Perspectives; Thoughts; Comments; Opinions; Discussions

Posts tagged ‘TSA’

U.S. Airport Pat-Downs Are About to Get More Invasive


waving flag disclaimerAuthored by Justin Bachman | |

Travelers, at Denver International Airport, make their way through security lines on May 26, 2016. / Photographer: RJ Sangosti/Denver Post via Getty Images

 

While few have noticed, U.S. airport security workers long had the option of using five different types of physical pat-downs at the screening line. Now those options have been eliminated and replaced with a single universal approach. This time, you will notice. The new physical touching—for those selected to have a pat-down—will be what the federal agency officially describes as a more “comprehensive” physical screening, according to a Transportation Security Administration spokesman.Oh good

Denver International Airport, for example, notified employees and flight crews on Thursday that the “more rigorous” searches “will be more thorough and may involve an officer making more intimate contact than before.”

“I would say people who in the past would have gotten a pat-down that wasn’t involved will notice that the [new] pat-down is more involved,” TSA spokesman Bruce Anderson said Friday. The shift from the previous, risk-based assessment on which pat-down procedure an officer should apply was phased in over the past two weeks after tests at smaller airports, he said.

The TSA screens about 2 million people daily at U.S. airports. The agency doesn’t track how many passengers are subject to pat-down searches after they pass through an imaging scanner. People who decline to use this screening technology are automatically subject to physical searches. While passengers may find the process more intrusive, the new screening procedure isn’t expected to increase overall airport security delays. However, “for the person who gets the pat down, it will slow them down,” Anderson said.

The change is partly a result of the agency’s study of a 2015 report that criticized aspects of TSA screening procedures. That audit, by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General, drew headlines because airport officers had failed to detect handguns and other weapons. An additional change prompted by the report was the TSA’s decision to end its “managed inclusion” program, by which some everyday travelers were allowed to use PreCheck lanes to speed things up at peak times.

Physical screening has long been one of the traveling public’s strongest dislikes regarding airport security protocols. The TSA has all pat-downs conducted by an officer of the same sex as the traveler, and allows a passenger to request a private area for the screening, as well as to have a witness present. Likewise, the traveler can request that the pat-down occur in public view.

The new policy also applies to airline pilots and flight attendants, classified as “known crewmembers” who generally receive less scrutiny at checkpoints. The TSA conducts occasional random searches of these employees, and airlines this week inquired as to whether their employees would be subject to more frequent pat-downs. The number of random searches for airline crews isn’t changing and will remain a “very small percentage” of the total, Anderson said. But airport employees may face more random checks.

The random searches also vary by airport, depending on the screening program, Anderson said. “Sometimes it’s random, sometimes they’re consistent, based on the door you enter,” he said of the searches given workers with airport ID badges. “Sometimes, those measures call for a pat-down.”

In their notice, Denver airport officials said employees are subject to search at random locations: “If a pat down is required as part of the operation, badged employees will be required to comply with a TSA officer’s request to conduct a full body pat down.”

In December, a CNN political commentator, Angela Rye, posted an article online describing her “humiliation” during a TSA agent’s search. Rye wrote in graphic detail about the pat down of her genitals during a search at the Detroit Airport before a flight to New York.

TSA officials didn’t immediately address whether the new universal pat-down protocol will mandate touching of passenger genitals.

Michael Ramirez Politically INCORRECT Cartoon


waving flagMichael Ramirez – Wednesday, May 25, 2016

URL of the original posting site: http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/michaelramirez/

Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez

Picture1 true battle Picture1 In God We Trust freedom combo 2

Only 3 US Airports Screen Employees Daily Before Work


waving flagBy The Clarion Project Thu, April 7, 2016

URL of the original posting site: https://www.clarionproject.org/news/only-3-us-airports-screen-employees-daily-work

Airport security (Illustrative photo: Video Screenshot)

Airport security (Illustrative photo: Video Screenshot)

At Senate Commerce Committee session, lawmakers heard that only three airports in the United States require their employees to undergo a security check before they begin their work day.

“Atlanta, Miami, Orlando. What about the other 297 airports nationwide?” asked committee co-chair Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida).

TSA (Transportation Security Administration) head Robert Neffenger answered that while the TSA has “increased the inspection of employees five-fold in the last five months,” more needs to be done.Oh good

Neffenger said that all airports were asked to provide a report by the end of the month assessing their vulnerabilies.

