Confessions of a TSA agent

[Chucktshoes]

Or "The TSA knows they are worthless".

 

 

 

 

We knew the full-body scanners didn’t work before they were even installed. Not long after the Underwear Bomber incident, all TSA officers at O’Hare were informed that training for the Rapiscan Systems full-body scanners would soon begin. The machines cost about $150,000 a pop.

Our instructor was a balding middle-aged man who shrugged his shoulders after everything he said, as though in apology. At the conclusion of our crash course, one of the officers in our class asked him to tell us, off the record, what he really thought about the machines.

“They’re shit,” he said, shrugging. He said we wouldn’t be able to distinguish plastic explosives from body fat and that guns were practically invisible if they were turned sideways in a pocket.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/tsa-screener-confession-102912_Page2.html#ixzz2s0RLCbeV

 

[mikegideon]

I'll just drive.

[jcoosi]

Yep that's what I told my wife after all this started. I f we cant get there by driving then Im sure they don't have anything worth seeing.

[TerryW]

I deal with the these people 4 to 5 days a week 46 weeks out of every year.

 

Let's just put it this way, it's a government agency that are like crossing guards with search, seizure and arrest authority. I see them often treating law abiding citizens like criminals.

[EMB145]

Once again, I could write a book, but to keep from getting kicked off of here, I will keep my thoughts to myself. I will say that I've had to deal with alot of TSA. Some cool, some just total F'n idiots. Good and bad in everything though. I do have a problem with the ones that come to inspect an aircraft that I have signed as airworthy. They have no business poking around when they can't even tell you what type of aircraft they are inspecting. That being the case, my name is on it and if something happens, the FAA comes to me, not some TSA person.  If someone has made it that far to do harm, then the TSA have already failed at the checkpoint.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/08/20/grounded.jets/

Edited January 31, 2014 by EMB145

[DMark]

I deal with the these people 4 to 5 days a week 46 weeks out of every year.

 

Let's just put it this way, it's a government agency that are like crossing guards with search, seizure and arrest authority. I see them often treating law abiding citizens like criminals.

 

As I understand it, TSA 'officers" have no arrest authority - - - regardless of their fake mall-cop badges.

 

Local airport police are the ones who make the arrest.

[MacGyver]

I read that article this morning.  The whole thing is worth a read. My favorite quote from the article:

 

     "The thought nagged at me that I was enabling the same government-sanctioned bigotry my father had fought so hard to escape."


 

[mikegideon]

I deal with the these people 4 to 5 days a week 46 weeks out of every year.

 

Let's just put it this way, it's a government agency that are like crossing guards with search, seizure and arrest authority. I see them often treating law abiding citizens like criminals.

 

I just can't take it either. I almost hit one of them in Dallas. I would still be in jail.

[frankmako]

if it is run by the government then you know it will not work and cost one thousand time more than it should.  also, most tsa agents are not worth the air that they use.  just another low information government voter.  before 911 i use to fly six times a month on the job.  then after 911 i started to slow down on my flying.  now if i can not drive there, then i do not need to go.  i have turned down many tdy trips because of what i have seen and know.  i feel for the people that have to go through security, the crap they put up with just to get on a airplane.

[TrickyNicky]

As I understand it, TSA 'officers" have no arrest authority - - - regardless of their fake mall-cop badges.
 
Local airport police are the ones who make the arrest.

There some TSA officers with LE status, but very few and not the ones found at the gate security screening. Even large international airports have only one or two typically. In general airport PD is responsible for arrests.

[Mark A]

I'll just drive.

12 hours or less is my new rule for biz travel unless I REALLY have to get in and out in a day.

[CQB Elite]

Years ago I flew from FL to St Louis for a hunting trip in Illinois. On my return trip there was an elderly lady going thru TSA next to me. They found her fingernail clippers and took them away. TSA's version of Paul Blart started lecturing her about why she couldn't take them on the plane. She kept telling him to put it back in her bag. I thought she was going to punch him in the throat. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[hardknox00001]

If you guys want to go in together on a private TGO plane, I'll fly it for you, where ever you want to go.

