TSA Experiences

[*Anya*]

Week ahead: TSA Returns to the Hot Seat

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will return to the congressional hot seat as lawmakers hold a last week of hearings before they leave for their traditional recess during the dog days of summer.

The House Homeland Security’s Oversight and Management Efficiency and Transportation Security subcommittees will hold a hearing on Wednesday (7/31/13) about the TSA’s “integrity challenges.”

Officials with the panels said lawmakers will be examining “misconduct by airport security personnel.”


The hearings will be chaired by Reps. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.).

TSA has come under fire for undercover media reports that have captured footage of its employees stealing items such iPads and money from airline passengers' luggage.

The agency has traditionally argued that such instances of theft are outliers and no representative of the majority of its 47,000 workers. The TSA has fired employees who have been found to steal from passengers.

The hearing comes after the TSA had recently won rare plaudits from lawmakers for expanding access to its Pre-Check known traveler program.

There likely will not be many congratulations offered in Wednesday's hearing, however.

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportat...#ixzz2ad9k94HC

[Andrea]

TSA manager at Blue Grass Airport charged with sexual abuse of co-worker

http://www.kentucky.com/2013/08/13/2764038/tsa-manager-at-blue-grass-airport.html

"A Transportation Security Administration manager at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport resigned after he was charged with sexually abusing a co-worker, according to court documents and TSA officials.

Shane Hinkle, 38, of Paris is accused of forcibly touching the co-worker, according to Fayette District Court records."

[Andrea]

Stop TSA from scaring the children

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/fl-online-letter3-20130817,0,7619543.story

"She went through the metal detector with no problem. As expected, I set off the system and was asked to come to the side. However, as she was traveling with me, they also asked her to leave the line that she already had gone through and insisted on patting her down as well. She was crying and extremely frightened, to say the least."

[Andrea]

Ron Hart: Keeping fear alive

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/tsa-521954-government-rule.html

“Since 9/11, foreign-inspired terrorism has claimed about two dozen lives in the United States. (Meanwhile, more than 100,000 have been killed in gun homicides and more than 400,000 in motor-vehicle accidents.)”

– CNN

[Rockinonahigh]

I just got back from Vegas,yesterday,when I got to my hotel room I found the tsa had broken up all my pool stick chalk,squeezed out all my hair jell,broken open a pack of hair combs then removed my pool sticks from the case to check them out..whoever did that had dirty hands cause my pool stick was sticky so it had to be reworked before I could play not to mention messed up my packed suit case then checked all my pills that were in the pill bottles I got them from at the druggest so I had to make shure the right pills were in the right bottles before I could take them.I had all my meds in an approved carry on sise suitcase but they said it had to be checked just the same I was glad I had some meds on my persons.In Shreveport I didnt get a pat down just a waund passed over me shoes off,belt off all the stuff in my pockets ect.When I left Vegas I got the whole nne yards of the tsa check including the xray machine and pat down by a woman tsa agent.I just delt with it to get it done and over with but shure didnt like it.Next trip to Vegas I swear I will drive cause I really dont care for flying or Americam Airlines...thats another story.

[Andrea]

Originally Posted by Rockinonahigh

I just got back from Vegas,yesterday,when I got to my hotel room I found the tsa had broken up all my pool stick chalk,squeezed out all my hair jell,broken open a pack of hair combs then removed my pool sticks from the case to check them out..whoever did that had dirty hands cause my pool stick was sticky so it had to be reworked before I could play not to mention messed up my packed suit case then checked all my pills that were in the pill bottles I got them from at the druggest so I had to make shure the right pills were in the right bottles before I could take them.I had all my meds in an approved carry on sise suitcase but they said it had to be checked just the same I was glad I had some meds on my persons.In Shreveport I didnt get a pat down just a waund passed over me shoes off,belt off all the stuff in my pockets ect.When I left Vegas I got the whole nne yards of the tsa check including the xray machine and pat down by a woman tsa agent.I just delt with it to get it done and over with but shure didnt like it.Next trip to Vegas I swear I will drive cause I really dont care for flying or Americam Airlines...thats another story.

