The Qatari Diplomat did not cause an incident

Despite the news reports, nothing whatsoever happened on the plane that was diverted to Denver. The diplomat may have been sneaking a smoke in the lavatory, but the "incident" evidently was when asked, he said something like, "I was trying to set my shoes on fire." So all hell breaks loose.

Somebody at TSA or Homeland Security or wherever needs to look at the record of people who are in airports or on airplanes and make jokes about bombs. To date, over say the last century, there is no instance of someone making a joke who was actually serious. In the first place, it doesn't make any sense. More importantly, it never happens.

So a rational person, hearing the Qatari diplomat make a joke, would lean back and say to himself, "Well, at least I can feel confident that this guy isn't going to set off a bomb." Instead, we scramble the air force.