Originally Posted by
QUERY
Regarding your 3rd paragraph, if it was an underlying problem with TSA then, due to their numbers, we would have hundreds to thousands of incidents per day being reported here on this forum.
There don't need to be that many or for then to be reported. The underlying problem is not whether the TSA puts in pieces of paper, but that the TSA opens bags at all. Back when things worked properly, you gave your bag to the airline and it was their responsibility (to a limited extent, and so long as you were responsible and locked it securely) to get it back to you. Now, the TSA opens bags willy-nilly, causing a huge security problem.
I don't think it's a big deal within the USA. (Still evil. Still wrong. Still stupid. But not a big deal in practice.) Some pilfering may occur, but it's very rare.
However, for international travellers, the situation is awful. If you are flying from the USA to, say, India, and the TSA opens your bag, it arrives there as an open invitation to thieves. If items are stolen (and I know people this has happened to), the airline (and insurance, if any) will deny all responsibility because the bag wasn't locked and the TSA will deny all responsibility because they didn't actually do the stealing!