But you do feel safer with all the security measures they used, don't you? /end sarcasm

[Andrea]

Holly Springs police charge former TSA supervisor with shoplifting

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/27/3141906/police-charge-former-tsa-supervisor.html

"A U.S. Transportation Security Administration supervisor lost her job at Raleigh-Durham International Airport last week after police charged her with stealing about $95 worth of items from a Wal-Mart in Holly Springs."

[Rockinonahigh]

Originally Posted by Andrea

But you do feel safer with all the security measures they used, don't you? /end sarcasm

Not one bit.Hear at home all I got was my cary on(back pack) xrayd then a wand pased over me.But in Veags I got xrayd stood in the spook machine that leves nada to the immagination then a pat down.I didnt care for any of it but bit back the snotty comment I had in my mind,I just wanted to go home.
Frankly I didnt leave a thing in vegas except my $$$ wich is all they were after any way.For whatever reason Vegas didnt make me bug eyed with antisiaption,I can watch strip shows and show girls right hear in Shreveport.
Onething about the food in Vegas was that only in rare occasions dose anyo0ne cook with seasonings ..most of it was bland & tastless.Thankgoodness for Louisiana cooking...heart is where the home(kitchen) is.

[DapperButch]

Interesting story. TF and I went on a brief trip, last week.

When I went through the wave scanner on the first flight the monitor showed that I may have had metal (or whatever all it searches for), in my pockets (I had on men's cargo shorts) and there was a mark (it is a square block), on the middle of my chest. The female attendant asked me if I had a necklace on (I did not). Obviously, I had nothing in my pockets. Back into the machine I went. This time the machine only highlights my shorts and does not mark my chest. The women felt my pockets and then I was off and running. No biggy.

So, on trip back, I go through the machine. I am wearing another pair of men's cargo shorts. This time what is marked was my pockets and my genital area.

A male first touches my pockets. I then tell him I am female. I wasn't stressed about it, it just made sense to me that it would be a female who would be patting me down.

Anyway, the guy gets all flustered, apologizes, and sends me back into machine. This time my genitals did not get a mark, but my shorts again did. A female attendant touched my pockets and then waved me on.

I find it interesting that male vs. female effects the machine? I don't know if that is why the mark disappeared when they changed it to a female outline, or if it just disppeared for the random reason the marking on my chest disappeared the first time...just random.

Anyway, the patting down event didn't bother me either time. It has to be done, so no biggy.

http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/t...ml?id=15035728

I never had to deal with the backscatter. I am glad that this machine uses radio waves instead of x-rays. I am a big believer that x-rays are not good for our health, and that in particular it stimulates cancer growth. I think that if I was a regular traveler I would choose to be patted down over going through an x-ray machine over and over again

ETA: They did go through TF's bag in a friendly, respectful way.

[Andrea]

DFW Airport Police Targeted TSA in Sting Operation

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/DFW-Airport-Police-Targeted-TSA-in-Sting-Operation-222618731.html

"Investigators found an American Airlines worker had stolen 100 parking passes for employee parking lots and recruited TSA officers to sell the passes to co-workers for $100 apiece, the sources said.

One person who was aware of the investigation said as many as 20 TSA officers are suspected of selling or buying the passes. Another person said the number was closer to 40."

Parking passes? Really? I wonder what they would do for $500....

[Andrea]

Feds: Ex-TSA screener acted alone in threats case

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TSA_SCREENER_THREAT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLA TE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-09-11-06-14-03

"Federal authorities said Thursday they believe a former Los Angeles airport security screener acted alone and there wasn't a larger plot when he made threats that closed some airport terminals on the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks."

[Andrea]

Been groped by TSA agents? Former DHS official implied privacy advocates are to blame

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/been-groped-tsa-agents-former-dhs-official-implied-privacy-advocates-are-blame

"When passing through airport security to catch a flight, surely you've experienced either the body scanners or "enhanced" pat-downs. Well, fasten your flipping seatbelt because, according to a former DHS official, if you've been groped by TSA agents, you "can't blame the TSA;" instead, he implied that you should blame privacy advocates."

