I think part of the idiocy of the TSA (and other such governmental entities) is the unwillingness to admit they have basically "screwed up". They do something stupid and then, realizing that it makes them look like the east end of a west-facing jackass, they try to mitigate the error by escalating the situation hoping, perhaps, they might stumble on something able to justify their original error. It's the of inability such agencies to cut their losses that makes such situations a major irritation to the victims of such actions and causes embarassment and lack of respect for the agencies. The TSA agent screws up, the supervisor is afraid the screw-up will reflect badly on his/her ability to manage properly and so the TSA seeks to justify the original error by trying to make the traveller look like the "guilty" party...
