At the time the TSA was hired the majority of workers had previously been airport security which is was low-skill/low-pay job. When Bush Jr established the TSA, those same people were federalized. Meaning Federal pay, benefits, retirement, etc for the same low skill level.

They haven't improved much since then. The organization has essentially made Security Theater an event with audience participation. Yet they routinely miss threats -- like they have a 95% FAILURE rate at points.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/06/reassessing_a...

Incidentally, that post is fairly well known amongst the security minded as you see here.

https://reason.com/2021/11/19/after-20-years-of-failure-kill...