[Andrea]

Feds Stalked Airline Passenger Lists to Catch Manning’s Friend, Documents Show

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/09/manning-friend-database-stalked/

"Federal agents entered the name of a friend of Chelsea Manning into a government watchlist database and waited months for him to leave the country for vacation just so they could nab him when he returned to seize his digital devices, according to documents released this week in a lawsuit."

[Andrea]

Authorities probe suspicious device in luggage at Birmingham airport

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/09/authorities_probe_suspicous_de.html

"BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Authorities have cleared the scene at the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport where a suspicious device was investigated earlier today.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with Birmingham police, the FBI, and the TSA were among the agencies involved in the investigation. Lawmen tell AL.com an item inside luggage being screened during check-in appeared suspicious.

Early reports were that it looked like a pipe bomb. Authorities checked the item, and said it didn't appear to be any kind of explosive device.

The passenger has said the item is part of his work. The terminal was evacuated, but was given the all-clear just after noon.

The passenger was allowed to travel on to Dallas. He is going, however, without his luggage which has been taken to the Birmingham Police Department's range. Bomb experts there will remotely detonate the luggage as a precaution."

Luggage was cleared, terminal was repopulated, and passenger was allowed to continue to his destination but they still blew the bag up??

[Andrea]

Child hops flight from Twin Cities to Sin City alone, sans ticket

http://us.cnn.com/2013/10/06/us/vegas-flight-child/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

"Officials are trying to figure out how he got through security -- let alone on the flight."

[Andrea]

TSA Harasses Sick Kid, Family Misses Flight

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/tsa-harasses-sick-kid--family-misses-flight-154956391.html

"A woman traveling with her 3-year-old was so delayed by the way Transportation Security Administration officials handled her son’s medically necessary formula that the two missed their flight."

[Andrea]

Phoenix airport screening draws angry complaints

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/11/phoenix-airport-screening-draws-angry-complaints/2970589/

Not sure how accurate this reporting is as the hand held wand described in the groin chop have not been used in years......

[Andrea]

Autistic workers may make more reliable TSA baggage handlers, study says

http://globegazette.com/features/autistic-workers-may-make-more-reliable-tsa-baggage-handlers-study/article_964e32ac-a0cf-5d77-9cc2-35d450bc3a04.html

"A study published this year by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Minnesota found that high-functioning autistic men were just as accurate and almost as fast as non-autistic people in finding weapons in X-ray images of baggage.

More important, their performance improved as time went on, particularly in correctly identifying bags that had no weapons."

[Andrea]

Air marshal accused of taking photos up women's dresses at BNA

http://www.wsmv.com/story/23722109/air-marshal-accused-of-taking-photos-up-womens-dresses-at-bna

"A federal air marshal is accused of using his cell phone to take pictures underneath women's dresses as they boarded a flight at Nashville International Airport."

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by Andrea

Autistic workers may make more reliable TSA baggage handlers, study says

http://globegazette.com/features/autistic-workers-may-make-more-reliable-tsa-baggage-handlers-study/article_964e32ac-a0cf-5d77-9cc2-35d450bc3a04.html

"A study published this year by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Minnesota found that high-functioning autistic men were just as accurate and almost as fast as non-autistic people in finding weapons in X-ray images of baggage.

More important, their performance improved as time went on, particularly in correctly identifying bags that had no weapons."

This is not shocking at all to me.

I love the last sentence of the article, as it is so accurate, and unfortunately unknown by the greater populace:

"... (autistic) individuals have unique abilities that can give them an advantage over others at performing some tasks."

My hope is that overtime autistic individuals will be seen for the incredible skill set many of them have and will be sought out by employers, rather than their skils either not being "seen" or them being discriminated against from the first interview due to their "poor" (per our society), social skills.

My mind goes to higher end, tech government jobs that people who are not neurotypical would do better at than others. I know someone whose father fits this category, has very high up security clearance. She says that many of the people at his workplace seem to be non-neurotypical (in her layman's perspective). This does not surprise me.