The Transportation Security Administration’s embattled behavior detection program has not identified a single terrorist, but it has produced glossy bimonthly newsletters poking fun at the traveling public.
In these employee newsletters — six of which were obtained by The Intercept — behavior detection officers, who are supposed to help spot possible terrorists, sometimes make fun of inexperienced or nervous travelers, including one “sweet little old lady” who thought the bowl for metallic objects was a tip jar.
The Intercept also reported on the program’s flawed design that targets undocumented immigrants not potential terrorists.
The newsletter issues range from seven to nine pages and provide a forum for behavior detection officers to share stories about confiscated wine, showcase original poetry (an ode to Alaska, for example), and in one case, promote an officer’s dog-breeding business (the officer says her TSA training to spot deception helps her “read” potential dog buyers).
Some offices detail their goals for the year. “This year’s goal is to visit the Botanical Garden which is adjacent to the beautiful and newly re-modeled airport and learn more about the indigenous plants and species that share in improving our air quality!” reads one item.
Others highlight past memorable moments or achievements. One team, for example, wrote about a botched attempt to reheat a chicken sandwich in the airport’s break room microwave. (Someone forgot to remove the foil wrapper, and the sandwich became engulfed in flames, then exploded.)
Much of the newsletter space is devoted to very lengthy regional articles about the weather, with headlines like, “Surviving the Snow in Bangor, Maine!” “Beating the Summer Heat in Milwaulkee!” and “Yes it Snows in Arizona!”
The newsletters also offer insights into the background of some behavior detection officers, who are supposed to be able to spot potential terrorists just by looking at them. “How many of us can look back about 20 years at the Susan Smith case, specifically at that famous news conference where she insisted there had been a carjacking and her children were in the car?” wrote one officer. “I know I turned to my husband and said, ‘She’s lying.’ I knew nothing about BDOs at that time; I just knew that her behaviors contradicted her words.”
Prior to joining TSA, the behavior detection officer worked as a travel agent for Walt Disney Company.
Newly confirmed TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger faced tough questions from lawmakers earlier this week about the agency’s failure to spot weapons and explosives 96 percent of the time in recent tests. The congressional panel also raised questions about the behavior detection officer program. Neffenger said he needed to continue to look at the program before making decisions about its future.
In response to The Intercept’s questions about the content and purpose of the newsletters, TSA spokesperson Bruce Anderson said they were one of the myriad methods used by the agency to engage and encourage communication across its workforce.
“An engaged and informed workforce is critical to TSA’s mission while ensuring that we treat all passengers fairly and with dignity and integrity,” the spokesperson said via email. “Employees who feel part of a community and recognized are more engaged and better perform their security mission. ‘BDOs in Motion’ is a newsletter written by Behavior Detection Officers. As always, professionalism and integrity are at the core of who we are as homeland security professionals, and TSA strives to demonstrate this with every passenger at every airport around the country.”
TSA did not answer The Intercept’s questions regarding cost and time involved in producing the BDO newsletters.
BDO Newsletters
BDO Newsletter, August 1, 2014
BDO Newsletter, October 1, 2014
BDO Newsletter, December 1, 2014
BDO Newsletter, February 1, 2015
Fascinating thing about a selfish self centered fake greedy CULT-ure- No one thinks they have anything to do with how others feel…Nervous, angry, insecure, depressed etc.
Fun Thursday facts for you on Thors Day and a Hammer up humanity’s koola. Another educational tit bit- They never properly educated you about the definition of HUMAN….which is basically an upgraded slave race EL o him made. HU=snake/reptile MAN= ape. Behold….the man has become as one of us…to know what is good and what is evil.
Hopefully Congress will follow up with the new Administrator Neffenger’s comment that he will make some sort of judgment about the BDO program before making decisions about its future. The current BDO program needs to be ended, now. BDOs are famous within airports for being absolutely useless; at the airport where I worked, they became a personnel management problem because they were so bored, conflicts developed in their group. Ending the program will not be popular within the TSA because detection officers have a separate career track, and it will be a major headache to switch them to other functions due to the retraining that will be involved, but most TSA managers, if they could be frank about the subject, would endorse the idea, the sooner the better. It’s possible that there could be a place for a few, very highly trained and schooled behavior detection agents at some of our larger international airports.
I have an even better idea: Dismantle the whole stinkin’ agency! Besides being demonstrably inept (how is it even possible to have a 96% fail rate in detecting weapons and explosives?), the TSA has made the screening process an unnecessarily stressful, invasive and humiliating experience for millions of travelers. These goons are supposed to make everyone boarding a flight feel safe and secure, when in fact they make everyone feel like they’re under suspicion for a crime they didn’t commit. It’s a Kafkaesque nightmare, and an utter farce!
Oh, and let’s not forget the thievery which occurs on a regular basis. The uniformed government employees, whose job is to search for weapons and detain potential terrorists, have a bad habit of helping themselves to personal belongings:
http://www.rt.com/usa/tsa-stealing-from-travelers-358/
Given the TSA’s horrible record of ineptitude, misconduct, abuse of power, sexual assault and criminal behavior, scrapping the idiotic BDO program is like removing a polyp from a malignant tumor.
Correction: In the last paragraph I meant to say “sexual molestation,” not “sexual assault.” Big difference.
Honest question: why/how “big difference”?
I call what the TSA does sexual assault. But sexual molestation applies as well.
I ALWAYS get ‘randomly’ selected for ‘extra security measures’ which I know and you all know is a bunch of lies and BS. Obviously, I have been put on a list because it doesn’t matter where or when I am flying, I always get tagged for ‘extra security measures’. They do love to do the swab on hands and jeans thing with me and in my case, I know it’s not for DNA purposes like the nice older woman thought it was for in the above article! LOL! I’m sure it’s because of my political views, being a gay man and probably other issues that the TSA people have tagged me for, although I am the most harmless yet helpful person you’d want to meet. I am never bothered by the extra security measures, TSA dudes looking down my pants or shorts and feeling me up. It’s their job after all and they’re not going to find anything on me or in me or in my carry on pieces ( except what is supposed to be there! ) so I just cooperate and smile and BS with them. Most of them are really nice but you do run into a few who have “Power Tripitis” as I like to call it. They won’t and don’t talk to you. They just dig through your stuff, feel you up and send you on your way after they find nothing as usual.
