The author, Fred Gevalt nailed the whole DHS/TSA with this:
The VIPR team acronym begins with "visible" as opposed to "effective," precisely because for TSA, public visibility and perception are end goals in and of themselves.
It is all Theatrics!
If I wanted to catch someone doing bad things, I would be as clandestine as possible.
DHS/TSA is more concerned with being visible and less about being effective.