A 2015 TSA committee concluded most airports could not afford daily employee screening. In addition, they said the full screening would not “appreciably increase the overall system-wide protection.”Picture1

“No single measure can provide broad-spectrum protection against risks or adversaries,” the committee concluded.  “Therefore, risk-based, multi-layered security offers the greatest ability to mitigate risks through the application of flexible and unpredictable measures to protect commercial aviation.”Militent Radical liberalism socialism

The report argued daily screening “is incapable of determining a person’s motivations, attitudes and capabilities to cause harm, among other limitations.”

The Senate committee also heard from Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who assured the Senators recent reports that 73 airport employees were suspected to have terrorist ties were misleading.

“It’s not that they’re suspected terrorists. It’s that they hadn’t been vetted through all available databases,” Johnson said. “We have since corrected that problem and the cases have been resolved.”Oh good

After filing a Freedom of Information Act request, CBS’ Washington bureau learned last month at which airports improperly-vetted staff worked. The airports included Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, Logan Airport in Boston and Orlando International, Orlando-Sanford and Memphis International.

Picture1 true battle Picture1 In God We Trust freedom combo 2

Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon


waving flagIslamic State Job Opportunities

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://conservativebyte.com/2015/06/islamic-state-job-opportunities

TSA-Terrorist-600-LI
culture of deceit and lies Islam is NOT muslim-obama freedom combo 2

GUNS, BOMBS and IEDs Allowed Through Security As TSA Fails 95% Of Tests


 

waving flagPosted By Steve Watson | InfoWars On June 1, 2015

Article printed from Infowars: http://www.infowars.com

URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/guns-bombs-and-ieds-allowed-through-security-as-tsa-fails-95-of-tests/

It has once again been proven that the TSA is pure security theatre, as an internal investigation found that in 95% of test runs, security screeners allowed weapons and mock explosives through, even after people carrying them had been through body screeners and been patted down.

The tests were conducted by Homeland Security Red Teams and the report released by the Homeland Security Inspector General. It states that in 67 out of 70 tests at airport checkpoints, TSA agents failed to detect dangerous weapons.  In one case a man strapped a fake bomb to his back, and set off an alarm, but still managed to get past security after a pat down.

The TSA issued a general statement saying that it employs a “robust security system that employs multiple layers of protection.”

However, behind the scenes, it seems senior officials are furious with the findings. “Upon learning the initial findings of the Office of Inspector General’s report, Secretary Johnson immediately directed TSA to implement a series of actions, several of which are now in place, to address the issues raised in the report,” the DHS said in a written statement to ABC News.

The TSA, via its website and blog routinely brags about weapons it manages to confiscate. It is clear from the latest tests, however, that the agency is woefully failing to efficiently keep airports and planes secure. The agency has previously failed so woefully during undercover tests, that the DHS classified the results for a decade.

According to one report, undercover TSA agents testing security at a Newark airport terminal on one day in 2006 found that TSA screeners failed to detect concealed bombs and guns 20 out of 22 times. A 2007 government audit leaked to USA Today revealed that undercover agents were successful slipping simulated explosives and bomb parts through Los Angeles’s LAX airport in 50 out of 70 attempts, and at Chicago’s O’Hare airport agents made 75 attempts and succeeded in getting through undetected 45 times.

In 2013, an undercover TSA inspector managed to get clearance to board a commercial flight at Newark Airport with an improvised explosive device stuffed in his pants. The inspector got past two security screenings, including a pat-down.

The TSA, instead of better training screeners, and investing in real security, has wasted billions in funding on frankly bizarre programs such as a failed ‘chat down’ program, where TSA screeners identify people they think look ‘suspicious’ and talk to them. While admitting that it has failed to apprehend one single terrorist, the TSA has launched a series of other ludicrous programs which seem to have little other purpose than treating innocent travelers like prisoners and humiliating the public.

One such program was to randomly test passengers’ drinks for explosives after they have already passed through security and purchased beverages inside the secure area of the airport.

While threatening to arrest passengers who make jokes about airport security, the federal agency also instituted a ludicrous “freeze” policy whereby travelers are ordered to stand in place like statues while TSA agents resolve some unexplained security threat.

And of course, everyone knows by now that whistle blowers and security experts have declared the TSA’s body scanners as woefully useless. Given that the manufacturers of the scanners are now in charge of TSA’s budget in Congress, however, it is likely that more tax dollars will be thrown at them, and the government will continue to pretend that airports are secure.

—————————————————————-

Steve Watson is a London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.


freedom combo 2

TERRORIST MEETING: Hilarious Skit Slams Muslim Terrorists and the TSA at the Same Time (VIDEO)


Posted on December 8, 2014

Watch how this skit slams and makes fun of both Muslim radicals and the TSA at the same time. While it’s hilarious, it is also scary to think how powerless the TSA could be against another terrorist attack.

vid02

Blog wishes

Tag Cloud