I just flew out of Sky Harbour in PHX recently and boy, did they have a ball with me that time! There was about 26 or more people in front of me who all made it through Security just fine. Then comes me, with my one carry on bag and of course, I walk through the detector/X-ray thingy and it brays a loud alarm. The TSA lady standing right there gives me a weird look and says: Oh! You have been ‘randomly’ selected for blah, blah, blah. I’m so used to it by now but it did surprise me and it obviously surprised the TSA lady as she jumped about 8 feet in the air when the alarm went off. They said they only needed to check one of my bags. I only had one bag! LOL! I said go for it and another TSA guy comes over and escorts me to another area where he digs through my carry on with all my RX Meds in it and my wallet, ticket, phone etc. He found nothing suspicious I guess. They never do. I don’t think I am who they seem to think I am and they never find what they think they are going to find on my person or in my carry on. Guess I am just marked for life and on that list, so I always get to the airport early, get through Security, since I know I’ll be pulled for ‘Extra Security Measures’ and then go off on my merry way. It doesn’t tick me off like it used to. I merely find it amusing, very obvious and pretty silly when they think a gay man like me who grew up on a ranch in Montana is a ‘probable terrorist’ because I like to talk to other people and am always helping other passengers ( especially the elderly ) get where they need to, etc. plus I have a heavy black beard and moustache. I am American but my ancestry is French and Scottish for Pete’s Sake! I guess in this day and age that is considered dangerous and terrorist-like behaviour and my dark skin, beard and moustache must be a ‘trigger’ for them too.
Meanwhile, flights are being threatened not by terroristy toothpaste, exploding diapers, and boob-bombs, but by Americans who like to fly drones:
http://consumertraveler.com/columns/getting-there/drone-troubles-at-jfk-show-congress-and-the-faa-need-a-new-vision-of-americas-skies/
I know — station a TSA agent at every abode and grope them before they leave the house!
Interesting read, but I’m not a fan of the term “undocumented immigrant”. It’s too PC, and makes it sound like they are authorized to be in the U.S., but don’t have their paperwork due to some clerical error with immigration. Or they don’t have any paperwork whatsoever, which I’m sure there are a few cases of. The majority however have paperwork, they just don’t like what’s on it, and instead of trying to change it, simply choose to ignore it. Is illegal alien degrading? Possibly. But undocumented immigrant is a bit insulting to people actually trying to navigate the bureaucracy of immigration department.
Oh wow! I soooo want to wear homemade “Arab” clothes and wear a fake beard the next time I fly!
Halloween at the airports!
People could inundate TSA, ahem, “workers” with waked-out antics. Imagine six people in a row all “wringing their hands” or yawning. How about eye-ticks? That’d be fun! Coughing! Burping! Laughing! All that kind of stuff.
If many people did it it would be fantastic!
Of course, it would only work if many people did it, otherwise people would risk being “pulled aside and interror-gated” and missing your flight… But it would be so funny!
Jon Steward: love this idea.
Something kind of similar happened the other day: massive, three-hour delays, with thousands of people missing their flights, because the brilliant minds of the TSA insisted on hand-searching sorority souvenir books — Every Single One. You see, they “looked like explosives”!
Bad sorority girls! It’s all your fault! The TSA was just Doing Its Job™, to Protect Us From The Terrorists™!
http://roadwarriorvoices.com/2015/07/31/sororitys-souvenir-book-blamed-for-long-lines-massive-security-delay-at-houston-airport/
One of the redacted person with name is here … <a href="https://www.facebook.com/starswiftacres?fref=nf"BDO who turned misfortune into hobby … click to see
Who did all that redacting? The Intercept or an FOIA officer?
If it is the former, then some of it seems excessive, as it obviously goes beyond protecting individuals.
One of the redacted person with name is here … <a href="https://www.facebook.com/starswiftacres?fref=nf" BDO who turned misfortune into hobby … click to see .
Judicial Watch finally gets answers in TSA sexual assault lawsuit
http://tsanewsblog.com/15934/news/judicial-watch-finally-gets-answers-in-tsa-lawsuit/
But don’t forget — our esteemed interlocutor “Chico” here thinks this is all okay. After all, Anything For Safety!
Immature government employees given excessive power doesn’t make them either mature or intelligent.
Hey, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this kind of thing before…Oh yeah! I remember, I think it was like, junior high. Or was that elementary school? Hard to be sure, now.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Goddammit..I really needed a laugh. Thanks TSA. You really are laughable, notwithstanding moronic dolts.
We have been having pretty good success despite all the criticism of the program. The dangerous terrorists themselves are confused about the sort of voodoo we employ to detect them. They know through their grapevine that we are up to something, but it’s something so exotic that they cannot figure out what it is. In that respect, the program has prevented air-hijacks and we should be grateful that we are all safe today, except if you are traveling by Malaysian and Indonesian airlines flown by Jihadi pilots.
Hilarious. This alone is worth the price of admission.
What nonsense! Let’s translate what’s really being said here: The “dangerous terrorists” are TSA’s red teams who are testing the system, and the “voodoo we employ to detect them” is tip-offs from management higher ups about when they are coming and what to expect. Even so, TSA still fails the tests 67 of 70 times, the “pretty good success” is 5%, or the 3 times out of 70 we actually spotted something (thanks to the tip offs). The program has “prevented” simulated hijacks by the red teams in those three instances, and no other – because there is no threat, as TSA has admitted in its own documents.
If we are safe today, it is in spite of the efforts of the TSA, whose employees continue to molest, harass, and steal from passengers, while their management and leadership defends their misconduct and looks the other way. Rest assured that if anything bad ever happens, TSA will deny responsibility by claiming that they “followed procedure”, and any failures were due to public criticism or at worst, a few “bad apples”.
