My 2 Cents: TSA Breakdown

I thought the TSA lines at the airport were ridiculous in March, the last time I flew, but these delays causing travelers, thousands of them, to miss their flights are inexcusable.

Because of budget cuts, TSA has fewer officers screening passengers, 10 percent fewer since 2013, that's 5,000 fewer officers working at checkpoints, and that, I think is the biggest culprit.

I don't buy this lame excuse that more people are flying, the number of air travelers has increased steadily every year since the Great Recession in 2009.  

They're also partly blaming us because we're carrying on more luggage to avoid checked baggage fees and it's slowing things down at the checkpoints even more.

I don't doubt that, I'm pretty amazed at what passes for a carry-on these days.

But the TSA is not only slow; last year, undercover investigators were able to smuggle banned items through checkpoints in 95 percent of their attempts.

Morale in the TSA is said to be very low.

It was a necessity after 9/11 to restore the confidence of the flying public, but it's time to seriously consider scrapping the TSA and privatizing airport security and making them accountable to travelers, not the other way around.  

I'm Kelly Ogle and that's My 2 Cents.