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Former Newark Airport TSA screener says the job does little to keep fliers safe
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Fly Guy
Mar 10, 2013, 2:20:39 PM3/10/13
to
The premis or focus of this news story (see below) is schizophrenic.
The story wants to say two things at the same time.
It wants to say that TSA screening is a joke, that it's implimented bady
by incompetent people, and as a result the security of the air travel
system is at risk.
It also wants to say that the intensive screening methods that are in
place today (screening children, old people, restricting liquids, etc)
are overblown and uncalled for (but notably it does not say that the
methods are illogical or even potentially illegal or unconstitutional).
The routine searching of checked baggage, the implimentation or legality
of no fly lists, SSSS special screening, etc, are not even mentioned in
this story.
The truth is that the TSA is security theater - and for those that
designed and implimented the agency and the practices and proceedures,
they always knew it would be. For the thousands employed by the TSA, it
functions as a gov't welfare (make-work) agency (similar to food stamps,
SS disability, Obama phones, etc). It's other important role is
info-gathering that benefits primarily the IRS.
Because even though there are no "bad guys" (aka "terrorists") that have
either been caught going through security or have otherwised caused real
harm to the US air travel system since the TSA was created, what the TSA
does do on a daily basis is keep records of who flies where, how they
paid for their tickets, as well as detecting when people are carrying
drugs, cash, financial instruments, jewerly, gold/silver, gems, etc.
The new body scanners are designed primarily to detect those items.
The knowledge of the movement (or attempted movement) of personal wealth
by air travel is something the IRS finds particularly useful, and in
that the TSA is instrumental in detecting for the IRS. And the TSA's
creeping presence outside the airport (on the nation's highways, bus and
rail stations, etc) is an extension of this mandate.
As federal and state gov'ts teeter on the bring of bankruptcy, the role
of the IRS to collect taxes and discover taxible income and tax
avoidance has never been more important.
Keep all this in mind as you read the story...
=============================
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/confessions_of_tsa_agent_we_re_bunch_OhxHeGd0RR9UVGzfypjnLO
Former Newark Airport TSA screener says the job does little to keep
fliers safe
Posted: 1:14 AM, March 10, 2013
It is perhaps America’s most unsafe airport. Despite being the launching
point for one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 — Flight 93, which crashed
in Pennsylvania — Newark Airport has had numerous security violations
since. The latest: a fake bomb that made it past Transportation Security
Administration officers. Here, a Newark TSA screener who recently left
the agency tells how silly policies and lazy workers do little to stop
real threats:
A LOT of what we do is make-believe.
I’ve had to screen small children and explain to their parents I had no
choice but to “check” them. I would only place my hands on their arms
and bottom half of their legs, and the entire “pat-down” lasted 10
seconds. This goes completely against TSA procedure.
Because the cameras are recording our every move, we have to do
something. If someone isn’t checked or even screened properly, the
entire terminal would shut down, as this constitutes a security breach.
But since most TSA supervisors are too daft to actually supervise,
bending the rules is easy to do.
Did you know you don’t need a high-school diploma or GED to work as a
security screener? These are the same screeners that TSA chief John
Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refer to as a
first-class first line of defense in the war on terror.
These are the employees who could never keep a job in the private
sector. I wouldn’t trust them to walk my dog.
An agent got through Newark last week with an improvised explosive
device? That’s not even news to anyone who works there. It happens all
the time. The failure rate is pretty high, especially with federal
investigators, and the pat-down itself is ridiculous. As invasive as it
is, you still can’t find anything using the back of your hand on certain
areas.
When there are internal tests, conducted by the Newark training
department, it’s easy to cheat because they use our co-workers. You
could be working with someone all morning, and then they’re gone. Word
gets around the checkpoint. Someone will come over to you and say, “Hey,
it’s Joe. He’s got a blue duffel bag.”
What are the chances of you being on a flight where something happens?
We always said it’s not a question of if terrorists get through — it’s a
question of when. Our feeling is nothing’s happened because they haven’t
wanted it to happen. We’re not any big deterrent. It’s all for show.
A real pat-down is when a police officer pulls you over, uses his hands
to search, actually goes into your clothes. We have to use the back of
our hands around certain areas. It just doesn’t work. It’s a really bad
way to pat somebody down.
If I had to guess, I’m sure lots of things get through. One screener
told me about something he did going through security when he went on
vacation. Let’s just say the screeners did not catch something that was
really obvious to anyone who was paying attention.
Most TSA screeners know their job is a complete joke. Their goal is to
use this as a stepping stone to another government agency.
We work in a culture where common sense has no place. All but a very few
TSA personnel know they’re employed by a bottom-of-the-barrel agency.
