Aside from arbitrary rules there is also a long history of shady and intrusive behaviors (e.g. sharing pics from naked body scanners, groping kids, no fly lists

Aside from arbitrary rules there is also a long history of shady and intrusive behaviors (e.g. sharing pics from naked body scanners, groping kids, no fly lists, racial profiling, radiation concerns, ...) To be fair, in the pre-TSA era, airport security was also pretty ineffective. But now it’s much more in your face, and insanely expensive. I sympathize with the agents somewhat. It seems like a shitty job.