The TSA Stooges
Lisa Simeone blogs the realities of the TSA, with the quote below about the "safer, stronger" aviation system from a TSA mouthpiece:
A favorite tactic is to repeat tag lines and act as if they're solemn pronouncements:The country's aviation system is safer, stronger and more secure than it was 10 years ago, and the employees of TSA are on the front lines every day protecting the traveling public. In the past decade, TSA has developed a highly trained federal workforce that has safely screened more than five billion passengers and established a multi-layered security system reaching from curb to cockpit.I don't know which is my favorite -- the part where he states that the system is safer, stronger, and more secure; the soul-stirring "front lines" bit; the "highly trained" howler; or that cute bit of alliteration at the end -- "from curb to cockpit" -- one wonders how much of our tax dollars went to pay for an ad agency to come up with that.
In fact, the system is "safer, stronger, and more secure" than it was ten years ago, though not because of the TSA. It's for two simple reasons: the cockpit doors have been secured -- something that had been recommended for years before 9/11 but which wasn't done -- and because passengers will no longer silently submit to would-be attackers.
No bombs were brought on board on 9/11. That's not what brought the planes down. If anyone shows up with knives, box cutters, guns -- or, god help us, tweezers -- today, passengers won't play along.
The "front lines" bit is not only clichéd, it's nonsense. If an actual terrorist, as opposed to a forgetful chef, makes it past the "multi-layered security system" that this country is supposed to have in place, all the way to the checkpoint, that's a failure of intelligence, not something to trumpet as a test for the TSA. If you managed to bring a bomb to an airport, why would you bother trying to get on a plane? Why not just detonate the thing in a concourse, like a bomber did in Moscow's Domodedovo airport?
TSA agents are "highly trained"? Really? Is that why the agency advertises on pizza boxes? And is that why in this article on her experience as a TSA agent, Barbara S. Peterson revealed the lackluster interview process and lack of background screening for TSA employees? After all, these are the people pawing through our bags, wallets, and pants, questioning us about our financial transactions, ordering us into the glassed-in gulags for a grope. Shouldn't they be "highly trained"?
Riley goes on to tout the TSA's confiscation of "more than 1,100 guns this year alone." I'm surprised he didn't brag about the confiscation of the potato chip bag containing meth, a bold move by the TSA. Aren't you glad you weren't on that plane? What if that guy had gotten through? The admixture of sodium chloride, methamphetamine, and potato starch might have caused a chemical combustion! (Never mind that TSA agents aren't law enforcement and have no business searching people for drugs in the first place.)
Despite Riley's boasting about "more than 1,100 guns," the TSA's own Red Teams have consistently found that screeners miss most of the banned stuff anyway. In Denver, in Newark, in Tampa, in Dallas, in you-name it, the TSA's "highly trained" agents are missing the very things they brag about finding. Maybe that's because they're too busy sticking their hands down people's pants to notice.
UPDATE - Related, via BoingBoing, "Aviation security expert: TSA wasted $56B on junk security."
I have on good authority that the Hartsfield Atlanta TSA had a problem.
Their "test" screens were missing most guns and bombs. These were the ones put through that the TSA knew about, mind you.
They made a big deal when one month, 20% were caught.
.... That was a highwater mark never since exceeded. (AKA, 80% of the guns and bombs taken through ATL TSA passed, on their best month to date.)
So the TSA jumped into Action.
They quickly re-prioritized, acted, and stopped reporting what their success rate was!
I feel safer, don't you?
MiteFlyAgainSumDay at December 7, 2011 10:31 AM
Sanchez
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 7, 2011 10:45 AM
Whenever I see the word "federal" in an article, like "federal workforce" in this one, my brain automatically reads it as "feral." I find that the change doesn't make much difference.
chickity at December 7, 2011 11:15 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/12/07/the_tsa_stooges.html#comment-2837983">comment from chickityWhenever I see the word "federal" in an article, like "federal workforce" in this one, my brain automatically reads it as "feral." I find that the change doesn't make much difference.
Absofuckinglutely.
Amy Alkon at December 7, 2011 11:27 AM
Do not fail to point this out whenever you have company and see something about "catching this contraband":
It has been flying on commercial aircraft for more than 60 years. It is not a problem just because TSA must blow its own horn.
Guns, knives, chainsaws, musical instruments, saws, hammers, leaf blowers... all flew in coach, for decades.
I blame those evil nail trimmers. This is what public education leads to.
Radwaste at December 7, 2011 3:14 PM
They put my ass through the porno-scanner. I fly so little that I'm not worried about it.
But I made the comment "Oh, the porno-scanner." as I was about to go through it. By the time I came through it had self-cleared the screen. So the TSA agent put himself through it to show me what it showed. I stood and thought -- "may you be an example to 10,000 passengers." When he ends up with skin and other cancers, he'll realize he was duped.
TSA was not needed about one hour and five minutes after Tower II was struck. That was amply proven by the brave souls on United Flight 93.
Jim P. at December 7, 2011 8:36 PM
Semi-related Amy, I thought you would love this black-and-yellow graphic at this post at Ace of Spades.
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/324487.php
:-)
qdpsteve at December 7, 2011 11:19 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/12/07/the_tsa_stooges.html#comment-2839877">comment from qdpsteveThat's right about right!
Amy Alkon at December 7, 2011 11:39 PM
You guys have seen this, right? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=europe-bans-x-ray-body-scanners
Of course, they've only stopped using the back-scatter scanners. The EU is still using the millimeter wave type.
Gail at December 8, 2011 2:13 PM
How hard is it to say "I demand to have a lawyer" before letting the goons inside your pants?
Jefe at December 8, 2011 11:49 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/12/07/the_tsa_stooges.html#comment-2844102">comment from JefeHow hard is it to say "I demand to have a lawyer" before letting the goons inside your pants?
Not hard for anyone who wishes to be detained and not allowed to board their flight. Or possibly be arrested under the free-speech-chilling "Verbal abuse will not be tolerated."
Amy Alkon at December 9, 2011 6:52 AM
I see today that Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, has introduced a bill that would strip the TSA screeners of their "officer" title and their badges. It is not clear to me, however, if this would actually limit their powers any.
Cousin Dave at December 9, 2011 4:19 PM
Well I became a suspected terrorist on Saturday -- 12/10.
I flew out of SeaTac. All I asked was that they hand inspect one small vial of medicine. (10ML brand new.) I didn't want it going through the x-ray machine because it can be damaged by it.
The response was that if I wanted that hand searched then everything else had to be x-rayed and then hand searched and I had to be porno scanned and patted down.
That included using the FIDO XT -- Bottled liquids scanner -- which was all they had to do in the first place. And if you read the TSA (www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/bls.shtm) it is "used primarily to screen medically necessary liquids in quantities larger than three ounces." They also wiped the gloves and had them sniffed too.
When I flew out, I did the same thing. The TSA agent asked why I didn't want my medicine x-rayed. I said it could be damaged by x-rays. She was along the lines of "Oh, okay."
The Total Stupidity Agency strikes again.
Jim P. at December 11, 2011 5:08 AM
Jim P., please come on over and join us at Travel Underground (all one word). It's a dot-org domain name. Or just click on my name. Tell your story there and I'll add it to my Master List. Hell, I'll add it anyway. You can also see the Master List there. Some hair-raising stories.
Your experience is typical. The smurfs don't follow their own rules, if they even know them. They routinely bully, harass, and abuse people, and screw up their medications (when they're not throwing them away).
Lisa Simeone at December 13, 2011 1:39 PM
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