I think you're wrong about Neffenger being widely recognized by the front-line folks. That said, I don't think these folks 'get it' unless they or someone very very close to them experiences it. In many cases, even if it happens to someone close to them, if they don't witness it, they believe there might have been 'inadvertent' provocation by the pax or it was a one-off that is being taken too seriously.

Sen. Clare McCaskill stupidly prated about TSA's 'love pats' when they were introduced. Fast forward a bit, and she openly spoke about a particular female TSO at her home airport, claiming that when she saw that TSO, she tensed up because she knew it was going to be ugly. Rand Paul somehow didn't have a problem with what was going on at his home airport - until TSA detained him and suddenly he 'got it'.

Nappy was too gutless to undergo a public grope to show us all how innocuous it was. Pistole was at least honest enough to admit that it was meant to be uncomfortable and he was.

If Neffenger doesn't get out there himself, he's just going to be another figurehead who listens to the same shills that seem to have convinced Hawley, Nappie, Pistole and Johnson to ignore pax complaints because they're just media-driven hype.

In particular, he's not going to fully understand things unless he's gone through a lot of gropes himself. When he realizes how invasive the gropes are while still leaving gaping vulnerabilities, perhaps he will rethink the notion of doubling down on the gropes to pass the Red Team tests.

He might also note how distracting TSO cellphones and personal conversations are.

Best of all, he should try to escalate to an FSD or ask for the (supposedly) always-available TSA customer person (forget title).

I don't think he's that committed.