Airports across the United States have been plagued by the ill effects of big government through the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Following the old adage, never let a crisis go to waste (Rahm Emanuel), the TSA was started in late 2001 in response to the horrific attacks that took place on September 11, 2001. While it's true that the TSA conglomerate oversees roads, highways, waterways, and railroads, the bulk of their focus is at more than 450 airports nationwide. Arguments for and against the Transportation Security Administration come in three main areas: constitutionality, safety and effectiveness, and efficiency.

Looking to deliver a new form of government that restored individual liberty and freedom, the founders of the United States ratified the Constitution in 1787. More than 200 years after the ratification, the intentions of the founders would be called into question when, in 2001, Representative Don Young and Senator Ernest Hollings sponsored legislation to create the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 19, 2001. Proponents of the TSA use the preamble of the Constitution to argue its constitutionality, saying that it provides for the common defense and ensures domestic tranquility. What these proponents forget are the regulations placed on government actions after the preamble.

The most common argument against the TSA is the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which states

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

This means that no person can be searched or have something taken from them by the government without a warrant specifically outlining what will be searched or taken. On a daily basis, the TSA searches more than 1.73 million people without warrants.

A second major argument used against the TSA is the fact that they inhibit freedom of movement. The Constitution implies freedom to move from one state to another without government scrutiny. This right was first challenged in court in 1849 when the Supreme Court ruled that individuals must have the right to freely pass from one domestic point to another without government interference. The high court revisited the topic in 1920, 1966, and 1992. In each case, the Supreme Court expanded the definition and protections associated with free travel to include free ingress and egress among states. The Transportation Security Administration acts a government agent to inhibit and prevent free travel from one state to another.

Despite the lack of evidence to Constitutionally support the government program, proponents still argue that the trade-off of liberty and freedom is necessary to provide security and safety. Not only does this argument lack forethought, it is precisely what the founders of our nation tried to warn us of. Thomas Jefferson, the author of our founding documents, said, “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” Founding father Benjamin Franklin echoed the third President, saying, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

When we turn to look at the success of the Transportation Security Administration, it appears that Mr. Franklin was correct; the American people have been robbed of both freedom and safety. Despite the three-hour security lines that are commonplace at domestic airports, the TSA has failed to meet its goal of protecting Americans. In a 2015 report published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through a series of internal tests, the DHS found that the Transportation Security Administration is proficient in finding and preventing people from bringing weapons ranging from firearms and knives to explosives aboard planes only five percent of the time. Through a study that spanned several of America’s most popular airports, the TSA failed to find potential weapons 95 percent of the time. Furthermore, a second DHS audit showed that the TSA gave security passes and access to secure areas to 73 people with links to terrorism.

Those who still support the TSA point to the underwear bomber as its biggest publicized success. What those supporters fail to mention is that Umar Farouk, the bomber, boarded the plane with explosives despite passing through an enhanced pat down. He was only stopped by a fellow passenger when he tried to use the explosives. In 2010, after 10 years of TSA screenings, Congress asked the TSA to provide documentation that their programs had success stories. The TSA failed to provide this documentation, arguing that publicizing success stories could pose a threat to national security. It’s peculiar that publicizing success stories poses a threat to national security but their five percent success rate does not.

In 2015, taxpayers spent more than $7.3 billion on the Transportation Security Administration while it boasted a 5 percent success rate. The TSA averages more than $16 million in expenses per airport that they maintain. Private security contractors such as Garda Security Solutions, a Canadian company, and Securitas, a Swedish company, provide private security throughout the world at a fraction of the cost. Government and private studies conducted in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2012 found that private security contractors do a better job of detecting weapons and contraband than the TSA. Furthermore, Europe has seen great success in airport security after they made the change to private security in the 1980s. Britain, Germany, Spain, and France are among the countries that utilize private security.

It is clear that the Transportation Security Administration has a number of problems ranging from constitutionality to effectiveness; something must be done. My proposal allows for a consensual agreement between airlines, security firms, and passengers. I believe that the $7.3 billion TSA budget should be given back to the taxpayers and the TSA should be abolished. That is not to say we shouldn’t have airport security! Airlines are incentivized to provide security to protect their own assets. Individual airlines can provide (or contract out) security for passengers and their assets. Given the cost differential, taxpayers, the government, and airlines will save money. In terms of effectiveness, we have already seen that private security companies do a far better job of providing security and boast far higher success rates than the TSA. Furthermore, with the government out of the process, the issues of constitutionality go away. Now, instead of having the government interfere with travel and civil liberties, people can make a consensual agreement with their airlines. It’s time to restore civil liberties and American safety, it is time to abolish the Transportation Security Administration.