As for “Jihadi pilots”, don’t make me laugh! TSA is an equal opportunity employer, and does not discriminate against anyone in hiring due to religion. I’ve personally witnessed TSA employees at Dulles airport at prayer, on their prayer mats, facing Mecca, in fine Muslim tradition. Guess that’s better than the child molesting priest who was promoted to manager at Philadelphia, or the gun running and drug smuggling employees at other locations.
The success of the program is really when the red team is allowed through despite carrying weapons. The folks out there correctly identify members of the red team as “good” people despite the fact that they may be carrying concealed weapons. Instead of appreciating this great achievement I can see everyone is criticizing the TSA. The whole idea of the behavior detection is to sieve out the terrorists from regular folks. That’s why the number of hijacks have been practically reduced to zero in the last decade or so.
Leaking out how the red teams get through security is not good. This will embolden the terrorists. Also, there are things within the sanitized areas and in the plane itself that can be converted to weapons, broken glass bottles being one of them. Airlines should ban all glass bottles even if they are empty, and serve drinks only in plastic bottles in the economy class cabins.
Let’s get this straight – the red teams stumped the chumps screening them and their bags 95% of the time, but you say the BDO program was a success because it correctly identified red team personnel as “good” people? That’s not a “great achievement.” A blind man could have done as well!
TSA does not need BDO’s to sieve out “terrorist” from regular folks. That’s done when a passenger buys a ticket, and his name is checked against various databases. When he gets to the airport, TSA already knows he’s not a threat.
However, you are missing the real point. TSA can’t guarantee your checked bag won’t be pilfered and its contents stolen, either by its own employees or by others while TSA employees look the other way. A host of workers have far greater access to aircraft than do passengers, and they aren’t screened at all. This includes TSA employees.
If TSA can’t protect your bag from theft, how can they protect you from terrorism?
So your main worry is about the TSA employees themselves. You really don’t need to worry. The BDO’s are just there to confuse the terrorists, which may justifiably make you feel a bit insecure, but nevertheless they are a strong disincentive for terrorists planning hijacks and similar vandalism. No hijack has taken place in years now, so we can finally say the problem is solved?
Yes, I do worry about TSA employees themselves, and so should you. They are the weakest link in airport security, and a far greater threat to the safety and well being of travelers than any terrorist.
TSA employees continue to assault, molest and steal from passengers whose only crime has been to exercise their constitutional and statutory right to travel by air. TSA management continues to encourage and protect misconduct by screeners, even to the extent of withholding video evidence in court proceedings.
The BDO’s do not confuse anyone – we all recognize slackers and goof-offs when we see them. The idea that they “confuse” or discourage “terrorists planning hijacks and similar vandalism” is delusional. (ie, has no basis in fact or logic).
Sure, no hijack has taken place in years now, but so what? In the decade before 9/11, there was only one domestic hijack attempt, and that was by a disgruntled FedEx employee. Anyone who has been through what passes for security knows that TSA provides about as much protection to passengers today as a screen door on a submarine – and probably less.
So what good is TSA? Its employees take bribes, smuggle guns and drugs, run airport theft rings, rob convenience stores, abduct and rape women while in uniform, shoot up hotel rooms… shall I go on? It provides no protection either to passengers or their property, and in all too many instances, has abused and injured passengers, stolen, damaged or destroyed their property. Management is even worse. It turns a blind eye to misconduct, and even prosecutes the victims of its employees through the use of civil penalties.
But you are right, of course. I “really don’t need to worry.” TSA employees have qualified immunity, so they can do all these things, and more, without fear of prosecution or punishment. So no matter what happens, they are safe, even if we aren’t.
“The BDO’s are just there to confuse the terrorists, which may justifiably make you feel a bit insecure, but nevertheless they are a strong disincentive for terrorists planning hijacks and similar vandalism.”
Oh, yes, those brilliant, accomplished, 96%-failure-rate BDOs will put the fear of God into The Terrorists™! We are so lucky to have them! The world is finally safe for democracy!!
“The whole idea of the behavior detection is to sieve out the terrorists from regular folks. That’s why the number of hijacks have been practically reduced to zero in the last decade or so.”
As I already said, you’re hilarious. Keep those hits comin’!
“Also, there are things within the sanitized areas and in the plane itself that can be converted to weapons, broken glass bottles being one of them. Airlines should ban all glass bottles even if they are empty, and serve drinks only in plastic bottles in the economy class cabins.”
Yes, and they should amputate our hands, too, before we board. After all, you could strangle someone with them. Anything For Safety!
BTW, the TSA claimed they were “Red Teams”, but the people in charge of them said that was BS. They had no such name. Apparently, they were mainly a bunch of accountants, who set up the tests! :)
Al the Plumber, correct. Thank you for pointing this out. The TSA already has a dismal record with the Red Teams, but this latest DHS report identifying a 96% failure rate was conducted not by the Red Teams, but by ordinary, anonymous inspectors. So much for the voodoo officers’ powers of perception.
In the end, though, doesn’t matter; people like Chico and General Hercules and all the other TSA apologists out there will never be swayed by evidence. I’ve been at this long enough to know. They want the TSA’s hands down their pants. They want to be bullied and abused. It makes them “feel safe.”
All the “terrorists” need to do is act like conservative white people.
(Me thinks he’s been reading too many TSA Comicbooks — or watching too much CNN.)
“The dangerous terrorists themselves are confused about the sort of voodoo we employ to detect them.”
As W.C. Fields said, “If you can’t dazzle ’em with brilliance, baffle ’em with bulls*t”.
The TSA should translate that into pig Latin and embroider it on their blue shirts.
There are few federal departments, bureaus, or even directorates and sub-directorates without these idiotic newsletters. Some are for in-house distribution only, but most are for distribution to the public. Some are better than others, but they are all nothing but publicity/propaganda operations to enhance ‘brand’ awareness–yes, many of the people who write this garbage are products of the finest business schools around…
The president of the tee essay wrote a nice little jingle he would like his minions to sing along to as they lead the American people through the oven doors. It’s called Onward mu?? Soldiers.
Normalize police state routines, normalize police state compliance.