Our first question to anyone in a wheelchair is to ask if they’re able
to stand for a pat-down. If someone is in a wheelchair, he likely can’t
stand. Even when they’re sitting, we’re required to ask them to move so
we can check under their buttocks.
All I needed was for a passenger to fall over because I asked them to
stand. And if that did happen, the screener would be vilified and the
official p.r. spin would be that he needed “additional training.”
Every time you read about a TSA horror story, it’s usually about a
screener doing what he or she is instructed to do.
Supervisors play absolutely no role in day-to-day functions except to
tell you not to chew gum. Gum chewing is a huge issue with management. I
once saw a supervisor make an officer open his mouth to prove he had a
mint and not a piece of gum.
Goofing off and half-hour-long bathroom breaks are the only way to break
up the monotony. There is also a lot of ogling of female passengers by
the male screeners. So, ladies, cover up when you get to the airport.
These guys are checking you out constantly.
A small number of screeners are delusional zealots who believe they’re
keeping America safe by taking your snow globe, your 2-inch pocket
knife, your 4-ounce bottle of shampoo and performing invasive pat-downs
on your kids.
(Incidentally, the flap over the new rule allowing small pocketknives is
overblown. Most of the public doesn’t realize it, but you are already
allowed to bring scissors, screwdrivers, tweezers, knitting needles and
any number of sharp instruments on board.)
The rest are only there for the paycheck and generous benefits.
Screeners start at $15 per hour, and there is tons of overtime — mainly
because they are filling in for the many screeners who don’t bother
coming to work. For every 40 hours you work, you receive four hours of
vacation and four hours of sick time.
One screener didn’t come to work for four weeks. When he finally
reappeared, he asked for another week off. The answer was no. So what
did this brainiac decide to do? He took another week off — and didn’t
get terminated.
People have been caught falling asleep on the job. They get written up,
it’s put in their file, and that’s it.
New hires see how bad it is working there, and, believe it or not, TSA
does manage to hire some pretty decent people. They just don’t last
because they can get a normal job.
It’s the people who’ve been there a good number of years who could never
find employment elsewhere. When you have a real job, it usually means
you have to actually work and think, which a lot of them have a hard
time doing.
Anyone boarding an aircraft should feel maybe only a teeny tiny bit
safer than if there were no TSA at all.
The story wants to say two things at the same time.
It wants to say that TSA screening is a joke, that it's implimented bady
by incompetent people, and as a result the security of the air travel
system is at risk.
It also wants to say that the intensive screening methods that are in
place today (screening children, old people, restricting liquids, etc)
are overblown and uncalled for (but notably it does not say that the
methods are illogical or even potentially illegal or unconstitutional).
The routine searching of checked baggage, the implimentation or legality
of no fly lists, SSSS special screening, etc, are not even mentioned in
this story.
The truth is that the TSA is security theater - and for those that
designed and implimented the agency and the practices and proceedures,
they always knew it would be. For the thousands employed by the TSA, it
functions as a gov't welfare (make-work) agency (similar to food stamps,
SS disability, Obama phones, etc). It's other important role is
info-gathering that benefits primarily the IRS.
Because even though there are no "bad guys" (aka "terrorists") that have
either been caught going through security or have otherwised caused real
harm to the US air travel system since the TSA was created, what the TSA
does do on a daily basis is keep records of who flies where, how they
paid for their tickets, as well as detecting when people are carrying
drugs, cash, financial instruments, jewerly, gold/silver, gems, etc.
The new body scanners are designed primarily to detect those items.
The knowledge of the movement (or attempted movement) of personal wealth
by air travel is something the IRS finds particularly useful, and in
that the TSA is instrumental in detecting for the IRS. And the TSA's
creeping presence outside the airport (on the nation's highways, bus and
rail stations, etc) is an extension of this mandate.
As federal and state gov'ts teeter on the bring of bankruptcy, the role
of the IRS to collect taxes and discover taxible income and tax
avoidance has never been more important.
Keep all this in mind as you read the story...
=============================
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/confessions_of_tsa_agent_we_re_bunch_OhxHeGd0RR9UVGzfypjnLO
Former Newark Airport TSA screener says the job does little to keep
fliers safe
Posted: 1:14 AM, March 10, 2013
It is perhaps America’s most unsafe airport. Despite being the launching
point for one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 — Flight 93, which crashed
in Pennsylvania — Newark Airport has had numerous security violations
since. The latest: a fake bomb that made it past Transportation Security
Administration officers. Here, a Newark TSA screener who recently left
the agency tells how silly policies and lazy workers do little to stop
real threats:
A LOT of what we do is make-believe.
