United States.
(I left the XML error in there just for the lulz.)
You can disagree with their analysis, but it's pretty clear that their position is that normal 4th amendment rules are being superseded merely because of a rather wide proximity to the border.
There's a lot of TSA crap and the whole agency should probably be zero'd out, but this isn't the right measure.
If a metal detector at an airport never stopped a gun, that wouldn't mean the metal detector is useless for keeping guns off planes.
It's a classic problem in computer security that, if it actually works, people say "why do I need security since there are no incidents?"
Metal detectors, even if not completely perfect, stop people from bringing serious weaponry onto airplanes because people don't bother bringing serious weaponry in the first place. The chances of getting caught are too high. People who simply don't bother will never show up in your direct measurements of the effectiveness of the metal detector.
As for your other question, it will keep getting bigger budgets, because "mission creep". What do you think this, and those cases where they went to subway and bus stops was? They are testing the waters to see how the people are reacting to them expanding their scope. If no one says anything or the outrage is not big enough, they'll most likely propose the Government to allow them to set-up check-ins in other places as well, and of course increase their budget.
We have no idea if they miss any guns, nor if the guns they stopped were going to be used on the plane.
But TSA will point to the 20 or so guns they fund each week as evidence of effectiveness.
EDIT (after a bunch of comments): I should make it clear that I'm not defending TSA, I think they're mostly lousy and pointless security theatre.
Actually we know for a fact that they miss guns.
So either people got more violent after 9/11 and therefore brought more weapons, or people were always bringing guns onto planes. I’d bet on the latter, and yet how many terror attacks occurred? Hmmm…
Here is a nice debate with Bruce Schneier.
"In the entire decade or so of airport security since the attacks on September 11th 2001, the TSA has not foiled a single terrorist plot or caught a single terrorist. Its own “Top 10 Good Catches of 2011″ does not have a single terrorist on the list."
Found a better list here:
* American Airlines Flight 63 The "shoe bomb", a failed al-Qaeda PETN bombing attempt in December 2001.
* China Northern Flight 6136, a 2002 flight brought down by a passenger who had purchased life insurance, who set a fire in flight with gasoline
* 2004 Russian aircraft bombings Islamist terrorist attacks on two domestic Russian passenger aircraft flying from Moscow. The bombs were triggered by two female Chechen suicide bombers. Shamil Salmanovich Basayev militant leader of the Chechen terrorist movement claimed credit.
* 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot al-Queda terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives carried on board at least 10 airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada. It followed the same general plan as the Bojinka plot.
* Northwest Airlines Flight 253, the target of a failed al-Qaeda PETN bombing attempt in December 2009
* 2010 cargo plane bomb plot, failed al-Qaeda PETN bombing attempt on two planes in October 2010
ETA: I want to note that my issue is only that you stated a factual incorrectness: that no terror attacks have occurred involving airplanes in the past 11 years. You can denigrate the TSA all you want; just do it based on factually correct statements.
2) suggests 1) is not the case. If the TSA knew or even suspected the guns were going to be used on the plane, wouldn't they point that out alongside the "number of guns confiscated per week" number? There seem to be a lot of dogs not barking.
More and yes. See the War on Drugs.