You don’t need a German Shepherd sniffing passengers and their luggage or proper State issued identification or invasive searches to remind us the Department of Homeland Security can make any demand of us whenever they choose for the sake of “national security.”
It’s not the Gestapo only because we haven’t built death camps and political prisons, but the authoritarian spirit endures, reminding us to go along to get along.
“It’s a dangerous world,” our authoritarians will remind us.
“That’s why we must insist upon your cooperation.”
This pathetic excuse for a newsletter builds teamwork and morale.
It reminds us our guards are people too.
But don’t forget this: If you shoot them, it’s an act of terror. If they shoot you it’s an all too human mistake.
Now let’s go back to despoiling our planet while we forget all this unpleasantness.
From the April Fools, 2014 newsletter under the story about celebrating Earth Day,
It may be they are taking this observation thing a bit too seriously – how many terrorists are you likely to spot by staring at an Earth Day event? But there is no doubt their powers of observation are extraordinarily keen. From ‘Always be Aware of your Surroundings’ in the same edition:
It’s a shame the LEOs don’t receive the same training.
“If everything is under surveillance, how is that you can have a democracy?” -Jacob Appelbaum
https://youtu.be/RH-PfuIz-Do
Give my Isreali security over these bufoons any day.
Israeli security is abusive, unless you’re the “right” type. This was addressed earlier in this discussion thread.
I am not an Arab, but my experience was that Israeli security are polite in a cold way. They don’t want to hurt your feelings unnecessarily, but they don’t really care about your feelings.
It just takes a long time to go through all of their questionings and searches.
Even Israeli security has problems with airport theft and pilfering of luggage on its planes – they’ve had to put hidden cameras in the cargo bays of their airplanes. Passengers are not the only ones with access to aircraft. There are a host of others, including mechanics, cleaners, caterers, tarmac crew, etc who have access to aircraft and whose screening is questionable at best.
The real problem is the same whoever is doing security – who watches the watchman?
Last year I went to Canada to visit an Uncle. I had not flown anywhere since 1997 so I was horrified so see what people have to do to get on an aircraft to fly today. It is truly disgraceful what TSA has done to all people. I won’t fly again. Although it won’t happen air travel should be boycotted.
Raymond, bingo! I have been advocating — and practicing — a boycott since 2010. But this country is nowhere near ready to do this en masse. More’s the pity. A few weeks, max, of people refusing to fly, and we’d bring the airlines to their knees. Then things would change. Money talks in this country.
And before people start screaming that the airlines have nothing to do with this, bullzh1t. They have everything to do with it. We’ve explained this at TSA News more than once:
http://tsanewsblog.com/5431/news/de-profundis-clamavi-or-why-we-can-talk-till-were-blue-in-the-face-but-until-we-put-our-money-where-our-mouth-is-we-wont-get-rid-of-the-tsa/
TSA does not provide security – according to former administrator Kip Hawley, they “manage risk”. In point of fact however, they don’t even do that.
What does the TSA really do? They demand your participation in their private peep show, or require you to submit to sexual molestation if you don’t. They video everything, for “review” later on. Seems to me they are nothing more than an open air brothel with paid sex workers, who supplement their salaries with whatever they can steal. TSO – theif/sex offender.
BTW TSA is listening to all these comments. Can you hear us, TSA?
When someone asks me why I don’t fly, I just say “It’s a long way to fall.” There is no reason for me to state that I find these men watching naked pictures of me to be offensive.
I completely agree the TSAs a lot of bs. But ppls argument is what would we do otherwise? I’m posing this as a question, what would be a better process?
Seth, I, for one, already answered this earlier in the thread.
Let all the passengers carry guns. Then when the terrorists pulled out their box cutters, they’d be in for a nasty surprise.
Lol of course however, we know how that could backfire. Why not have an anonymous armed security officer on the plane? It might make people feel safer without invading any personal liberties.
There are already armed security officers on many flights: Federal Air Marshals.
A single armed marshall could be overpowered by a group of terrorists. If everyone had guns, the only viable strategy for the terrorists would be to buy all the seats on the target flight. But crashing a plane filled with nothing but terrorists would sort of defeat the purpose.
The framers of the Constitution anticipated this problem and even provided a solution, if people would only have the courage to implement it. How do you think they prevented stagecoaches from being hijacked? They didn’t do it by groping everyone who got on board.
All the terrorists on the same plane — LOL, remember https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traitor_%28film%29 ? I don’t think it would ever really have worked, but it sure made a funny ending on film!
The newsletters available are highly redacted. What are the alleged BDO’s afraid of that they won’t allow their names or faces to be shown?
I quit flying 12 years ago because of the TSA and am headed off on vacation in a couple of weeks via train and bus.
Busses are just as safe as flying, a bit slower but a bit cheaper. I can charge my devices and use them as I please as well.
Another exhibit of the banality of evil.
The word “evil” in a phrase from Arendt’s book about Nazi holocaust bureaucrat Eichmann is way over the top, isn’t it?
These TSA people at airport checkpoints are not evil. They are not NSA spooks illegally listening to your phone calls and reading your emails. The TSA checkpoint people are earnestly trying to prevent nuts and really “evil” people from bringing bombs, guns, chemicals, and combat knives onto planes in a place where you have consented to a search.
Every airport in the world I have been in has the same regime of searches. It is necessary.
Aside from nutball right-wingers and people who want ethnically-based screening to exempt their whiteness, a lot of attacks against the TSA are just upper-class sneering at working people.
For any TSA people reading this: a lot of people recognize you have a tough job and appreciate what you do.
“The TSA checkpoint people are earnestly trying to prevent nuts and really ‘evil’ people from bringing bombs, guns, chemicals, and combat knives onto planes in a place where you have consented to a search.”
Really? Is that why they stick their hands down our pants and grope our genitalia? Have we consented to that?
As for your “every airport in the world” baloney, no, wrong. Beginning last year, however, many airports in the world started adopting the same criminal practices of the TSA, because the U.S. is calling the shots. We’ve written about this at TSA News repeatedly. There used to be no scanners at UK airports, for instance, and no groping. The scanners have been proven to be pieces of junk — the UK won’t even use them in prisons because they’re so worthless at detecting contraband — but now that the US has thrown its weight around, scanners are in place in UK airports. And TSA-style groping is the new norm.