[TerryW]

DMark, you are correct.. I do stand corrected..  :-)

[Duck]

As I understand it, TSA 'officers" have no arrest authority - - - regardless of their fake mall-cop badges.
 
Local airport police are the ones who make the arrest.

Don't think too far into the no arrest authority, they and any other government employee or guard can make a detention and turn you over to the police. Very similar to a loss prevention officer at Walmart throwing cuffs on you and handing you over to the police.

[DMark]

DMark, you are correct.. I do stand corrected..  :-)

 

TerryW, I didn't mean it so much as a correction, but as a clarification.  As Duck points out they can keep you from proceeding by detaining you, but a real LEO must make the arrest. 

 

I like Duck's example of a Walmart loss prevention officer - - - perhaps that is the right way of looking at these TSA types.

[TMF]

[quote name="CQB Elite" post="1104338" timestamp="1391207381"]Years ago I flew from FL to St Louis for a hunting trip in Illinois. On my return trip there was an elderly lady going thru TSA next to me. They found her fingernail clippers and took them away. TSA's version of Paul Blart started lecturing her about why she couldn't take them on the plane. She kept telling him to put it back in her bag. I thought she was going to punch him in the throat.Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk[/quote] While going through Paris/De Gaul years back I watched a poor old lady lose it on France's version of the TSA. It was sad and funny at the same time. She had been collecting hotel lotions from her hotel apparently and had a few dozen of those little bottles in her purse. They took her off to the side and started removing all the contents of her purse in front of hundreds of passengers, which was so humiliating she started to cry. They called in for more security and now there were half a dozen frog agents around her with one attempting to console her and she blurts out at the top of her lungs, "I hate the French!" The reaction of those Franco-douches was hilarious. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Spook]

Like some of you I also fly a lot, probably 90 times a year. The Pre-Check has been a godsend in terms of time spent in security processing. They should have done this so long ago instead of treating blue haired old ladies the same as the ones who match profiles of terrorists.

[mikegideon]

Like some of you I also fly a lot, probably 90 times a year. The Pre-Check has been a godsend in terms of time spent in security processing. They should have done this so long ago instead of treating blue haired old ladies the same as the ones who match profiles of terrorists.

 

It's about the only sensible thing they've done. Like you said, way too late.

[1gewehr]

The TSA has been the best thing that could happen to air-taxis.  The worse the intrusion and lines get, the more people who will be willing to pay a little more to be able to just get on a plane and go without that hassle.

 

A family of four can fly air taxi for about the same cost as scheduled commercial.  Usually, secure parking is free, too.  Expect to see a LOT more of this as air travel gets more onerous.

[Dustbuster]

I'm not a fan of TSA efficiency,or their equipment,but hate to admit they're a necessary speed Bump in air travel. It's easier to check a firearm at the tick counter than going through TSA.

paying the 85 for pre pass is a great investment, but unfortunately someone still has to watch the gates. bad guys stupid people and inexperienced travelers will always be here.If not TSA Who will run the idiot check?wackenhut,Wells Fargo ?or some other co w min wage employees showing up half loaded. doped up hungover etc.. The no fly list is another joke.

I hate hearing about seniors and handicapped getting hassled by TSA in a ridiculous manner but ie grandmas and kids do show up w leaking drinks and other items that can react with volatile lithium polymer batteries in her mini photo viewer or I pad loaded in the carry on or other objects, I've seen what those batteries do when they go off. (That's why I carry my cell phone and don't carry it in a pants pocket.)
Or when a passenger w a pressurized. canister of anything from mace to hairspray accidentally discharges in the cabin at 30k feet because no one told them not allowed then what?
An Israeli General once said the only way to have safe air travel was to cuff the passengers to their seats. I have to agree.
TSA now gets swamped cause the airlines started this charge for checked bags crap that is now the reason people walk on w 100 lbs of nuisance luggage loaded w half of cvs and weight sets instead of checking it. I think it would be great to limit people to a smaller carry on and force them to check luggage for free. TSA should and could focus on the usual contraband and intended mission instead of playing hide n seek w passengers that are too cheap to check a bag and ignorantly refuse to read what came w their ticket telling them what's not allowed in the cabin.

