In the Oct. 18 USA Today article, "Most fake bombs missed by screeners," it was released that security at two of the nation's busiest airports (Chicago O'Hare International and Los Angeles International) failed to find fake bombs carried though security by undercover agents in 60 percent of tests last year.

LAX failed the tests 75 percent of the time, while O'Hare failed 60 percent.

In response to the results, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said the reports are misleading.

"The results that were reported (Thursday) are a snapshot in time, and that time is about two years ago, so we've done a lot of work to address the issue of I.E.D. components in those two years," [TSA spokesman Nico] Melendez said in the ABC7 report, "LAX Screeners Missed 75 Percent of Fake Bombs."

As a frequenter of both the Chicago O'Hare and Los Angeles airports, I'm not feeling reassured. I'm also having a hard time trying to figure out why this information was released in the first place.

What are the TSA and the media hoping to accomplish by releasing these radical statistics?

If the failed test percentage is now inaccurate due to changes in airport security, why is the TSA stirring up the public and creating concern for flyers? There is no logical point in instilling this fear in people, especially when they can't do anything about it.

Clark Kent Ervin, Homeland Security Department's former inspector general, said in the same USA Today article that, "screeners' inability to find bombs could encourage terrorists to try to bring them on airplanes."

Back to the point: Why on Earth is this information being released if the release of it is going to encourage terrorist activity?

Melendez stated that the tests were designed for security officers to fail, and that beating the TSA's own system will help tailor and train officers to prevent security breeches.

Between the TSA's claims about the meaning of test results and Homeland Security's concern, there is a lot of gray area on what is going on with United States airport security.

Raising this issue in such a sensitive area of public concern seems to have more negative repercussions at this point.