With apologies, RadioGirl, I'm going to pull one line out of your quote:
When TSA says "BDOs are effective" they mean "it impresses the Kettles to have people asking questions in the airport."
IOW, the AFS crowd think they're getting 'Israeli-style' security for cheap, 'cause
everyone knows the Israelis have the strictest airport security in the world, and they do it by asking lots of questions and observing people closely.
(Never mind that Israeli security experts have looked at TSA's El Cheap-o quickie version of their security protocol and said it doesn't work - hey, what do they know, anyway? They just don't recognize American exceptionalism).