There's a difference between Milgram's work and the Stanford experiments. The TSA baloney is more like the Stanford experiment--in which an IDEOLOGY serves as the stepping off point for a particular INDIVIDUAL'S tendency toward sadism and tyranny. I do believe that the Stanford work is very relevant toward TSA employees, prison guards, police, and ultimately, even military and political leaders. The phenomenon--jobs with "unreasonable power potential" that are attractive to EXACTLY the sort of personalities who should not have such power--is a real one, IMO, and is partly the cause of the degradation of civility we currently see in western society.
I also greatly blame the "drug war." Here's why. Both before and after the drug war, most people who became cops were just looking for a decent government job (and don't get me started on the pitfalls of THAT perspective). And most people in that situation could "agree" with the idea that there are some "bad people" who have to be "discovered, and dealt with." After the drug war began, those using drugs and doing things no different from "having a drink" all of a sudden became potential "bad people." The result was that "bad people" became anyone who authority SAID was a "bad person," and normal people who became police suddenly LOST THEIR OWN NATURAL GOOD JUDGMENT about right/wrong-good/bad. That is a significant part of the reason why cops now have a strong tendency toward being "mindless bullies" but, were much less likely to develop such tendencies before the early 70's. (BTW, I'm old enough to know--AND, I spent a good deal of time around cops as a young teenager in the 60's, because my father had a business where he dealt with police on a regular basis. I knew many police quite well during the 60's, and I knew some police well during the 70's--and I certainly have observed police well since. The change over time in their outlook and demeanor has been very clear and readily-apparent to me).