The TSA is idiotic. It is designed (poorly) to detect explosives, weapons, etc. This is always a losing battle, and involves crap like this idiotic pat down.
What does El Al do? Do they screen for weapons? Nope. The Israelis screen for terrorists. Huge difference. They talk to people. They aks them questions. They screen people. This results in a little more time, but it's actually looking past stereotypes.
It was on This American Life, or maybe Freakanomics, but they told a story about a young Israeli girl (somehow related to the podcast) on her first trip away from her country. During screening the screener asks her if she has any lethal weapons. Smart aleck teenager that she was she said "other than my wit, nothing." Screener sent her to the boarding area immediately, he knew she was no terrorist. Other times, same woman was questioned for a while on topics totally unrelated to terrorism for a while.
Anyway, looking for terrorists makes more sense than patting people down, particularly with cockpits locked now.
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