The TSA's Pre-Check program allows travelers to experience pre-9/11 security — keep your shoes on, your toiletries in the bag, and your dignity intact — for a low fee of $85 a year plus fingerprinting. However, The Blaze reports that the TSA regularly undermines its own security rhetoric by directing random passengers who haven't been pre-checked into the Pre-Check lines to minimize wait times.
Though the TSA claims that only "eligible passengers" are being spontaneously allowed into the Pre-Check lines, less than a month ago a TSA spokesperson admitted that they were putting people through pre-check "on a random basis."
The TSA has come under fire since its creation in the aftermath of 9/11 for engaging more in "security theater" than actual security. Pre-Check itself has been criticized for privileging those who can afford to pay for it, and an op-ed from a former TSA agent in Politico earlier this year confirmed civil libertarians' fears of the agency's habits of corruption and abuse.
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