Okay, so the brilliant minds at TSA have decided to invest in yet another new piece of technology to help make us more secure when we fly. Or rather, some of us.

What was this latest bit of technology supposed to do?

It was supposed to let those flyers who have paid for the right to be dubbed a “Registered Traveler” the ability to just walk through security without taking their shoes off.

Uh-huh.

No surprise then, that the machines just also happened to be marketed to the TSA by the private companies, such as Stephen Brill’s Verified Identity Pass, that are the ones behind the “registered traveler” program. After all, unless their clients who are ponying up big bucks to become a “Registered Traveler” can actually clear TSA security lines quickly, what’s the point?

According to USA Today Wednesday,

“Many air travelers who were screened Tuesday by a revolutionary new machine aimed at letting them keep their shoes on through airport security got an unexpected surprise — they had to take their shoes off anyway.

About half of the travelers using Orlando International Airport’s first-in-the-nation ShoeScanner underwent the very hassle the machines were designed to ease — putting shoes through checkpoint X-rays — because the ShoeScanner detected metal in their shoes.

“It’s a waste of time,” Tracey Grenkoski of Orlando said after spending more than a minute on a ShoeScanner only to be told to remove her high-heeled shoes. “What’s the point of me standing there if I still have to take my shoes off?”

Grenkoski had company. Of 50 travelers who used the ShoeScanner in a one-hour period here Tuesday, 28 had to remove their metal-laden shoes, according to USA TODAY’s observation.”

But here’s the good part.

“Brill’s company submitted the machine last year to the TSA for approval. General Electric’s GE Security, which makes the $200,000 machine, hoped it would detect explosives and distinguish between metal commonly found in shoes and metal that could be a weapon, said company product manager Daniel Mahlum. The company is trying to upgrade the machine so it can allow passengers to wear shoes that contain harmless metal.

For now, TSA spokesman Christopher White said, if the ShoeScanner senses any explosives or metal, “it’s going to require additional scrutiny.

Brill said he expects people in Registered Traveler to stop wearing shoes with metal.”

So let me get this straight. People are expected to pay about $100, be fingerprinted, have their eyes scanned, reveal a raft of personal information, and now, now, Mr. Brill says for his program to work, “Oh, and by the way, you have to stop wearing any shoes with metal in them.”

Yep. Right. Okay.