How the TSA Ruins Lives

How the TSA Ruins Lives


Have you missed a flight recently due to a long security line? I have. So have tens of thousands of others. It used to be that you could get to the airport an hour before your flight. That might still work. Or maybe not. Maybe security itself will take an hour or two. You never know.

We stand in line and watch in shock and awe. There are six security stations. Only one is open. The lines snake around the airport and even into the street. No one in charge seems to care.

You ask why the long lines. It’s a holiday. The TSA apparently forgot to put it on their calendar. So there aren’t enough employees. And they apparently lack the ability to call in more when necessary.

Right now, warnings are pouring out to be careful this summer. The lines could be one or two hours in waiting. Or maybe not, and then you will have time to shop and drink, to hunt for an outlet for your cellphone, or sleep in an uncomfortable chair. But you dare not take the risk. You will miss your flight. No one will reimburse you. Your sick mother, your daughter’s wedding, a crucial business trip, they will all just have to wait.

The TSA runs the show, holding hundreds of thousands of lives in the balance. Do they care? Maybe the individual employees feel bad about it. But management is in charge. And even they don’t determine policies. It’s the Department of Homeland Security that does that, under the authority of the US Congress. If you don’t like it, start a lobbying organization.

The trouble is that the TSA is not the private owner of anything. It has no stake in the profitability of the airlines. It gets funding either way. As for your convenience, forget it. One agent might be nice and fast, another might be mean and slow. It’s entirely up to the individual in question. There is no institutional reason to boost one temperament over another.

What about the labor miscalculations? I’ve been at airports where dozens of agents stand around doing nothing. There is no line. Security takes minutes. In other airports, understaffing is obvious and egregious. There is nothing anyone can do. It’s an island of socialism in a sea of markets, and socialism doesn’t work.

Ask any restaurant owner about staffing issues. They know they need extra servers and cooks on Friday night. You don’t bring in that same load on Monday because it would be a waste of resources. It’s a major challenge to anticipate consumer demand before it happens, but that’s the life of private enterprise. Making money is hard.

The TSA faces a completely different incentive structure. It’s all about compliance and rules, even when the stupidity is obvious. TSA employees know that it is idiotic to confiscate hair gel, wooden toy guns, and water bottles. Why am I taking my laptop out of my bag and leaving my iPad in? They know it makes no sense. It’s embarrassing. But there is nothing they can do.

As for security, The New York Times notes in passing that an “audit found that agents had failed to spot weapons and explosives in 95 percent of the undercover tests.”

TSA Chief Out After Agents Fail 95 Percent of Airport Breach Tests

TSA Chief Out After Agents Fail 95 Percent of Airport Breach Tests


The acting head of the Transportation Security Administration was reassigned Monday after an internal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security found security failures at dozens of the nation’s busiest airports. The breaches allowed undercover investigators to smuggle weapons, fake explosives and other contraband through numerous checkpoints.

Melvin Carraway, an 11-year veteran of the TSA who became acting administrator in January, was immediately reassigned to a DHS program coordinating with local law enforcement agencies, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said Monday night. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Pete Neffenger’s nomination to be permanent administrator is awaiting Senate confirmation.

Upon learning the initial findings of the Office of Inspector General’s report, Johnson immediately directed TSA to implement a series of other actions, several of which are now in place, agency officials said.

In one case, an alarm sounded, but even during a pat-down, the screening officer failed to detect a fake plastic explosive taped to an undercover agent’s back. In all, so-called “Red Teams” of Homeland Security agents posing as passengers were able get weapons past TSA agents in 67 out of 70 tests — a 95 percent failure rate, according to agency officials.

TSA detains, interrogates Ron Paul's family and aides

Paul’s family and aides attempted to depart for Texas when eight Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents refused to allow their passage. According to Lew Rockwell, Paul’s former chief of staff, agents first questioned the pilot’s credentials, then insisted the passengers and plane be searched for explosives. TSA agents did not cite any specific threat, but insinuated the Paul family was a threat to Mitt Romney, claiming the nominee “might be nearby.”

via megalextoria.com

Woman Convicted Of Battery For Pat Down Of TSA Worker

The Lee County woman voiced her complaint to a TSA supervisor and proceeded to physically demonstrate how she was groped. Video footage of the incident shows Price running her hands up the inside thigh of a TSA worker for a period of no more than two seconds.

Price’s actions were mild in comparison to what TSA agents routinely inflict on the traveling public – grope downs which include physically grabbing people’s genitals.

via megalextoria.com

Security should not take the form of physical assault by the TSA. I think that's the point this woman was trying to make.

TSA Agents at Louisville Airport Steal Deaf Man's Candy, Call Him "Fucking Deafie"

In front of me, still laughing at me (very clearly now). One of them asked why they were laughing, and one of them came up to me, pointed at my shirt, laughed at me and said, “Fucking deafie”.

via megalextoria.com

You can be sure we are all safe with such high quality people "protecting" us.

Confrontation With TSA Agent Leaves Grandpa's Ashes On Floor

“I was told later on that she had no right to even open it, that they could have used other devices, like an X-ray machine. So she opened it up. She used her finger and was sifting through it. And then sheaccidentally spilled it.”

Gross says about a quarter to a third of the contents spilled on the floor, leaving him frantically trying to gather up as much as he could while anxious passengers waited behind him.

“She didn’t apologize. She started laughing. I was on my hands and knees picking up bone fragments.

via megalextoria.com

TSA agents apparently don't even know their own rules. They just make me feel so safe...