I'll never forget how handfuls of turds took over planes w box cutters and entry level flying lessons....at least now the cockpits are tighter and passengers only have to be concerned with other passengers...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 of course it ate my spelling.

[mikegideon]

I don't mind airport security. I mind stupid.

[Guest theconstitutionrocks]

Having worked for that agency (and at the time it all started I thought we were doing a good thing, now I know better), I can tell you there were and still are gaping holes security wise that you can drive a Mack truck through. While I won't go into specifics I can tell you that we hadn't even completed training and had already figured out how to get a deadly device past the checkpoint with an unacceptably high level of success. The vulnerability and methodology were addressed to both our federal security director and TSA corporate in Crystal City. I basically got the brush off until two Russian airliners were blown out of the sky in Aug 2004 by Chechan suicide bombers wearing explosive vests. Within 2 weeks of that event, the infamous "pat downs" started here in the US. Suffice it to say the vulnerabilities we discovered and the actions taken by the Chechans were in the same methodology "grid square".

 

While some of the technology present today help close that hole, there are still gaps. These result more from a lack of following procedure/not using equipment, than equipment short comings (although those exist). There are airports which remain vulnerable to exploitation because procedures aren't properly followed. I have been in a few and seen it first hand. I called the TSA watch center to complain about it...surprise surprise...no definitive action. So endstate...it's not that attempts are being made and failing due to discovery, it's that, IMO, the threat is way overstated.

 

By the way...how's that MANPAD mitigation plan workin for ya?

[DMark]

By the way...how's that MANPAD mitigation plan workin for ya?

 

I'm sure that would be a topic that Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens could have commented on - - - if he hadn't been abandoned.

 

----------

 

Now, having flown out of Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, I wish we would look into how Israel addresses the issue of security.

 

But we won't due to political correctness.

[sigmtnman]

I'm not a fan of TSA efficiency,or their equipment,but hate to admit they're a necessary speed Bump in air travel. It's easier to check a firearm at the tick counter than going through TSA.

paying the 85 for pre pass is a great investment, but unfortunately someone still has to watch the gates. bad guys stupid people and inexperienced travelers will always be here.If not TSA Who will run the idiot check?wackenhut,Wells Fargo ?or some other co w min wage employees showing up half loaded. doped up hungover etc.. The no fly list is another joke.

I hate hearing about seniors and handicapped getting hassled by TSA in a ridiculous manner but ie grandmas and kids do show up w leaking drinks and other items that can react with volatile lithium polymer batteries in her mini photo viewer or I pad loaded in the carry on or other objects, I've seen what those batteries do when they go off. (That's why I carry my cell phone and don't carry it in a pants pocket.)
Or when a passenger w a pressurized. canister of anything from mace to hairspray accidentally discharges in the cabin at 30k feet because no one told them not allowed then what?
An Israeli General once said the only way to have safe air travel was to cuff the passengers to their seats. I have to agree.
TSA now gets swamped cause the airlines started this charge for checked bags crap that is now the reason people walk on w 100 lbs of nuisance luggage loaded w half of cvs and weight sets instead of checking it. I think it would be great to limit people to a smaller carry on and force them to check luggage for free. TSA should and could focus on the usual contraband and intended mission instead of playing hide n seek w passengers that are too cheap to check a bag and ignorantly refuse to read what came w their ticket telling them what's not allowed in the cabin.

I'll never forget how handfuls of turds took over planes w box cutters and entry level flying lessons....at least now the cockpits are tighter and passengers only have to be concerned with other passengers...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 of course it ate my spelling.

 

 

  :poop: