TSA Video

[UpperDeck]

As you imply, Kip....your opinion. Unfortunately, the "stupid game" is "played" on a daily basis by people a very few of whom I know and their intent is very serious and their "opinions" ---reasoned judgments---may or may not ultimately save lives.

I don't know any of the details about what they do but I know they take current intelligence and correlate it to various potential scenarios.

I think that what "we" see passing through security at the airport is a bare and inadequate reflection of the substantive efforts of many VERY capable and dedicated people to protect the public---and not just the "traveling public".

Even if I knew how to use some of those emoticons----I wouldn't.

[Super 80]

You need a higher level of security clearance to work for the US Postal Inspector than you do to be in TSA management. I seriously doubt the TSA is made privy to much actionable intelligence or could even be trusted with it.

[Mitch Cronin]

I was too young to remember "McCarthyism" [sp?] ....but it couldn't have been worse than this!

Paranoia has taken a firm hold and it's seeds are spreading.

...some folks suggest fostering fear is a deliberate tactic from the ruling classes, who profit from it all.... So far, I haven't heard any other explanation that could make all this madness make sense.

"Hell in a handbasket" might fit, if you believe in hell, ....but when you look at our entire history... of almost unspeakably horrid, terrifying bullshit, that's forever happening on this little speck of fly-**bleep** we call "Earth"... and look at where we are now... North Korea, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Isreal... etc... (and there's a hell of a lot of "etc"!)... it's sad to see how little we've "progressed".

[CanadaEH]

I seriously doubt the TSA is made privy to much actionable intelligence or could even be trusted with it.

All they need to know is colors.

[boestar]

Homeland security and the TSA were granted entirely too much power by the former US covernment. This power was given for no other reason than to promose fear to the citizens and remove that little bit more of their civil liberties. The US is becomming more and more like the countries they love to hate. they are being reduced to a dictatorship much like Iraq. Interesting to see the change taking place while so many are blind to it.

I may be some sort of conspiracy theorist but I do believe that there is a greater purpose to the recent issues facing the USA and very little of it is comming from the outside. What would have been considered treasonit actions by heads of state and government officials have been swept under the table to satisfy the corporations who really run the country now.

HS and TSA are only there to keep the public under control.

[Azure]

I may be some sort of conspiracy theorist but I do believe that there is a greater purpose to the recent issues facing the USA and very little of it is comming from the outside. What would have been considered treasonit actions by heads of state and government officials have been swept under the table to satisfy the corporations who really run the country now.

I always kind of wondered, after the Christmas day bomber, how come these scanners were manufactured/installed/people trained by February in many US airports? There had to be a plan in place to force this new equipment at the airports. Who owns the companies that make and distribute them? Who invested in said companies? Whatever happened to the Christmas day bomber? Where is he now? We assume he's in a prison somewhere, when's his trial date? You would think that should be headline news...no.

The one thing I've learned over the years on this site is that reporters don't really report news anymore, they write stories, stories to hook the reader. I'm assuming that this is also true with everything else a newspaper writes so....readers beware. You'll get some fact with a lot of BS for topping. Good Luck trying to figure it all out, many of us will say "Yes sir, no sir, three bags full."

[Gumbi]

The one thing I've learned over the years on this site is that reporters don't really report news anymore, they write stories, stories to hook the reader. I'm assuming that this is also true with everything else a newspaper writes so....readers beware. You'll get some fact with a lot of BS for topping. Good Luck trying to figure it all out, many of us will say "Yes sir, no sir, three bags full."

As aviation people, we all know how aviation stories/news are reported... Ask any doctor how well medical news are reported, and so on, and so forth.... food for thought!

[Super 80]

I think it is mostly just a bunch of crooked political hanger-ons profiting from a combination of bureaucratic overdrawn CYA and the American people's love for theatrical displays for force.

[Kip Powick]

I think it is mostly just a bunch of crooked political hanger-ons profiting from a combination of bureaucratic overdrawn CYA and the American people's love for theatrical displays for force.

OK...then for the survey, we'll put you down as "undecided".

[Kip Powick]

OKLAHOMA CITY - Airport security agents got a surprise on Tuesday when a woman in a wheelchair approached a checkpoint in Oklahoma City, took off her trench coat and was wearing only a black lace bra and panties.

Airport and security officials said that police were called over, questioned the woman, Tammy Banovac, and allowed her to proceed to security.

She was given an "enhanced" pat down because she was in a wheelchair. During screening of her carry-on and laptop an alarm for nitrates was triggered, the Transportation Safety Administration said in a statement Wednesday.