I’ve had to screen small children and explain to their parents I had no
choice but to “check” them. I would only place my hands on their arms
and bottom half of their legs, and the entire “pat-down” lasted 10
seconds. This goes completely against TSA procedure.
Because the cameras are recording our every move, we have to do
something. If someone isn’t checked or even screened properly, the
entire terminal would shut down, as this constitutes a security breach.
But since most TSA supervisors are too daft to actually supervise,
bending the rules is easy to do.
Did you know you don’t need a high-school diploma or GED to work as a
security screener? These are the same screeners that TSA chief John
Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refer to as a
first-class first line of defense in the war on terror.
These are the employees who could never keep a job in the private
sector. I wouldn’t trust them to walk my dog.
An agent got through Newark last week with an improvised explosive
device? That’s not even news to anyone who works there. It happens all
the time. The failure rate is pretty high, especially with federal
investigators, and the pat-down itself is ridiculous. As invasive as it
is, you still can’t find anything using the back of your hand on certain
areas.
When there are internal tests, conducted by the Newark training
department, it’s easy to cheat because they use our co-workers. You
could be working with someone all morning, and then they’re gone. Word
gets around the checkpoint. Someone will come over to you and say, “Hey,
it’s Joe. He’s got a blue duffel bag.”
What are the chances of you being on a flight where something happens?
We always said it’s not a question of if terrorists get through — it’s a
question of when. Our feeling is nothing’s happened because they haven’t
wanted it to happen. We’re not any big deterrent. It’s all for show.
A real pat-down is when a police officer pulls you over, uses his hands
to search, actually goes into your clothes. We have to use the back of
our hands around certain areas. It just doesn’t work. It’s a really bad
way to pat somebody down.
If I had to guess, I’m sure lots of things get through. One screener
told me about something he did going through security when he went on
vacation. Let’s just say the screeners did not catch something that was
really obvious to anyone who was paying attention.
Most TSA screeners know their job is a complete joke. Their goal is to
use this as a stepping stone to another government agency.
We work in a culture where common sense has no place. All but a very few
TSA personnel know they’re employed by a bottom-of-the-barrel agency.
Our first question to anyone in a wheelchair is to ask if they’re able
to stand for a pat-down. If someone is in a wheelchair, he likely can’t
stand. Even when they’re sitting, we’re required to ask them to move so
we can check under their buttocks.
All I needed was for a passenger to fall over because I asked them to
stand. And if that did happen, the screener would be vilified and the
official p.r. spin would be that he needed “additional training.”
Every time you read about a TSA horror story, it’s usually about a
screener doing what he or she is instructed to do.
Supervisors play absolutely no role in day-to-day functions except to
tell you not to chew gum. Gum chewing is a huge issue with management. I
once saw a supervisor make an officer open his mouth to prove he had a
mint and not a piece of gum.
Goofing off and half-hour-long bathroom breaks are the only way to break
up the monotony. There is also a lot of ogling of female passengers by
the male screeners. So, ladies, cover up when you get to the airport.
These guys are checking you out constantly.
A small number of screeners are delusional zealots who believe they’re
keeping America safe by taking your snow globe, your 2-inch pocket
knife, your 4-ounce bottle of shampoo and performing invasive pat-downs
on your kids.
(Incidentally, the flap over the new rule allowing small pocketknives is
overblown. Most of the public doesn’t realize it, but you are already
allowed to bring scissors, screwdrivers, tweezers, knitting needles and
any number of sharp instruments on board.)
The rest are only there for the paycheck and generous benefits.
Screeners start at $15 per hour, and there is tons of overtime — mainly
because they are filling in for the many screeners who don’t bother
coming to work. For every 40 hours you work, you receive four hours of
vacation and four hours of sick time.
One screener didn’t come to work for four weeks. When he finally
reappeared, he asked for another week off. The answer was no. So what
did this brainiac decide to do? He took another week off — and didn’t
get terminated.
People have been caught falling asleep on the job. They get written up,
it’s put in their file, and that’s it.
New hires see how bad it is working there, and, believe it or not, TSA
does manage to hire some pretty decent people. They just don’t last
because they can get a normal job.
It’s the people who’ve been there a good number of years who could never
find employment elsewhere. When you have a real job, it usually means
you have to actually work and think, which a lot of them have a hard
time doing.
Anyone boarding an aircraft should feel maybe only a teeny tiny bit
safer than if there were no TSA at all.
jigo
Mar 25, 2013, 11:45:51 PM3/25/13
to
Fly Guy wrote:
> The premis or focus of this news story (see below) is schizophrenic.
> The story wants to say two things at the same time.