Finally, your characterization of “nutball right-wingers” betrays your ignorane. I’m far left. Not that it matters — civil liberties are for all of us. I’ve been fighting the abuses of the National Security State for years. I run a civil liberties watchdog site called TSA News, where we track this out-of-control agency and its violations of people just trying to get from Point A to Point B.
I get emails almost every day from people who’ve been bullied, harassed, robbed, and physically assaulted — including sexually assaulted — by the TSA. The fact that you haven’t been violated yet just means you’re lucky. Can’t wait till your number is up, you and people like you. One of these days, you or your loved ones will get the grope of a lifetime, or have your computer smashed, or stolen, or be forced to miss your flight. Poetic justice.
I’ve been flying to and from Europe since the 1970s, and to the Middle East and Asia since the 1990s. Security procedures there have always closely paralleled or exceeded those in the USA. They were stricter in the UK than the USA in the past because of the IRA, etc. If you remember, there were a few hijacking incidents in Europe in the 1970s and 80s involving Palestinians and communist groups like the Rote Armee Fraktion.
Compared to most places in the world, the TSA is not bad at all. In all places, you have to go through the metal detectors / scanners / bag x-ray or search once, like with the TSA. In quite a few places, you have to go through it twice. In some places, you can’t enter the terminal unless you show proof of ticketing and then go through search one – metal detector, frisk and bag x-ray. Then you check in your bags and go through search two entering the duty-free / gate area. In some places there is a search three at the gate – metal detector, frisk and bag x-ray/ search.
Fanatics really do try to bring bombs and guns on planes. None of those who criticize the TSA ever propose a better, less-intrusive solution. The Israeli method is ten times as time-consuming and intrusive – you really do have to get to Tel Aviv airport four hours early, because the security questionning alone, by a series of questioners, takes two hours.
As I said, it’s not only right-wingers who complain. A lot of the complaints are just privileged upper-middle to upper-class types who resent the fact that members of the working class can touch them and search their bags. I take this article as a sneer on the “lower orders.”
I come from a blue-collar family. So I don’t think I need a lesson on class consciousness.
I, too, have been all over the world. And again, until the U.S. started calling the shots, in its determined hysteria and paranoia after 9/11, people weren’t sticking their hands down our pants in other airports.
I’ll ask the same questions I’ve asked hundreds of times, all over the blabbosphere, of TSA supporters: in all the years before the Reign of Molestation was implemented, meaning in all the years before October 2010, the date when the scanners and gropes were officially implemented nationwide, did you fly? Why? How did you feel safe? Weren’t there just as many Big Scary Terrorists hiding around every corner as there are now? How is it possible that planes weren’t being blown out of the sky left and right?
I have yet to get an answer. Perhaps you’ll have one.
As for Israeli security, it’s also abusive. Unless you’re the “right” type. Then you’ll be quickly ushered through. If you’re the “wrong” type, watch out: you’ll be harassed, detained, even roughed up, even deported. And if you’re a peace activist, forget it. You’ll be cavity-searched in a back room. Just ask Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein who’s written publicly about her experience.
If people are so afraid of knives, razors, shampoo, and knitting needles, then they’re the ones who should stop flying. How do they walk through a Home Depot or CVS? All those potential weapons! The risk of a terrorist attack in this country is vanishingly small. You’re more likely to be killed on the road leading to the airport. 30,000 traffic fatalities in this country every year. How many 9/11s is that? Have you stopped driving?
What kind of security do we want? Rational. The same security we had in all the years before the Reign of Molestation was implemented — walk-through metal detectors; rare, occasional wanding; no scanners; no criminal-touching patdowns. Again, everything that existed in all the years after 9/11 and planes still weren’t dropping out of the sky.
Metal detectors and “wanding” only detect metals. You know it’s possible to make a bomb without metal and that Al Qaeda actually adjusted its tactics to do that, don’t you? The “Shoe bomber,” the “Underwear bomber?” Ceramic bladed weapons?
It’s all well and good to say that there are 30,000 traffic fatalities every year, why can’t we take 1000 or so air casualties? But that’s not how it works. Air crews have to fly every day, and one airline bombing has a massive cascade effect on the economy.
I agree that a lot of incidents sound ridiculous, in isolation, but allowing discretion also allows ethnic and racial prejudice to creep into the searchs. White woman gets to keep pocket knife or bottle of gin, Indian guy does not.
Just take the scanner, nobody’s really interested in a shadowy image of your body in an age of unlimited online porn.
You apparently don’t know that just because you acquiesce to the scanner doesn’t mean you won’t also be pulled aside for a grope, as millions of people can attest. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.
Perhaps you also don’t know that the scanners have a (well-publicized) 54% false-positive rate. But yeah, let’s spend hundreds of millions of dollars on crap that doesn’t work but makes the security industry rich. We’ve already junked the Rapiscan backscatter scanners, more hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in a warehouse. What’s a few more.
But nice try with the straw man argument about porn. Also with the one about racial & ethnic profiling, none of which I support.
Uh, and yeah, I know it’s possible to make weapons without metal. Given the 54% false-positive rate, the scanners aren’t going to help you. As for Richard Reid and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, both were seriously mentally disturbed men who never had a chance in hell of blowing up anything. And Abdulmutallab was escorted onto that flight without documents, as you also surely know because it, too, has been well publicized.
You still haven’t answered: in all the years before the scoping and groping, did you fly? Why? How did you feel safe? If the scanners and gropes are so necessary to protect us from a terrorist hiding around every corner, why weren’t planes dropping out of the sky left and right?
So all they need is a well-disciplined, trained and coherent person with proper documents willing to get on an airplane and die for the cause (with a non-metallic explosive device), right? That has never happened in the past, has it? All of the 9/11 hijackers were crazy losers but just got exceptionally lucky? And there’s no possibility that such disciplined and committed people can be found in the world now, amongst those now attracted by ISIS or other extreme movements? Get real.
