America's airport-security agency, housed within the Department of Homeland Security. More than 450 TSA officers quit during the DHS funding standoff in early 2026, in which staff were required to keep working without pay. At its peak nearly 11% of officers called in sick, producing hours-long queues at airports. Donald Trump dispatched ICE agents to help, but the TSA officers' union said this was unsafe and unhelpful: ICE agents are not trained to screen passengers.
Glib's Fourth Law of Unreliability: Investment in reliability will increase until it exceeds the probable cost of errors, or until someone insists on getting some useful work done.