Originally Posted by
RichardKenner
As was said upthread, here is a real risk of having explosive components brought in by different people and later assembled. Rescreening everybody to doublecheck that this isn't the case doesn't seem that much of an overreaction to me. Many here are in favor of a "risk-based" approach. It seems reasonable that once you've found one passenger with a bomb component that the risk is now higher than others may have one as well.
It is amazing that many peolpe do not get this.
As pointed out by the GAO, the FBI, and various other agencies, the greatest risk is an un-assembled IED. It is more difficult to see on the x-ray. It can potentially be brought in at
different airports. People involved do not need be on the same flight; they do not need to meet - one person can dump an item in a trash can for another to pick up in an hour or so later.
Explosives found at the checkpiont is such a rare event that dumping the terminal is a prudent measure. After which a sweep of the terminal should be conducted, and passengers/employees re-screened. To not do so would be silly. Would be stupid, actually.
But I suspect that many on this site will complain about TSA no matter what happens. Goes with the territory, I guess.