Spotty application of airport security policies will confuse the enemy

Yes, the inconsistency noted in the follow-up to the jockeybomber incident has prompted at least one security expert (?) to surmise that applying certain rules according to discretion would assist security efforts by confusing would-be agents of man-made disasters.  Those were the disasters formerly known as terrorism.

The Transportation Security Administration did little to explain the rules. And that inconsistency might well have been deliberate: What's confusing to passengers is also confusing to potential terrorists.

"It keeps them guessing," transportation expert Joseph Schwieterman said.

I don't quite buy it. 

It seems to me that WBAMMDs (formerly known as terrorists) would simply look at what is and what isn't screened and act accordingly.  So long as discretion fails to include the most obvious tip-offs of likely terrorist activity (Arabic background and Islamic religious affiliation), discretion will primarily amount to planned carelessness.

Checking shoes on occasion tells WBAMMBs that shoe bombs have a chance of making it through security.  Likewise other potential security checks.

This discretion thing sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.