Bob Poole (with whom I discussed this issue at a Reason reception in LA last month) says that the current plans for airport security are both unachievable and useless. Of course, that’s not news to anyone with half a brain. Unfortunately, the people making the decisions don’t seem to meet that criterion, even after canning Magaw.

…deadlines are just part of the problem. The machines that TSA purchased to screen luggage give false positives, or miss explosives entirely, more than 30 percent of the time. And they’re agonizingly slow, scanning just 150-200 bags per hour under real-world conditions.

Salt Lake City International Airport used the TSA’s explosive-trace-detection machines during the 2002 Winter Olympics and averaged a paltry 76 bags per hour – a number that would bring U.S. air travel to a stop.

There are better, faster, cheaper machines available. But, in typical fashion, our government has yet to approve the most reliable and quickest screening machines now used in Europe’s airports. So instead, we are buying untrustworthy, expensive machines to meet a self-imposed deadline.