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Taming the TSA Beast and Federal Bureaucracy
Vaughn Cordle, CFA / November 22, 2010
Nationwide, the discussion about TSA’s overzealous passenger screening is taking on a life of its
own. The TSA has grown into a bureaucratic monstrosity that I believe needs to be dismantled and
privatized ASAP - before it adds 1,000s of new federal employees and finishes installing 1,000 full-
body scanners @ $100K each. Once TSA employees become unionized, costs will soar as
productivity and compensation become non-competitive with the private sector.
Homeland Security and its TSA agency is starting to take on the attributes of the old Soviet Union's
police state apparatus. In the name of security - for the public's own good - bureaucracy via the
security apparatus starts dictating what we can or cannot do. Slowly but surely, it will smother our
freedoms and economic vitality. In other words, we effectively become a police state, controlled by the
bureaucracy in the name of state security.
It's surreal to see TSA and Homeland Security leadership justifying the new procedures and the need
for rapid expansion and expenditures.
Only President Obama and Congress can tame this beast before it starts eating its own citizens. The
federal department, with its dozens of agencies and units, is growing like a mushroom with increases
in Homeland and TSA funding that are justified based on securing our country. But at what cost do
these increases come to our freedom, privacy, and our country in terms of economic vitality and job
growth? It's an opportunity-cost analysis that this administration has not completed, most likely
because it's the bureaucracy itself that is driving decision-making in terms of capital expenditures and
the need to grow. As a nation, we risk bankruptcy if we attempt to control and manage all risks without
understanding that risk is part of living, and that living free is not possible if the state becomes too big
and intrusive.
The expenditures of the Federal government's [31] major departments has grown by 36% over the
last two years - the fastest growth since 1948 (WWII). And, it is on a trajectory that cannot be
sustained without serious harm to our economic well-being. The bottom line is that the growth rate in
the Federal government employee headcount and tax-payer funded expenditures are dangerously
out of hand.
Truman once said, "The buck stops here," meaning the president's desk. In one of his speeches,
Obama said, "The buck stops with me," meaning it’s all about him. In that same speech, Obama also
said, "America's first line of defense is timely, accurate intelligence that is shared, integrated,
analyzed, and acted upon quickly and effectively." He seems to say all of the right words and give the
appearance of being in charge. Unfortunately, the reality is much different. Obama and his team have
failed miserably at governing this country. He is a master campaigner, but an exceptionally poor
president who is costing us dearly as he learns on the job. Hopefully he will be a better president
during his second two years in office.
By allowing the government to expand without understanding the costs and benefits of those federal
departments and expenditures - as a whole - is gross mismanagement of the public's trust and
treasury. Once Obama (the campaigner) was elected, he basically spent the first two years in office
funneling public funds to federal departments and projects that benefited those that elected him. In
essence, politicians buy votes using tax-payer funds. By being political, versus presidential, Obama’s
actions threaten to bankrupt the Treasury and threaten citizens' freedoms by allowing the
government and the federal public sector work force to squeeze out the more efficient private sector.
Homeland Security and the TSA represent the type of government we need less of. Much of the work
force should be privatized so that it is responsive to the citizens it works for, not the other way around.
It needs dynamic competition to keep costs at an optimal level. And, the TSA needs to back off from
the overzealous screening of U.S. citizens.
Vaughn Cordle, CFA / November 22, 2010
Nationwide, the discussion about TSA’s overzealous passenger screening is taking on a life of its
own. The TSA has grown into a bureaucratic monstrosity that I believe needs to be dismantled and
privatized ASAP - before it adds 1,000s of new federal employees and finishes installing 1,000 full-
body scanners @ $100K each. Once TSA employees become unionized, costs will soar as
productivity and compensation become non-competitive with the private sector.
Homeland Security and its TSA agency is starting to take on the attributes of the old Soviet Union's
police state apparatus. In the name of security - for the public's own good - bureaucracy via the
security apparatus starts dictating what we can or cannot do. Slowly but surely, it will smother our
freedoms and economic vitality. In other words, we effectively become a police state, controlled by the
bureaucracy in the name of state security.
It's surreal to see TSA and Homeland Security leadership justifying the new procedures and the need
for rapid expansion and expenditures.
Only President Obama and Congress can tame this beast before it starts eating its own citizens. The
federal department, with its dozens of agencies and units, is growing like a mushroom with increases
in Homeland and TSA funding that are justified based on securing our country. But at what cost do
these increases come to our freedom, privacy, and our country in terms of economic vitality and job
growth? It's an opportunity-cost analysis that this administration has not completed, most likely
because it's the bureaucracy itself that is driving decision-making in terms of capital expenditures and
the need to grow. As a nation, we risk bankruptcy if we attempt to control and manage all risks without
understanding that risk is part of living, and that living free is not possible if the state becomes too big
and intrusive.
The expenditures of the Federal government's [31] major departments has grown by 36% over the
last two years - the fastest growth since 1948 (WWII). And, it is on a trajectory that cannot be
sustained without serious harm to our economic well-being. The bottom line is that the growth rate in
the Federal government employee headcount and tax-payer funded expenditures are dangerously
out of hand.
Truman once said, "The buck stops here," meaning the president's desk. In one of his speeches,
Obama said, "The buck stops with me," meaning it’s all about him. In that same speech, Obama also
said, "America's first line of defense is timely, accurate intelligence that is shared, integrated,
analyzed, and acted upon quickly and effectively." He seems to say all of the right words and give the
appearance of being in charge. Unfortunately, the reality is much different. Obama and his team have
failed miserably at governing this country. He is a master campaigner, but an exceptionally poor
president who is costing us dearly as he learns on the job. Hopefully he will be a better president
during his second two years in office.
By allowing the government to expand without understanding the costs and benefits of those federal
departments and expenditures - as a whole - is gross mismanagement of the public's trust and
treasury. Once Obama (the campaigner) was elected, he basically spent the first two years in office
funneling public funds to federal departments and projects that benefited those that elected him. In
essence, politicians buy votes using tax-payer funds. By being political, versus presidential, Obama’s
actions threaten to bankrupt the Treasury and threaten citizens' freedoms by allowing the
government and the federal public sector work force to squeeze out the more efficient private sector.
Homeland Security and the TSA represent the type of government we need less of. Much of the work
force should be privatized so that it is responsive to the citizens it works for, not the other way around.
It needs dynamic competition to keep costs at an optimal level. And, the TSA needs to back off from
the overzealous screening of U.S. citizens.
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