]It didn't work on 9/11. We need some security but here has to be a better way than this.
It worked fine on 9/11. The terrorists walked on board with box cutters, those weren't prohibited items. Security did exactly what they were tasked to do, they let them carry them through. It was in no way a failure of the screeners but rather the policy makers far above the screening agent's pay grade. Creating the TSA to address it was idiotic, the screeners themselves weren't the problem.
I'm an airline pilot so I deal with this constantly. Passenger screening is way overboard and is mostly theater to make the public feel safe without really doing anything. The real threat is the ramp workers that are only screened at hiring then given a badge that gets them into the ramp without screening. There are thousands of them coming and going every day with access to the aircraft and in most places they're just waved through when they flash their badge. In a place like Paris Charles DeGaulle airport where the ramp workers are 20+% Muslim that's a problem. I flew a plane from Charles DeGaulle the day before the Egyptair crash. The hair stands up on the back of my neck every time I go through that place. If you look at their ID badges it seems like every ramp worker there is named Mohammed. That's where the real problem lies. Examining the anal orifices of Jewish grandmothers isn't going to do squat.
