Chopper.. not trying to slag off the staff, they are just doing their job and they probably believe they are doing some good.
My point is that what is going on is having the result of driving away those who pay our salaries: the passengers. If it also made flying safer that would be a good tradeoff, but it does not. Almost every week we hear about some security "breach" involving some passenger who has been caught with a knife, or who bypasses security, but on examination none of them were criminals, and if they had not been caught, so what? Those who do have a crimimal intent STILL get through (El AL for example) so what is the point?
We can never stop a determined criminal, and all this effort being made is doomed to fail. There is an element of risk in flying, we should set a reasonable level of security and stay with it. In the US the security was not as bad as it is now painted, just as security in Europe was not as good. We need a level around that of Europe, and what is going on in the US is counter-productive.
We do not need the big CTX machines in the airport lobbies, for example. Explosives in baggage is not a major problem, yet unreasonable resources are being given to protect us from a non-threat. Better to quietly upgrade the machines, leaving them in the baggage area, and go about the job. Breaking locks off bags without the knowledge of the passenger, risking belongings being stolen and broken, will not help security or passeneger relations.
What we need to do is accept that some bad guys will get through, and revise procedures to handle that situation. Training aircrew how to overcome a terrorist, for example (not the way the El Al stewardess was reported to have done: They say she saw the pocket knife and ran screamimg down the aisle! Hope that is not true). We need to make it clear that the old "cooperation" policy is dead and the flight deck door will not be opened for a threat. In fact as soon as the flight deck crew gets a call indicating a problem they should cut off all communications with the cabin, so they will not be subject to pressure, and land at the nearest suitable airport. Let the hijacker posture or even kill, the greater good is applicable. The cabin crew should have weapons, or trained how to make them from what is available. Passengers should be encouraged to help in this situation (not that they need to be encouraged, the response by most has been incredible so far).
But again, what we are doing now does not enhance flight safety, does not address the real issues, is only window dressing done by people who don't have a clue and are doing "something" just to make it appear that they are in control. Using the Sep 11 catastrophe as an excuse to make the biggest Federal department ever is as cynical and oppportunistic as it gets.
What we are doing is bin Laden's work: destroying aviation and destroying our own way of life.