Just last night I watched two TSA agents enter the secured aread through the exit (no screening, etc) carrying hand bags and food/beverages. I made a comment under my breath about their liquids as I passed them (I was leaving).
It's their egos and elitism that really gets me. If TSA agents were required to have the same sort of education and quality length of training as military officers or police officers, they would be far more capable and respectable. Unfortunately, that would greatly diminish the pool of candidates.
Though, to the TSA's side, in the early days they did have considerably higher standards for employment, however, they could not get nearly enough qualified applicants under the original standards, mostly due to the pay not being high enough for people with the backgrounds that the TSA desired.