As we move into the Thanksgiving travel season there is an uproar going on over new protocols in airport security screening. I maintain that these new protocols are utterly useless and do nothing to make us safer because they are trivial to bypass.

A few data points.

• Full body scanners are only in about 80 or so airports.  The list of airports with full body scanners is public knowledge.
• If you refuse a full body scan then you are subject to an "enhanced" pat down.
• The rest of the airports in the country continue to use traditional metal detectors.
• At traditional metal detector airports passengers are not subject to enhanced pat downs.

So riddle me this, if I have a bomb secreted on my person in a way that it would be detected by a full body scanner or pat down why would I board a plane at one of these airports? Why would I not pass through security at one of the countless airports that do not have scanners?

Since it is easy to get on the far side of security without being scanned or groped, I have no way of knowing whether the person next to me has been thoroughly vetted. 

Furthermore, the pat downs are demonstrably not a substitute for the scanners (as they are not required at airports that do not have scanners). If the screening given by the pat down/scanner combination was necessary to provide our security then at metal detector only airports pat downs  would be required of all passengers.  

So what is the purpose of the pat downs? The enhanced pat down is designed as punishment for questioning authority and not following instructions.