It is a reasonably good hedge, a sufficiently intelligent / shrewd person wouldn't allow themselves to be put in such a situation. It is better to be thought of as a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
I will make a reasonable bet here that the TSA is the sort of bureaucracy that is likely to see media as something of a joke department that is useful for promoting people sideways into if they are rubbish at doing security theatre.
