Originally Posted by
exerda
They're false positives because the TSA treats them as an indication of explosives, and yet explosives are not present. We can argue about the way to resolve the resulting false positive "hit," but it is nonetheless a false positive the way the TSA reacts to it.
I agree with your whole post (though didn't quote the whole thing in the name of brevity).
It's obviously a "big deal" to repeatedly violate people's civil rights. I think it's really clear that the TSA does not have the insight or funding or management to do things that would make technological, scientific, or security sense. They have to spend their limited financial and human resources on showy machines and fundamentally: slowing down travel and adding a layer of intimidation.
I doubt that the TSA was set up to do this slowing/intimidation theatre instead of security, but they're not in a huge hurry to change things, from what I can tell. It would surely be more costly to hire competent personnel, to use accurate machines, to maintain a canine fleet....
--LG