The years before these searches were different years – I remember the years of no searches. Unfortunately, the world has changed – multiple hijackings first, then Air India 182, PanAm 103, 9/11, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (whose bomb just malfunctioned) with high explosives loaded into his underwear, large terrorist movements obsessed with airlines, etc.
I never posited “no searches.” And you still aren’t answering my question. Same with every other TSA apologist to whom I’ve posed it at hundreds of places in the blabbosphere.
Again, I didn’t ask you about the years before 9/11. I asked you about the years between 9/11 and October 30, 2010, when the Reign of Molestation was implemented. In all those years, when we weren’t being scoped & groped, did you fly? Why? How did you feel safe? How is it that planes weren’t being blown out of the sky left and right?
Scanners and body searches were implemented to counteract the known shift in Al Qaeda tactics shown by Reid and Abdulmutallab. We must assume that AQ / ISIS will continue to refine tactics, test bombs, improve reliability.
Did I feel 100% safe before scanners and body searches? No, because I have a military background and knew about the possibility of non-metallic bombs. It did not surprise me when Reid’s attempt happened. I still don’t feel 100% safe.
Eventually, some TSA worker will be inattentive, not look at the body scanner screen, be timid in running his hands up to the crotch, not examine the x-ray of that laptop closely, and a plane will blow up. People like you will be in glee, I will just see it as an inevitable failure in a human system.
Folks, remember to thank your TSA people at the checkpoint: they have a hard stressful job and endure abuse from an unappreciative public.
Scanners were implemented because L-3, Smiths, American Science & Engineering, etc. are making billions of dollars by selling them to a credulous public who believe in the childish notion of “100% safe.” As if there is such a thing in life.
Of course, there’s no possible connection with Michael Chertoff’s having headed DHS and then immediately after representing the interests of Rapiscan, and the fact that Abdulmutallab was personally escorted onto that plane, tried to light his pants on fire, and voilà, scanners everywhere. No, no connection at all.
But as you say, you did fly in the 9 years between September 11, 2001 and October 30, 2010, while millions of people weren’t being scanned and groped, and yet, miraculously, planes weren’t being blown out of the sky.
And yeah, terrorists are too stupid to figure out that they don’t have to get on a plane to set off a bomb; any venue will do. Ya know, like at Domodedovo. Hundreds of people packed together in security lines, and boom. Nah, they can’t figure that out.
And never mind the fact that multiple GAO and DHS reports have found the TSA’s failure rate to be abysmal, worse than abysmal — a 95% failure rate — which reports have been well publicized. Meh, just more pesky facts.
We still need the TSA to stick its hands down our pants. Why not cavity searches, mon ami? After all, Anything For Safety!
And yes, poor things, it’s such a “hard stressful job,” confiscating shampoo, toothpaste, peanut butter, cupcakes, iPads, purses, paperweights, belts, perfume bottles, children’s toys, breast milk, and other terroristy stuff. And groping breasts and testicles, and threatening people, and calling the cops on them, and forcing them to miss their flights. Ah, yes, all highly stressful.
But keep blathering on about how great they are. Whatever delusion makes you happy.
Lisa, you’re not a serious person. You’re just another person in America yelling “Look at me!! Look at me!!”
Yes, Chico, whatever you say. You know best!
You have no proposed solution to the problem of non-metallic bombs, poisonous reactive chemicals, or ceramic knives. These are real things.
“You have no proposed solution to the problem of non-metallic bombs, poisonous reactive chemicals, or ceramic knives. These are real things.”
Wrong. Already have. Already addressed this.
You want 100% Safety Everywhere At All Times In Life. Sorry, buddy, it doesn’t exist. All the more reason why you should never walk into a movie theater or offic, since they get shot up by American lunatics so often, or a Home Depot, since all those big scary knives and “poisonous reactive chemicals” line the shelves, or drive a car, since over 30,000 traffic fatalities occur in this country every year.
In fact, you should stay home. Oops, wait a minute, maybe not — more people are killed in this country by household appliances than by terrorists. Another pesky fact.
Oh, your solution is “little to no security, only metal detector searches.” O-tay.
As many of us here have already said, repeatedly, and which you keep ignoring: Domodedovo already happened. Madrid already happened. London already happened. Terrorists™ don’t have to wait to get on a plane.
And again, why not cavity searches?
“Eventually, some TSA worker will be inattentive, not look at the body scanner screen, be timid in running his hands up to the crotch, not examine the x-ray of that laptop closely, and a plane will blow up. People like you will be in glee, I will just see it as an inevitable failure in a human system.”
Total BS.
First and foremost, the only individuals with anything to gain from a plane blowing up are the TSA and those trying to sell them something. For the TSA, it will mean more funding and more power. For manufacturers, it will be a bonanza. They’ll cry all the way to the bank!
Second, lets remember the US started and funded AQ and ISIS – are they really the enemy or merely sock puppets?
Finally, its utter nonsense that airport security depends on running hands up everyone’s crotch. That’s nothing more than a pervert’s wet dream.
Real airport security isn’t rocket science. It depends on people. If you have good people you will have good security, if you have bad people you will have no security.
Stressful job? It is the passenger going through security who experiences stress. Thanking the TSA for their abuse is like a rape victim thanking her assailant – and this is no exaggeration, as countless flyers will tell you. A common theme of Passengers of all ages has been – “I felt violated, as if I was raped.”
“So all they need is a well-disciplined, trained and coherent person with proper documents willing to get on an airplane and die for the cause (with a non-metallic explosive device), right?”
Wrong.
All they need is a co-operative TSA guy to look the other way or bring a bomb through security himself in his backpack or duffle.( I understand the going rate is about $ 500.00.) Neither he nor his bag are screened.
