On the bright side, TSA screeners nabbed my taco sauce

Once again the news media have twisted the facts to suit our selfish sensational needs.

We reported, accurately, that "red teams" from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General were able to sneak banned items past Transportation Security Administration screeners 67 out of 70 times in tests at airports throughout the country.

In other words, the screeners failed 95 percent of the time.

Naturally, we in the media made that sound like a bad thing.

On the other hand, if we'd take a glass-half-full look at things – or at least a glass-5-percent-full look at things -- we'd concentrate on the TSA's success rate.

Five percent.

Really, can you name another agency in the U.S. government's vast federal bureaucracy to which you would assign a greater success rate than 5 percent?

I didn't think so.

At the same time, I'd guess that we'd all agree it's probably a good thing that the TSA's top administrator no longer has his job. And that DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson has taken steps to revise the screening protocol and to retrain the men and women responsible for keeping travelers safe.

I had occasion recently to fly on a commercial airline.

Like you, I was somewhat disturbed to learn in news reports that, in one of the "red team" tests, an undercover agent for Homeland Security was stopped after setting off an alarm at a magnetometer. However, during a standard pat down, TSA screeners failed to detect a fake explosive device that was taped to his back.

That is not good.

On the bright side, the well-seasoned screeners at the airport I passed through correctly and adroitly noted -- and then confiscated -- the Macayo's Mexican Style Taco Sauce & Chip Dip I had absent-mindedly placed in my carry-on bag.

The container was over the 3-ounce limit.

And, as an even greater threat – at least to my digestive system – it was hot sauce.