The Over-Skeptics

Although airline studies have found that four screeners at each checkpoint is optimal, the TSA has adopted a prototype that calls for seven people—which, the airlines maintain, reduces throughput (the processing of passengers) without improving security.

Congressman Rogers complains that the FSAs total “overhead staff” amounts to about 3,600, and he has raised questions about the need for almost 50 percent of the new passenger-checkpoint positions the TSA is insisting on. He suggests that self-closing doors and surveillance cameras might replace 3,249 “exit-lane monitors,” and that 1,405 federal customer-service representatives would be performing a function the airlines should assume. Rogers also points out that new magnetometer technology could replace thousands of the new federal workers, and has encouraged the agency to “put all machinery in place that you can before you hire people.”

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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Although airline studies have found that four screeners at each checkpoint is optimal, the TSA has adopted a prototype that calls for seven people—which, the airlines maintain, reduces throughput (the processing of passengers) without improving security.

Congressman Rogers complains that the FSAs total “overhead staff” amounts to about 3,600, and he has raised questions about the need for almost 50 percent of the new passenger-checkpoint positions the TSA is insisting on. He suggests that self-closing doors and surveillance cameras might replace 3,249 “exit-lane monitors,” and that 1,405 federal customer-service representatives would be performing a function the airlines should assume. Rogers also points out that new magnetometer technology could replace thousands of the new federal workers, and has encouraged the agency to “put all machinery in place that you can before you hire people.”