A social service?
This security thing has nothing to do with stoping terrorists, its about protecting the goverment ministers from Fleet street!
Just take a look at the utter stupidity that guys at the front of an airliner have to put up with and you will see that a bunch of very astute businessmen are making a fortune by employing half-witts to enforce rules written in such a way as to protect the civil servants.
I suppose that the only up side is that we are keeping these numptys off the streets and away from petty crime but it seems a very bizarre and expensive way to run a social program.