Security theater and also a massive federal jobs program and corruption funnel (pouring money into the suppliers of all the “security technology”)

Michael Chertoff, former head of homeland security, accepted a quarter million dollars to "consult" for Rapiscan (body scanners), then helped them secure a $118M contract with the TSA. Corrupt as hell.

https://theintercept.com/2015/05/27/tsa-body-scanner-lobbyis...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff

Or a small group of careless people who "wanted to see if they could".

I obviously have no idea of their intent.

Okay, then why not pay a bunch of people to stand around and wave people through sham "detectors" we are told can detect weapons/explosives/etc. on our persons/in our luggage, but in reality do no such thing? Why do we have to take off our shoes and put our laptops in separate bins by themselves? The added inconvenience is way greater than even the perception of safety.

Because the other consequence of imposing security theater on the traveling polity is getting them used to jumping through arbitrary, imposed hoops like that.

It's conditioning people to accept and submit to idiocy like this from their government.