Y’all are looking at this from the wrong perspective. The organization that maintains the do-not-fly list is not small. They have to liaison with the FBI, DHS, ICE, TSA, NSA, DIA, and who knows who else is on the list? They all need to have security clearances. So we’re looking at a few hundred people, most earning in the high five figures to low six figures. There’s HR people and benefits managers and whoever has the contract for bathroom cleaning and coffee service and washing the security guards’ uniforms. We’re looking at probably half a billion dollars a year, minimum, which is enough money to make nearly anything self-justifying. Any actual security is just a by-product.
In case none of you are angry enough to crush your own molars yet, people of particularly high interest to intelligence agencies are never put on the list, since if they found out they were on the list they’d know they were being watched. So: actual terrorists get to fly, and the list is used to hassle people the state security apparatus wants to give the stink-eye to. It’s no different than NYC’s stop-and-frisk.
