I think this article isn't talking about random vs. profiled (which is what the mit paper is about), but random vs. 100% (where there 100% has been analyzed carefully to be sufficient to detect large bombs, etc.).
But if you read the article, I believe the point was that if the terrorist gets caught under a random system, the terrorist still achieves a positive result for the terrorists (the govt becomes forced to shut down aviation and then apply the maximum screening to everyone, causing expensive chaos and terror of its own).