Part of the problem is the lack of overall risk assessment. The OMB has pointed out that the TSA does not have way to judge how best to spend resources. As a result, we have ever increasing levels of passenger screening (focusing on the same threat model is like "keep security the same", right) while we still after 9 years don't have things like 100% cargo inspection (remember, the printer cartridges were flying as cargo) and no screening of ground crew.
The irrational part isn't that we assume our current measures are adequate. The irrational part is the changes we're making have no rational basis, little public input, and any public objections are responded to with "we can't go into the details in public because it's too sensitive," which is a very non-democratic answer to something which affects so many people.
The irrational part isn't that we assume our current measures are adequate. The irrational part is the changes we're making have no rational basis, little public input, and any public objections are responded to with "we can't go into the details in public because it's too sensitive," which is a very non-democratic answer to something which affects so many people.