Exactly what it is for is sort of up in the air, but it is clear that it isn't threat mitigation. As you said, it isn't actually doing something a thorough sea

Exactly what it is for is sort of up in the air, but it is clear that it isn't threat mitigation. As you said, it isn't actually doing something a thorough search could not and the people who make these calls, for all their numerous faults, are not categorically stupid; they know as well as you do that the Do Not Fly lists are senseless from a security standpoint. My money on what it is actually for? Theater, or "Doing something" as you put it. Alternatively, perhaps it serves as a bogey-man; "now I'm on a watchlist" has entered modern parlance and with it, the mindset that one must speak "unapproved" opinions softly.