One billion dollars...

No, that's not the amount of Dr. Evil's ransom demands in the next Austin Powers movie.

That's how much the Transportation Security Administration wasted on a failed behavioral detection program called "SPOT" (Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques).

Begun in 2007, the SPOT program consists of around 3,000 "behavioral detection officers" at 176 airports, whose screening technique is referred to by some as "chat-downs."

A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded the program produces results that are "the same as or slightly better than chance."

Testifying before a House Homeland Security subcommittee, Stephen Lord, a GAO managing director said, "They hope it works. But from the GAO's point of view, the program should not be based on hope and faith."

Basically, the TSA spent a billion dollars, crossed their fingers, and hoped no one died.

We should be thankful no one did.

Not surprisingly, David Cox, President of the American Federation of Government Employees (the union representing TSA employees) said, "An imperfect deterrent to terrorist attacks is better than no deterrent at all."

But that's not necessarily the case...

You see, the TSA plays a dangerous game by setting up all their security theater in airports around the country.

It lulls passengers into a false sense of security that in turn leads to complacency.

Make no mistake, since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, it has only been alert passengers and flight crews, not the government, that have prevented terrorists from carrying out another attack on our airlines.

In the end, it will be you and those around you that will keep you safe, not a bloated government bureaucracy.

Unfortunately, as Americans prepare to travel for the holiday season, many will find that "behavioral detection officers" and the SPOT program are among the least invasive of the TSA's screening techniques.

The vast majority of the traveling public will be subjected to more groping, scanning, poking, and prodding at the wandering hands of the TSA.

For the third holiday season in a row, Americans will be deprived of their dignity as human beings simply for trying to travel to see their loved ones.

And it's not just airports anymore.

With a budget over $100 million, the TSA's Orwellian-named VIPR (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) teams continue to expand outside of our nations' airports.

Whether in train stations or highway weigh stations, the VIPR teams' warrantless searches underscore the need for why the TSA must be abolished, once and for all.

Americans should insist their representative and senators restore travelers' dignity by supporting all efforts to do away with this rogue agency.

Airport security should be handled by the private sector, not by an unaccountable, ever expanding bureaucracy with a tendency to ignore Americans' most basic civil liberties.

Three years ago, Dr. Ron Paul said on the House floor, "What we're accepting and putting up with at the airport is just symbolic of us just not standing up and saying 'Enough is enough!'"

This holiday season, I hope you'll join me in saying "Enough is enough!"

In Liberty,

Tim Shoemaker

Director of Legislation

P.S. If you are able, please chip in $10 to help Campaign for Liberty fight to abolish the TSA once and for all in 2014!