The TSA said she was not allowed to proceed to her Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix.

Authorities said nitrates could legitimately be present in medication, or if someone was hunting recently and there were traces of nitrates from the bullets.

A video of the underwear-clad Banovac, wearing a pearl necklace and holding a small white dog in her lap, was shot by a passerby and posted on YouTube.

Officials said they had no idea why Banovac acted the way she did, or if she was attempting to protest airport security.

TSA has come under attack in recent weeks for enhanced methods of patting down passengers, but Oklahoma City Airport spokeswoman Karen Carney said TSA acted appropriately.

"TSA did everything they should have done," said Carney.

Banovac returned to the airport Wednesday morning, again clad in her underwear, and cleared security without incident.

"Once she went through the checkpoint, she put slacks and a top on," Carney said.

Banovac could not be reached for comment.

[deicer]

[Seeker]

Hey Super 80! I watched Kip's youtube video and I think I found the Barbie doll you're looking for in the other thread!

[Specs]

"I don't know of one case where any form of technology caight a terrorist with a bomb"

Interesting comment from from a former EL Al security consultant on the CBC's the Passionate eye documentary - Detroit Plane Bomber.

The documentary is to be rebroadcast Sunday December 12 at 8 pm ET on CBC News Network

Promo video here

Detroit plane bomber

Pretty well done I thought - not sensationalized. Some detail stuff was left out for obvious reasons but the 'what might have happenned test explosion' using a mothballed 747 was pretty interesting.

[conehead]

Here's a e-mail making the rounds;

Mad Dog" Tracy Speaks Out......

Yep, the inmates ARE running the asylum!!!

Helloooooooo Is there ANYONE at TSA with a brain??????????

As the Chalk Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan, I witnessed the

> following:

>

> When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, we flew out of Baghram

> Air Field. We went through customs at BAF, full body scanners (no

> groping), had all of our bags searched, the whole nine yards.

> Our first stop was Shannon, Ireland to refuel. After that, we had to

> stop at Indianapolis, Indiana to drop off about 100 folks from the

> Indiana National Guard. That's where the stupid started.

>

> First, everyone was forced to get off the plane-even though the plane

> wasn't refueling again. All 330 people got off that plane, rather than

> let the 100 people from the ING get off. We were filed from the plane to

> a holding area. No vending machines, no means of escape. Only a

> male/female latrine.

>

> It's probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons.

> Everyone was carrying an M4 Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also

> carrying an M9 pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine guns. Of

> course, the weapons weren't loaded. And we had been cleared of all ammo

> well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN at customs.

>

> The TSA personnel at the airport seriously considered making us unload

> all of the baggage from the SECURE cargo hold to have it reinspected.

> Keep in mind, this cargo had been unpacked, inspected piece by piece by

> U.S. Customs officials, resealed and had bomb-sniffing dogs give it a

> one-hour run through. After two hours of sitting in this holding area,

> the TSA decided not to reinspect our Cargo-just to inspect us again:

> Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already been inspected,

> reinspected and kept in a SECURE holding area for 2 hours. Ok, whatever.

> So we lined up to go through security AGAIN.

>

> This is probably another good time to remind you all that all of us were

> carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us were also carrying

> pistols.

>

> So we're in line, going through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had

> his Gerber multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it

> gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets and has a

> pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers. TSA informs the Soldier that

> they're going to confiscate his nail clippers. The conversation went

> something like this:

>

> TSA Guy: You can't take those on the plane.

>

> Soldier: What? I've had them since we left country.

>

> TSA Guy: You're not suppose to have them.

>

> Soldier: Why?

>

> TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.

>

> Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this actually is a

> weapon. And I'm allowed to take it on.

>

> TSA Guy: Yeah but you can't use it to take over the plane. You don't

> have bullets.

>

> Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?

>

> TSA Guy: [awkward silence]

>

> Me: Dude, just give him your damn nail clippers so we can get the f***

> out of here. I'll buy you a new set.

>

> Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it through security]

> To top it off, the tsa demanded we all be swabbed for "explosive

> residue" detection. Everyone failed, [go figure, we just came home from

> a war zone], because we tested positive for "Gun Powder Residue". Who

> the F*** is hiring these people?

>

> This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233

> people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine

> guns-but nothing that could have been used as a weapon.

> Can someone please tell me What the F*** happened to OUR country while

> we were gone?

>

> Sgt. Mad Dog Tracy