TSA and its apologists are so focused on suicide bombers that they overlook the obvious. Why kill yourself trying to sneak a bomb on board a plane as a passenger, when there are so many others who have access to the plane that don’t go through security at all? These include cleaners, baggage handlers, mechanics, tarmac workers, caterers, fuelers, technicians, etc, and of course the TSA. The shoe bomber and underwear bomber were caught (no thanks to the TSA) but Pan Am 103 was brought down by a bomb placed in its cargo hold. TSA guys have been caught smuggling drugs and guns, pilfering luggage, damaging planes and helping others bypass security. Of course we don’t screen the TSA employees or their bags, and we don’t discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion – Muslims are welcome.
So let’s get real, by all means. TSA, not the passenger, is the weakest link and greatest threat to aircraft security. Did you know TSA doesn’t trust their own employees to handle security at their HQ? They really on private, licensed and bonded, security guards and metal detectors. Tells you something.
udog: Again, you’re talking logic, and Chico doesn’t want to hear logic. He wants to “feel” safe. He wants the feeling of security, not the reality of it. I’m surprised he isn’t advocating cavity searches.
Many thanks for your kind words. Keep up the good work!
More nonsense. Metal detectors do more than detect metals, anything that conducts electricity can be detected. Body scanners produce images, and are only as good as the software or observer. Those non-metalic explosives can be shaped so that they are not detected, as TSA red teams have shown. The underwear bomber never went through security, our guys escorted him past security, and forced the airline to let him fly – great job guys!
The scanner does not make us safe – unless you count a false sense of security.
“Metal detectors and “wanding” only detect metals. You know it’s possible to make a bomb without metal and that Al Qaeda actually adjusted its tactics to do that, don’t you? The “Shoe bomber,” the “Underwear bomber?” Ceramic bladed weapons?”
Oh dear. The scanners do not detect a substance or object that is secreted in the folds of a person’s belly (i.e. an overweight person). Nor do they detect something–say, a plastic explosive–that has been inserted into a body cavity. By your logic, Chico, the infinitesimally small chance that a terrorist might smuggle a non-metal weapon on board means…cavity searches for all! And overweight passengers must remove their clothes for additional belly-searches after that.
In other words, if, by your logic, walk-through detectors are worthless therefore naked scanners are needed; well then, scanners, too, are worthless (which they are, as engineer Jon Corbett demonstrated by carrying a metal object on the side of his body in a side-pocket he’d sewn on, see YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEoc_1ZkfA ), therefore *cavity searches* are needed.
Bend over, flying public!
Of course, we should probably think this through, even further along these lines, because goodness knows the Terrorists Around Every Corner are busy thinking up new and ingenious ways to harm *us*. Meaning, once cavity searches are implemented, they’ll have to abandon any plans to blow their own bottoms to smithereens (and our planes along with them), and come up with yet more devious ways to mess with America. And when they do, rest assured, TSA will surely be there, standing astride the path of the would-be-jihadists, ready to perform exploratory abdominal surgery and even breast-implant-removals at the checkpoint.
Too, I’m led to understand a recent passenger comment to the effect of having a migraine that felt like her “head was exploding” has led to the latest training program wherein select members of the Great Blue Wonder will learn basic brain surgery, specifically craniotomies, to check for Semtex and C4 secreted within the subarachnoid space. It is said the training will take some 12 years and that 100% of the trainees are likely to fail, most of them at the point of the entrance exam, but hey, if any *do* make it to the first year, taxpayers will pick up all the costs, so no biggie.
ANYTHING to keep us safe (and spend our money with defense contractors while stepping up the Security State). Anything.
More nonsense, especially the part about “privileged upper class types” who bypass security in their private jets!
TSA is not bad at all? That too, is nonsense. TSA has acquired a reputation both at home and abroad for abuse and corruption – so much so that international travelers are avoiding the US!
Are there better solutions? Of course, and they don’t cost anywhere near as much. But the question is unfair, because TSA does not provide any security at all, and we’d be safer if they just stayed home.
Here you go, “Chico”:
Check out FightGangStalking dot com. It’s Cointelpro2, brought to you by the same sort of folks who created BDOs.
Wow. Thanks for that “gang-stalking” site. I’ve bookmarked it. I had never heard the term before, though I have written often about Solomon Asch, Stanley Milgram, and Philip Zimbardo. Here’s an early post from our civil liberties watchdog site TSA News:
http://tsanewsblog.com/214/news/history-repeats-itself-with-tsas-strip-search-tactics/
Lisa,
The term is a loaded one, unfortunately and we’d be better off without it — it’s generally a phrase that’s associated with mental illness (and it may well be that some of those being targeted are ill, which only complicated the whole picture). The topic — better termed “Cointelpro stalking and harassment”, IMO, is mired in disinformation, as well. FGS is a good site, though. Please ignore the craziness that generally surrounds the topic and, rather, focus on the nuts and bolts: stalking, harassment, sneak and peek searches, thefts, vandalism, interference with employment, mail-tampering… And check out DemocracyNow’s segment on Jacob Appelbaum’s friend and the harassment that she/they’ve experienced, if/when you have time. Thanks for your response, and the link — I’ll take a look.
Evil can hide in plain sight, when people don’t count up the real cost of organizing society in a stupid way. The U.S. has 750,000,000 air passengers a year. If all this security nonsense adds half an hour of waiting to each trip on average, that is 375,000,000 hours = over 15,000,000 days = over 42,000 years = more than 500 lifetimes of people standing around waiting at an airport. Now taking away 500 lifetimes of quality of life from citizens might not be as bad as killing 500 of them, but it is some measurable fraction of as bad. So we have to ask – are we really losing a plane every year, hundreds of lives, or WOULD we be, that we need that much ‘security’? The TSA budget is $7.39 billion – that’s more than the CDC, which just absorbed another $350 million cut lately. Now tell me, when the avian flu gets out of control, when one out of every three people is dying because we didn’t have enough CDC people to trace contacts during the first 72 hours, are we going to be feeling fortunate that if somebody had tried to hijack a plane, the TSA might have stopped them? That is, IF they might have stopped them, which is no sure thing. So we’re looking at lifetimes thrown away, at *real* threats to our country going unopposed. So no, saying “evil” is not really an exaggeration after all.
If having to wait is a measure of evil, I guess the DMV, banks and supermarkets are really evil then.
