We weren't getting "blown out of the sky" before they came along. TSA has caught approximately zero terrorists.
Baggage screening worked better when done by the Airlines, who had a financial interest in keeping their planes from being "blown out of the sky," to the point where the terrorists has to resort to box cutters. The airlines also had an interest in not molesting their customers or disgracing them by forcing them to take their clothes off in public.
Profiling would work well also, but we're too PC and too infested with Islamic scum to do what's necessary.
As far as I can tell, the only function TSA serves is as a sort of welfare for otherwise unemployable low-info voters, muslims (ironic, no?), and perverts - basically the 0vomit constituency. Coincidence? I think not.