Just got back home from another overseas trip, which gave me another opportunity to see just how wasteful TSA has become. Arriving at MIA yesterday, because we flew AV from Bogota, we had to go through a TSA checkpoint at the D concourse after rechecking our baggage. At the moat, here is what we saw - one TSO checking BP's, one TSO (with a stern face) watching the passengers in line. Two WTMD lines were open - each with one operator. Two TSO's were busy conducting "random" pat downs on the other side of the moat, and at the end of each conveyor belt, three TSO's talking amongst themselves and not paying attention to a single thing going on in line. That's 12 TSOs, with only 6 actually engaged in work-related activity.

And then there is the "random" pat-down. The brilliant TSO's took the time to pat down four passengers the least likely to be terrorists - two active duty military, two career federal employees, all with official passports, and let people who were far more likely to be terrorists walk by without so much as a glance.

Outbound at DCA five days earlier, it was virtually the same. Now I'm sure the TSA apologists are going to have several excuses for this behavior, but the reality is this - the taxpayers are getting screwed, as we are paying more and getting less.