It’s very important you obtain a REAL ID. Unless you have $45 burning a hole in your pocket.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced Monday that it will accept a $45 fee and use of an “alternative identity verification system” in place of an “acceptable form of ID,” such as a U.S. passport or REAL ID-compliant driver’s license.
REAL ID enforcement began May 7, implementing the REAL ID act passed by Congress in 2005. The act, according to the TSA, “enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the Federal Government ‘set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.’”
This is ostensibly a security boost. But what good is an optional security requirement?
Then again, we really shouldn’t expect anything better from the oh-so-crafty TSA. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ended the “shoes-off” travel policy in July, putting an end to our long national nightmare. DHS credited “cutting-edge technological advancements and multi-layered security approach” for the change, but a more likely explanation is, “we’ve yet to catch someone smuggling a nuke in their crocs.” (RELATED: I Witnessed An Infuriating TSA Debacle That Summed Up Everything Wrong With Modern Public Safety)
I am once again back to bitch about how horrific TSA and American air travel is.
After I turned down facial recognition, the TSA agent couldn’t “verify” my REAL ID (that I waited 3 hours at the DMV to get) because his computer was glitching and wouldn’t recognize it.
It has… pic.twitter.com/qx3H2PkKg9
— Savanah Hernandez (@Savsays) November 23, 2025
There’s no public evidence that the TSA has stopped a terrorist attack, which isn’t to discount the strength of deterrence and security theater in dissuading would-be terrorists.
But is the TSA even capable of preempting a hypothetical attack?
In 2003, a college student packed three disassembled box cutters and razorblades in his bags, successfully boarding a Southwest Airlines flight, according to NBC News. He “also smuggled aboard modeling clay made to look like plastic explosives.”
The student performed this experiment several times that year, according to cryptographer Bruce Schneier, before eventually alerting TSA to the gaping holes in their security procedures. He was reportedly sentenced to two years of probation for the stunts.
A man allegedly bypassed TSA Security and attempted to enter the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight in Montana last week, injuring three people in the process. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/0hVpiMw7p2
— Eireann (Erin) Van Natta🇺🇸 (@evannatta1776) October 29, 2024
He should’ve been recruited to improve airport security, because in 2015, the TSA “failed to detect 67 of 70 mock weapons in a secret test,” according to Politico. In 2017, TSA agents at the Minneapolis-St.Paul airport failed 95% of security tests, according to Fox News.
Also, as Schneier pointed out in a blog post, titled, “Stabbing People with Stuff You Can Get Through Airport Security,” you can stab people with stuff you can get through airport security. (Don’t take that as a prescription.) (RELATED: Trump Admin Gives 5-Figure Bonuses To TSA Workers Who Stuck It Out During Shutdown)
But those concerns aside, I’m still filled with tremendous confidence when I spot an overweight, dead-eyed, eternally peeved TSA employee manning the x-ray machine.
Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatSandovalDC
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