>
> It wants to say that TSA screening is a joke, that it's implimented bady
> by incompetent people, and as a result the security of the air travel
> system is at risk.
>
> It also wants to say that the intensive screening methods that are in
> place today (screening children, old people, restricting liquids, etc)
> are overblown and uncalled for (but notably it does not say that the
> methods are illogical or even potentially illegal or unconstitutional).
> The premis or focus of this news story (see below) is schizophrenic.
> The story wants to say two things at the same time.
>
> It wants to say that TSA screening is a joke, that it's implimented bady
> by incompetent people, and as a result the security of the air travel
> system is at risk.
>
> It also wants to say that the intensive screening methods that are in
> place today (screening children, old people, restricting liquids, etc)
> are overblown and uncalled for (but notably it does not say that the
> methods are illogical or even potentially illegal or unconstitutional).
> The truth is that the TSA is security theater - and for those that
> designed and implimented the agency and the practices and proceedures,
> they always knew it would be. For the thousands employed by the TSA, it
> functions as a gov't welfare (make-work) agency (similar to food stamps,
> SS disability, Obama phones, etc). It's other important role is
> info-gathering that benefits primarily the IRS.
>
> Because even though there are no "bad guys" (aka "terrorists") that have
> either been caught going through security or have otherwised caused real
> harm to the US air travel system since the TSA was created, what the TSA
> does do on a daily basis is keep records of who flies where, how they
> paid for their tickets, as well as detecting when people are carrying
> drugs, cash, financial instruments, jewerly, gold/silver, gems, etc.
> The new body scanners are designed primarily to detect those items.
<original post continued below>
> designed and implimented the agency and the practices and proceedures,
> they always knew it would be. For the thousands employed by the TSA, it
> functions as a gov't welfare (make-work) agency (similar to food stamps,
> SS disability, Obama phones, etc). It's other important role is
> info-gathering that benefits primarily the IRS.
>
> Because even though there are no "bad guys" (aka "terrorists") that have
> either been caught going through security or have otherwised caused real
> harm to the US air travel system since the TSA was created, what the TSA
> does do on a daily basis is keep records of who flies where, how they
> paid for their tickets, as well as detecting when people are carrying
> drugs, cash, financial instruments, jewerly, gold/silver, gems, etc.
> The new body scanners are designed primarily to detect those items.
And when some airports wanted to replace the TSA with private,
professional screeners recently, as they can legally, the TSA blocked it.
http://www.elliott.org/blog/tsa-backtracks-on-private-screeners-amid-more-lawsuits/
TSA shuts door on private airport screening program -
CNN.comwww.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/01/29/tsa.private/index.html
Government report: 'TSA's main concern isn't safety, it's
self-preservation'
http://rt.com/usa/tsa-employees-airport-security-430/
They've been caught stealing items from passengers' luggage at airports
all over the country.
When investigators raided [TSA screener] Brown's home last week, they
seized a trove of contraband, according to an affidavit signed by
Thomas Adams, an agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's
Office of Inspector General and the lead investigator on the case.
Among the items seized were 66 cameras, 31 laptop computers, 20 cell
phones, 17 sets of electronic games, 13 pieces of jewelry, 12 GPS
devices, 11 MP3 players, eight camera lenses, six video cameras and two
DVD players, the affidavit said.
TAMPA - For the past month, Kathryn Harrington has stared down the
possibility of a criminal trial, a $10,000 fine and the stigma of being
deemed a security risk at Tampa International Airport.
The reason? She had a bookmark with her as she passed through airport
security screening.
"It was a bookmark," Harrington said. "It's not a weapon. I could not
understand why I was being handcuffed and put into a police car. I
cried for hours."
A month after airport police arrested her on a charge of carrying a
concealed weapon - the bookmark - it appears Harrington, a 52-year-old
special education teacher from Laurel, Md., could be clear of a
potential $10,000 fine.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2004-08-12-screeners-theft_x.htm
Four NYC airport screeners charged with theft
Posted 8/12/2004 9:38 AM
NEW YORK (AP) - Four federal security screeners were charged with
stealing watches, jewelry and other property from baggage at two New
York City airports, authorities said Wednesday.
One screener was accused of stealing $40 in cash, watches and rings
from luggage sent by undercover detectives last week through screening
at the American Airlines terminal at John F. Kennedy International
Airport.
A search of the man's apartment later revealed watches, pens, cigarette
lighters and other merchandise that had also been planted by undercover
agents to go through screening, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown
said.
Other defendants are accused of stealing from bags at La Guardia
airport's Continental Airlines terminal in May. Those thefts were
recorded by surveillance cameras or observed by Port Authority
detectives, Brown said in a statement.
According to the affidavit, Brown confessed that he began stealing two
to three items per week from the airport beginning in September 2007.
He told authorities he put most of the stolen items up for sale on
eBay, it said.
One of the items was a Sony camcorder that was swiped from the bag of a
CNN employee who was a passenger on flight from Newark to Houston in
July 2008, authorities said.
"Dominate. Intimidate. Control."
The sorry record of the Transportation Security Administration
James Bovard
http://reason.com/0402/fe.jb.dominate.shtml
When 9/11 exposed the holes in American airport and airline security,
the Bush administration and Congress responded with the usual
Washington panacea: a new federal agency. Congress quickly deluged the
new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) with billions of
dollars to hire an army of over 50,000 federal agents to screen airport
passengers and baggage.
But before the agency was even a year old, it was clear that it had
"become a monster," to quote the chairman of the House Aviation
Subcommittee, John Mica (R-Fla.). Arrogant, abusive, incompetent, and
expensive, the TSA is, in the words of the House Appropriations
Committee, "seemingly unable to make crisp decisions...unable to work
cooperatively with the nation's airports; and unable to take advantage
of the multitude of security-improving and labor-saving technologies
available."
In June 2002 news leaked out that TSA airport screeners missed 24
percent of the weapons and imitation bombs planted in the government's
undercover security tests. At some major airports, screeners failed to
detect potentially dangerous objects in half the tests. The results
were worse than they first appeared, because the testers were ordered
not to "artfully conceal" the deadly contraband and instead pack their
luggage "consistent with how a typical passenger in air transportation
might pack a bag." Although the tests seemed designed to see if
screeners could catch terrorists with single-digit IQs, they still
failed to find the weapons much of the time.
That does not mean TSA screeners don't find anything. Notable triumphs
have included seizing a tiny pair of wire cutters from a Special Forces
veteran who had been shot in the jaw in Afghanistan and needed the
cutters to snip his jaw open if he started to choke; evacuating
terminals in Los Angeles upon discovering that travelers were carrying
such dangerous devices as a belt buckle or a tub of jam; and shutting
down several concourses in St. Louis after a federal security screener
spotted what appeared to be a "cutting tool" in a carry-on bag. After
detecting the suspicious object, the St. Louis screener followed proper
procedure: He fetched his supervisor to take a look at the frozen image
on the video screen at the checkpoint. A few minutes later, the
supervisor concluded that the bag was indeed suspicious and needed to
be manually searched. But the passenger had long since retrieved it and
headed to his or her flight. Hundreds of passengers were evacuated and
up to 60 flights were delayed; despite many searches, the suspicious
item was never found.
The TSA detains more than just packages. More than 1,000 people have
been arrested at airport checkpoints since the feds took over security
in February 2002. A regulation passed that month made it a federal
crime to interfere with airport screening personnel. A single word can
be sufficient to trigger an arrest.
a TSA press release proudly announced, "The Transportation Security
Administration has intercepted more than 4.8 million prohibited items
at passenger security checkpoints in its first year.
And so all the fingernail clippers and cigar cutters seized since 9/11
transmogrified into proof that the federal government is protecting
people better than ever. The press release did not mention that the
checkpoint seizures included frying pans, dumbbell sets, horseshoes,
toy robots, and an unknown but huge number of small pointy objects.
Betsylew Miale-Gix, a 43-year-old personal injury lawyer and former
world boomerang record holder, was stopped at a security checkpoint at
Hartford's Bradley International Airport on June 30, 2002, and informed
that she could not carry her boomerangs onto the plane. The boomerangs
weighed less than three ounces each and were fragile -- the type of
item that is routinely crushed if sent as checked luggage. Miale-Gix
had flown many times after 9/11 and had never encountered any
objections to her boomerangs. They wouldn't be much use as weapons,
after all; as one of her fellow boomerang enthusiasts commented,
throwing a competitive boomerang at someone is "like throwing a
first-class letter."
The state trooper who banned the boomerangs from the flight refused to
listen to Miale-Gix's explanation, and she swore at him as she was
departing the screening area. She was quickly arrested, handcuffed,
charged with breach of the peace, and compelled to pay $500 for bail.
TSA spokeswoman Deirdre O'Sullivan told The New York Times that
although boomerangs are not on the official list of prohibited carry-on
items, "the screeners have the discretion to decide whether or not that
item could be used as a weapon."
Travelers who assert their legal rights can find themselves bounced.
Della Maricich was banned from a Portland-to-Seattle flight on May 1,
2002, after she asked an airport screener to keep her purse where she
could see it while he searched it. (Many airport screeners have been
accused of theft since the new search procedures were introduced.) The
screener refused, and Maricich demanded to speak to his supervisor. A
National Guardsman arrived on the scene a few minutes later and,
Maricich later told The Wall Street Journal, "He told me that because I
had disrupted the line by calling for a supervisor, I would not be
allowed to fly out of PDX that day. He told me that I was a
troublemaker and I was the only one who had ever complained."
On August 2, 2002, a screener at Hartford's Bradley International
Airport poked through the wallet of Fred Hubbell, an 80-year-old World
War II combat veteran who had already undergone two full searches in
that airport that morning. "What do you expect to find in there, a
rifle?" the exasperated Hubbell asked. He was then arrested for
"causing a public disturbance" and fined $78. Dana Cosgrove, the TSA
airport security chief, later justified the arrest on the grounds that
"all that the people around him in the waiting room heard was the word
rifle."
The TSA flaunts its power to bar people from flights. A group of 20
high school students and Catholic priests and nuns, members of Peace
Action Milwaukee, were detained at Milwaukee's airport on April 19,
2002, after some of their names turned up on a "No Fly Watch List"
issued by the federal government. According to one member of the group,
a sheriff's deputy told her, "You're probably being stopped because you
are a peace group and you're protesting against your country." Many of
the travelers missed their flights and had to fly the following day.
Yet Sgt. Chuck Coughlin of the Milwaukee sheriff's department insisted,
"Although it was time-consuming, and although they were flight-delayed,
the system actually worked."
The TSA's no-fly lists are often poor sources of information. Many
travelers are repeatedly stopped erroneously and taken aside for
intensive questioning, regardless of how many times they have
previously proved that they are not a threat to national security. As
David Sobel, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information
Center, told the Financial Times, "Nobody wants to accept
responsibility for the maintenance of the [no-fly] list, and nobody
wants to claim the authority to remove a name." Now the TSA, at
Congress's behest, is creating the Computer Assisted Passenger
Prescreening System (CAPPS II), which will assign a "threat level" to
every person who flies within the United States. The TSA has provided
almost no information on how the system will operate, although the
government has indicated that it could sweep up a vast amount of
personal information on each traveler -- including credit history,
financial and transaction records, Internet usage, and legal records
(including speeding and parking tickets).
Eight days later, on August 31, 2002, Delta Flight 442 was proceeding
from Atlanta to Philadelphia with 183 people on board when a disheveled
passenger began rummaging in the overhead bin. The Philadelphia
Inquirer reported that the trouble began when the man "made
inappropriate comments to a female passenger a few rows behind him."
Two plainclothes air marshals jumped up and tackled the guy, shoving
him first to the back of the plane and then dragging him to the first
class area.
Then the trip got interesting. One of the marshals returned to the
front of the coach section, drew his Glock semiautomatic pistol, and
started screaming and pointing his gun at passengers. Philadelphia
Judge James Lineberger, a passenger on the flight, later told the
Associated Press, "I assumed at that moment that there was going to be
some sort of gun battle....There were individuals looking to see what
they were pointing at, and [the air marshals] were yelling, 'Get down,
get out -- get your head out of the aisle.'" In a formal complaint to
the TSA, Lineberger declared that "there was no apparent reason for
holding all the passengers of the plane at gunpoint, and no explanation
was given."
Lineberger was sitting diagonally across from the initial target of the
marshals, yet did not notice any problem on the flight until the
marshals went ballistic. Susan Johnson, a social worker from Mobile,
Alabama, was also unaware of any disturbance until the air marshals
seized the man. "It never made sense," she told the Inquirer. "This guy
was not any physical threat that we could see. Maybe he said some
things to them that made them concerned. He just appeared to us
unstable, emotionally." According to Becky Johnson, a reporter who
wrote a column about the episode for her Waynesville, North Carolina,
newspaper, "They never, ever said who they were, that they were air
marshals or whoever."
My favorite is the schoolteacher arrested the TSA arrested for having
too heavy a bookmark.
After the flight landed, the marshals nailed another terrorist suspect:
a physician and retired U.S. Army major named Robert Rajcoomar. He was
handcuffed and taken into custody because, as TSA spokesman David
Steigman later explained it, he "had been observing too closely."
TAMPA - For the past month, Kathryn Harrington has stared down the
possibility of a criminal trial, a $10,000 fine and the stigma of being
deemed a security risk at Tampa International Airport.
The reason? She had a bookmark with her as she passed through airport
security screening.
"They probably felt that this item looked fairly dangerous," she said.
"It looked like a bludgeoning type of weapon that could potentially
harm someone."
Harrington was questioned about the bookmark, then handcuffed and
driven to an airport police holding cell.
