As Lauren Boebert rallies for TSA abolishment, a Delta stowaway is caught sans ankle monitor en route to a new destination

With the reelection of Donald Trump, many government programs are about to be slashed. One proposed cut that’s getting a lot of attention is the movement to abolish the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), something that U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert supports, assuming she knows what it is. Oh, and in the midst of all this, someone duped the agency and stowed away on a plane to Paris from JFK.

The abolishment thing is not that extreme of a position if you think about it. No one likes the TSA. No one goes to the airport, waits in that long line, and thinks, “you know what? This rules!” So yes, the abolition of everyone’s least favorite government agency is not the most divisive issue.

Senator Mike Lee from Utah seems to be leading the charge right now. Lee made a string of remarks on Dec. 16 urging his Republican colleagues to consider the proposal, along with ending the Affordable Care Act. That one will probably be tougher considering it makes healthcare almost affordable for millions of Americans.

“Congress should abolish TSA,” Lee said on X. “If Congress somehow can’t abolish it, Congress should at least (1) privatize it, and then (2) require what remains of TSA to truly compete with private security contractors.” Ohhhh. Make it private! Because that worked so well with prisons.

Regardless, Boebert loves the idea. She’ll jump on anything for a little attention. Who needs your own ideas when you can just be a pawn in someone else’s game?

Some quick history: The TSA was created mere weeks after 9/11 when the country was awash in grief and anger. These days, it’s known as an agency that, according to some critics, oversteps its authority and continually violates the rights of citizens. There are some people, like political scientist Rachel Bitecofer, who don’t think getting rid of it is a good idea.

Is the TSA effective? Back in 2016, VOX wrote an article called “The TSA is a waste of money that doesn’t save lives and might actually cost them.” The argument presented is that the TSA is trying to fix a “non-problem.” An excerpt:

“Despite some very notable cases, airplane hijackings and bombings are quite rare. There aren’t that many attempts, and there are even fewer successes. That makes it hard to judge if the TSA is working properly — if no one tries to do a liquid-based attack, then we don’t know if the 3-ounce liquid rule prevents such attacks.”

One time, Homeland Security officials tried to smuggle guns and bombs through TSA checkpoints 70 different times. They succeeded 67 times. That’s more than a 94% success rate. To underscore this, a woman named Svetlana Dali simply snuck her way through TSA and onto a plane, without a ticket or a boarding pass.

She got through TSA by using a lane for airline employees and then simply walked past Delta agents at the gate. She hid in the bathrooms and would move from one to another and stay in there a long time during the flights. She was caught by French police when she landed.

She was extradited to the U.S. and given an ankle monitor, but she cut it off and hopped on a Greyhound to Canada. She didn’t make it, but that’s very resourceful. Maybe Boebert could learn a thing or two from her.