Is the TSA now officially at least as dangerous as the terrorists?

I know that various aspects of this story have been everywhere the past two days. (My original post on it was before the storm of stories.)

Security expert Bruce Schneier (who coined the term "Security Theater") has the most comprehensive wrap up of all the various stories on his site. Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin has been doing a Yeoman's job, as have so many others.

However, there's one point that I haven't seen explored (though Schneier does touch on it.) Let me start with a few observations to set the groundwork.

• Terrorists killed thousands on American soil.
• The President created the Department of Homeland Defense, which took over the Transportation Security Administration.
• The purpose of the TSA is to make the US safer.

Here's part of the story that's been on most major media in reaction to the implementation of the new scanners (emphasis mine):

Peter Rez, a physics professor at Arizona State University in Tempe, did his own calculations and found the exposure to be about one-fiftieth to one-hundredth the amount of a standard chest X-ray. He calculated the risk of getting cancer from a single scan at about 1 in 30 million, "which puts it somewhat less than being killed by being struck by lightning in any one year," he told me.
While the risk of getting a fatal cancer from the screening is minuscule, it's about equal to the probability that an airplane will get blown up by a terrorist, he added. "So my view is there is not a case to be made for deploying them to prevent such a low probability event."

I'm pretty sure the TSA itself cited this data as well, but I can't find a link right now. However, this information and these quotes have been widely reported. Of course, that doesn't make it true, but let's take it at its face value.

From this, we can assume that flying on a plane in the US, the TSA's scanners (assuming you do not opt out of them) are as dangerous, long term, as the terrorists. The scientists presenting this data seem to be framing this as a good thing.

If we go back to the groundwork above, the TSA is charged with making us safer. As of the implementation of this new screening procedure, the TSA is now as dangerous as the terrorists. How is that making us safer?

My conclusion is the choice to fly in the US is now a question of "which is more likely to kill me, terrorists or the TSA?" The answer is now both.