"I pretty much cried throughout the whole thing," said Harrington, a
Sunday school teacher with a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University.
According to the TSA's official prohibited items list, anyone who
brings any banned item to a screening checkpoint, even accidentally,
may be criminally or civilly prosecuted. Even items that are not
specifically listed, but could be considered dangerous, are illegal.
Harrington was not arrested, but she was charged with carrying a
concealed weapon - a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by as much as
a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Earlier this month, the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office declined
to prosecute the case against Harrington. Notes on why the case was not
pursued were unavailable this week, because the state attorney's office
was closed through Thursday in preparation for Hurricane Ivan, said
Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi.
Even without a criminal charge, though, Harrington still faced a civil
fine. The TSA's top fine of $10,000 is usually reserved for those
carrying the
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003/07/10-screener-theft.htm
07/11/2003 - Updated 10:59 AM ET
The TSA is typical of government agencies: They primarily look out for
themselves and do more harm than good.
GovernmentDoesMoreHarmThanGood
https://sites.google.com/site/governmentdoesmoreharmthangood/
ThePoliceDoMoreHarmThanGood
https://sites.google.com/site/thepolicedomoreharmthangood/
> The knowledge of the movement (or attempted movement) of personal wealth
> by air travel is something the IRS finds particularly useful, and in
> that the TSA is instrumental in detecting for the IRS. And the TSA's
> creeping presence outside the airport (on the nation's highways, bus and
> rail stations, etc) is an extension of this mandate.
>
> As federal and state gov'ts teeter on the bring of bankruptcy, the role
> of the IRS to collect taxes and discover taxible income and tax
> avoidance has never been more important.
>
> Keep all this in mind as you read the story...
>
> =============================
>
> http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/confessions_of_tsa_agent_we_re_bunch_OhxHeGd0RR9UVGzfypjnLO
>
> Former Newark Airport TSA screener says the job does little to keep
> fliers safe
>
> Posted: 1:14 AM, March 10, 2013
>
> point for one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 � Flight 93, which crashed
> in Pennsylvania � Newark Airport has had numerous security violations
> since. The latest: a fake bomb that made it past Transportation Security
> Administration officers. Here, a Newark TSA screener who recently left
> the agency tells how silly policies and lazy workers do little to stop
> real threats:
>
> A LOT of what we do is make-believe.
>
> I�ve had to screen small children and explain to their parents I had no
> Administration officers. Here, a Newark TSA screener who recently left
> the agency tells how silly policies and lazy workers do little to stop
> real threats:
>
> A LOT of what we do is make-believe.
>
> choice but to �check� them. I would only place my hands on their arms
> and bottom half of their legs, and the entire �pat-down� lasted 10
> seconds. This goes completely against TSA procedure.
>
> Because the cameras are recording our every move, we have to do
> something. If someone isn�t checked or even screened properly, the
>
> Because the cameras are recording our every move, we have to do
> entire terminal would shut down, as this constitutes a security breach.
>
> But since most TSA supervisors are too daft to actually supervise,
> bending the rules is easy to do.
>
> Did you know you don�t need a high-school diploma or GED to work as a
>
> But since most TSA supervisors are too daft to actually supervise,
> bending the rules is easy to do.
>
> security screener? These are the same screeners that TSA chief John
> Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refer to as a
> first-class first line of defense in the war on terror.
>
> These are the employees who could never keep a job in the private
> sector. I wouldn�t trust them to walk my dog.
> Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refer to as a
> first-class first line of defense in the war on terror.
>
> These are the employees who could never keep a job in the private
>
> An agent got through Newark last week with an improvised explosive
> device? That�s not even news to anyone who works there. It happens all
> An agent got through Newark last week with an improvised explosive
> the time. The failure rate is pretty high, especially with federal
> investigators, and the pat-down itself is ridiculous. As invasive as it
> is, you still can�t find anything using the back of your hand on certain
> investigators, and the pat-down itself is ridiculous. As invasive as it
> areas.
>
> When there are internal tests, conducted by the Newark training
> department, it�s easy to cheat because they use our co-workers. You
>
> When there are internal tests, conducted by the Newark training
> could be working with someone all morning, and then they�re gone. Word
> gets around the checkpoint. Someone will come over to you and say, �Hey,
> it�s Joe. He�s got a blue duffel bag.�
>
> What are the chances of you being on a flight where something happens?
> We always said it�s not a question of if terrorists get through � it�s a
> What are the chances of you being on a flight where something happens?
> question of when. Our feeling is nothing�s happened because they haven�t
> wanted it to happen. We�re not any big deterrent. It�s all for show.
