Flew from BWI to La Guardia on Sunday

How inept is the TSA? Wait, don’t answer that.  According to CNN:

A man was questioned by the FBI after he was discovered to have taken a “pyrotechnic device” onto an airline flight from Baltimore, Maryland, to New York City, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko told CNN Monday.

The incident comes in a period of heightened alert on airlines, following what authorities describe as a failed plot to detonate an explosive device on an international flight into the United States on Christmas Day.

Authorities found that Thomas Ouellette, 67, of Bonita Springs, Florida, brought the pyrotechnic device onto the flight that landed at LaGuardia Airport Sunday night and interviewed him, Kolko said.

It appears that this was some sort of “firework” and likely was not a terror threat. But, the bomb on the Northwest flight on Christmas was also thought to be “fireworks” as well. The TSA and the government went into spin control and immediately instituted new restrictions and demanded tighter security.

And a man boards a flight from Baltimore to New York with fireworks? It appears that someone (or many ones) are asleep at the wheel here.

How can this happen in a heightened state of awareness? How does this make flying any safer? Does this instill any confidence in the TSA or the Department of Homeland Security?