Exact Numbers Unclear, But Report Estimates 'Tens Of Billions'

As the 9/11 anniversary approached last week, the Wall Street Journal's Scott McCartney set out to calculate the cost of transportation security. Some of the costs are vague and hard to nail down, but some are clear. In the end, we're spending tens-of-billions of dollars, and still have gaps in our efforts to keep terrorists out of our lives.

Airline passengers pay $2.50 per flight leg, or up to $10 per round trip by airline, but the losses suffered by the airline industry due to passengers opting to skip flying to avoid being groped or scanned is harder to determine. Screening of air freight has added 5-to-8 cents per pound, or about 5 percent, to shipping costs, although that's significantly less than the 45 cents per pound in fuel surcharges which were passed on to customers when oil hit $100 per barrel.

One predicted calamity brought on by screening of cargo, delays of 24-to-36 hours, have never materialized. The bad news: That's due at least in part to the fact that the recession has overall shipping volume well below 2008 levels, so the system has never been tested at full capacity.

The Transportation Security Administration spends $8 billion a year on its army of 52,000 screeners, but the productivity and time lost by travelers delayed by screeners is hard to calculate. TSA is finally starting to experiment with a trusted traveler program which would better focus screening efforts on higher-risk passengers, which may help control the growth in costs to taxpayers.

FMI