>
> If I had to guess, I�m sure lots of things get through. One screener
> told me about something he did going through security when he went on
> vacation. Let�s just say the screeners did not catch something that was
> really obvious to anyone who was paying attention.
>
> Most TSA screeners know their job is a complete joke. Their goal is to
> use this as a stepping stone to another government agency.
>
> We work in a culture where common sense has no place. All but a very few
> TSA personnel know they�re employed by a bottom-of-the-barrel agency.
>
> Most TSA screeners know their job is a complete joke. Their goal is to
> use this as a stepping stone to another government agency.
>
> We work in a culture where common sense has no place. All but a very few
>
> Our first question to anyone in a wheelchair is to ask if they�re able
> to stand for a pat-down. If someone is in a wheelchair, he likely can�t
> stand. Even when they�re sitting, we�re required to ask them to move so
> we can check under their buttocks.
>
> All I needed was for a passenger to fall over because I asked them to
> stand. And if that did happen, the screener would be vilified and the
> official p.r. spin would be that he needed �additional training.�
>
> All I needed was for a passenger to fall over because I asked them to
> stand. And if that did happen, the screener would be vilified and the
>
> Every time you read about a TSA horror story, it�s usually about a
> screener doing what he or she is instructed to do.
>
> Supervisors play absolutely no role in day-to-day functions except to
> tell you not to chew gum. Gum chewing is a huge issue with management. I
> once saw a supervisor make an officer open his mouth to prove he had a
> mint and not a piece of gum.
>
> Goofing off and half-hour-long bathroom breaks are the only way to break
> up the monotony. There is also a lot of ogling of female passengers by
> the male screeners. So, ladies, cover up when you get to the airport.
> These guys are checking you out constantly.
>
> A small number of screeners are delusional zealots who believe they�re
>
> Supervisors play absolutely no role in day-to-day functions except to
> tell you not to chew gum. Gum chewing is a huge issue with management. I
> once saw a supervisor make an officer open his mouth to prove he had a
> mint and not a piece of gum.
>
> Goofing off and half-hour-long bathroom breaks are the only way to break
> up the monotony. There is also a lot of ogling of female passengers by
> the male screeners. So, ladies, cover up when you get to the airport.
> These guys are checking you out constantly.
>
> keeping America safe by taking your snow globe, your 2-inch pocket
> knife, your 4-ounce bottle of shampoo and performing invasive pat-downs
> on your kids.
>
> (Incidentally, the flap over the new rule allowing small pocketknives is
> overblown. Most of the public doesn�t realize it, but you are already
> knife, your 4-ounce bottle of shampoo and performing invasive pat-downs
> on your kids.
>
> (Incidentally, the flap over the new rule allowing small pocketknives is
> allowed to bring scissors, screwdrivers, tweezers, knitting needles and
> any number of sharp instruments on board.)
>
> The rest are only there for the paycheck and generous benefits.
> Screeners start at $15 per hour, and there is tons of overtime � mainly
> any number of sharp instruments on board.)
>
> The rest are only there for the paycheck and generous benefits.
> because they are filling in for the many screeners who don�t bother
> coming to work. For every 40 hours you work, you receive four hours of
> vacation and four hours of sick time.
>
> One screener didn�t come to work for four weeks. When he finally
> vacation and four hours of sick time.
>
> reappeared, he asked for another week off. The answer was no. So what
> did this brainiac decide to do? He took another week off � and didn�t
> get terminated.
>
> People have been caught falling asleep on the job. They get written up,
> it�s put in their file, and that�s it.
>
> People have been caught falling asleep on the job. They get written up,
>
> New hires see how bad it is working there, and, believe it or not, TSA
> does manage to hire some pretty decent people. They just don�t last
> New hires see how bad it is working there, and, believe it or not, TSA
> because they can get a normal job.
>
> It�s the people who�ve been there a good number of years who could never
>
Brian
Mar 26, 2013, 9:37:42 PM3/26/13
to
On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:45:51 -0500, jigo <ret...@home.com> wrote:
><original post continued below>
>And when some airports wanted to replace the TSA with private,
>professional screeners recently, as they can legally, the TSA blocked it.
>http://www.elliott.org/blog/tsa-backtracks-on-private-screeners-amid-more-lawsuits/
>TSA shuts door on private airport screening program -
>CNN.comwww.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/01/29/tsa.private/index.html
They wouldn't be unionized government workers.
><original post continued below>
>And when some airports wanted to replace the TSA with private,
>professional screeners recently, as they can legally, the TSA blocked it.
>http://www.elliott.org/blog/tsa-backtracks-on-private-screeners-amid-more-lawsuits/
>TSA shuts door on private airport screening program -
>CNN.comwww.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/01/29/tsa.private/index.html
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