Yes, let’s do away with any searches, even a half an hour is an evil imposition.
Is there anyone serious here?
“Yes, let’s do away with any searches, even a half an hour is an evil imposition.
Is there anyone serious here?”
You excel at straw man arguments. No one here has suggested doing away with searches.
Wnt above said a half-hour waiting for a search was an “evil” imposition.
“Yes, let’s do away with any searches, even a half an hour is an evil imposition.”
Good idea!
If TSA cannot guarantee that our checked bags, including locked firearm cases, over which they have custody and charge, will not be pilfered, either by TSA employees or by others while TSA employees look the other way, why bother?
This fact alone invalidates any claim that TSA provides security to travelers.
Wnt, you’re talking logic, and this isn’t about logic. This is about feelings. TSA apologists want to “feel” safe. It doesn’t matter whether they really are or not; they just want to feel like they are. You could tell them to stand on one foot and hop, or spin around reciting a mantra, or click their heels together three times, at the checkpoint, and they would do it, as long as a person in uniform told them to. Look — they already have:
http://tsanewsblog.com/6301/news/tsa-freeze-or-else/
As far as your excellent example of the risk of avian flu, again, you’re talking logic. And facts. For most of America, meh, facts schmacts.
It’s been a hard, bitter lesson for me to learn, but I now realize that millions of people like their fear and like to lick the authoritarian boot.
“TSA people at airport checkpoints are not evil.” Sorry, Chico, the evidence is pretty convincing otherwise. From top to bottom, TSA is a corrupt organization, and is so lost to shame it does not realize how evil it has become.
Starting from the top:
• TSA mandated the use of body scanners with known vulnerabilities instead of using metal detectors costing 100x less.
• It refused to let these scanners be independently tested for health risks,
• It refused to let its employees wear dosimeters,
• Its “enhanced pat down” was adopted to sexually abuse passengers who opt out of its scanners, and not for any legitimate security purpose.
• It has withheld video evidence of TSA wrongdoing in at least 5 court cases (that I know of)
• It is responsible for a “culture of indifference” that allows, encourages and protects employee theft and misconduct.
Passengers consent to a reasonable search under contract – but not participation in a private peep show or sexual assault. No lawful contract can require illegal activity, and TSA’s pat down procedures are unlawful sexual assault in all 50 states.
These abusive procedures are hardly necessary. TSA checks all passengers out thoroughly before they get to the airport – otherwise they would not get a boarding pass. Nor are the guns, knives, or chemicals (ie, cosmetics, breast milk, and bottled water) that TSA claims to be so concerned about – TSA has admitted as much. And who can blame a passenger for bringing his permitted weapon on board the plane? It would only be stolen if he checks it with his baggage.
Speaking of checked baggage, how is it TSA cannot guarantee that our checked bags, including locked firearm cases, which they have custody and charge over, will not be pilfered, either by TSA employees or by others while TSA employees look the other way? This fact alone invalidates any claim that TSA provides security to travelers.
For any TSA people reading this: You don’t have to do pat downs – you can and should refuse that duty as unlawful and a form of sexual harassment. Since you can refuse that duty, I’m going to assume that if you do touch me inappropriately, you are acting out of a lewd and lascivious intent.
Yes, indeedy.
http://www.mercurynews.com/music/ci_28561045/morrissey-i-was-sexually-assaulted-by-san-francisco
I wrote about this at TSA News this morning. We’ve been covering the abuses of the TSA since 2011:
http://tsanewsblog.com
Are you accusing Jana Winter of plagiarism?
What?? No, I’m not accusing her of plagiarism. I’m telling people we have a civil liberties watchdog site called TSA News that they might be interested in reading.
Furthermore, I was referring to the Morrissey story that “coram nobis” posted. You can see that my original reply was to him/her. These threads don’t seem to get nested clearly.
SFO is contract, CSA, Covenant Security Assoc. Look it up! They are not employees of DHS/TSA!
“SFO is contract, CSA, Covenant Security Assoc. Look it up! They are not employees of DHS/TSA!”
They still have to follow the procedures mandated by the TSA. That’s why private security is no panacea, as I keep telling people who tout it as such. Getting groped by a private sector goon is no better than getting groped by a public sector one.
The Mercury News article you linked to quotes a Rolling Stone article which has Mike England, a TSA spokesman, comforting us with these words:
“Upon review of closed circuit TV footage, TSA determined that the supervised officer followed standard operating procedures in the screening of this individual.”
So we now have official confirmation that sexual molestation is “standard operating procedure” for the TSA.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/morrissey-alleges-sexual-assault-at-san-francisco-airport-20150730#ixzz3hZNMsrQ3
TSA’s Role Model & Hero:
https://monstergirl.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/barney-fife.jpg
I haven’t flown since this thing has been in place and have no plans to ever do so until it isn’t.
“I haven’t flown since this thing has been in place and have no plans to ever do so until it isn’t.”
Same here. I stopped flying in/from this country in October 2010, when the Reign of Molestation was implemented. I’ve taken no end of shit for it from family and friends. Travel has always been a hugely important part of my life. If I think about it too much, I can’t contain my fury. Not only at the TSA, but at the millions of sheeplike Americans. (Luckily, I discovered the QM2; that’s now how I get to Europe. It’s actually affordable — sometimes even cheaper than flying — but you do need time.)
I haven’t flown since 1988. Even before the TSA, I found the airlines themselves too distasteful and oppressive.
It’s kinda sad how far the TSA has to go to try and make their minions feel even remotely useful and important. “Guys, you really ARE making a difference! You’re not useless robots being used as props to make travelers feel uncomfortable whilst not actually protecting anyone from anything! Really!”
…and the guns, many loaded and chambered, attempted to be carry on? “I forgot” as the excuse? Really?
“…and the guns, many loaded and chambered, attempted to be carry on? ‘I forgot’ as the excuse? Really?”
Guns are metal. They are, therefore, detected by, um, metal detectors. Same as in all the years before the scoping and groping.
At TSA News, we’ve been reporting on the idiocies of the BDO voodoo program for years: http://tsanewsblog.com
I feel safer already.