TSA: Central Planning Gone Awry

By now most informed Americans have at least heard a rumor or skimmed a headline that claims the TSA is removing the controversial Backscatter X-Ray machines from major airports across the United States.  On the surface this sounds like good news, but as we discover with most government programs, the devil is in the details.The TSA is in fact moving some Backscatter X-Ray machines out of large, busy airports to smaller, less frequently traveled airports.  They claim they are not moving the machines as a result of safety concerns voiced by the public.   Instead, the TSA has stated that the driving reasons are to reduce traveler’s wait time at security check points and to provide a less invasive alternative to the current X-Ray machines.  This statement highlights the utter incompetence on display when the government creates a monopoly to dominate an industry.The TSA could learn a lot about the failures of central planning by studying their own brief history.  Obviously, the invasive process, which produced embarrassing images of the individuals while being screened, and the slow operation of the X-Ray machines was not a result of the market meeting demand.  The machines were placed in airports by “authorities” on high in the name of national security. Rather than changing their screening process to expedite the security process, the TSA chose to move millions of dollars of equipment across the country.  The federal government, without realizing it, has provided an excellent case study of why central government planning does not work.  This is a classic example of the misallocation of resources created when the market is not allowed to dictate supply and demand or the products and services that are necessary.But wait, there’s more.  The TSA is replacing the Backscatter X-Ray machines with smaller, less invasive millimeter wave scanners.  The Metro describes the new scanners:

The "millimeter wave" scanner is a newer, smaller machine and uses a rotating antenna to create a more generic outline of a passenger's body seen on the monitor for a TSA agent. It does not use radiation, but rather radio waves.

Here is a side by side comparison of the Millimeter Wave and the X-Ray backscatter machines from Propublica.  The first thing that jumps out to me is the insanely high false alarm rate of the Millimeter Wave machines, 23% – 54%.  These machines made it through testing and the government actually paid $180,000 for a machine that works half the time, completely astounding.  How on earth does the Federal Government think they are going to decrease the amount of time citizens spend at security check points if they have to pat down sexually assault half of the people who go through the machine?  Either the TSA wants to grope more Americans or there are some serious health concerns that could be coming to light with the Backscatter X-Ray machines.Until the government gets the heck out of the way and allows the market to sort out their centrally planned disaster, we’ll continue to see similar stories from the TSA.  The government monopoly in airport security will continue to supply an inefficient, dangerous, and expensive product.Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!