TSA......again...in the news....for misconduct.....again.....

I ripped this off from ABC news via Yahoo.  As an airline employee I get a benefit of "free flying"  provided that there are empty seats where you have to go.  if the plane is full....guess what...you wait for the next plane and hope you get lucky.  I have flown a lot with Delta Airlines and our "flying benefits" are very generous compared to most airlines.  My family flys free, my Mom and Dad and my stepparents also fly for free.  Like I said, very generous allowances.  And when I fly, the gate agents and the air crews have been very good.   We at Delta know what days NOT to fly....around holidays...Monday, Friday and Sunday are difficult to fly for us.  Paying passengers get on first, and they are usually flying to and fro on those days so catching a flight is difficult.  People have said that the sky's are not so friendly as they used to be.  And from what I have seen, I tend to agree.  I believe that TSA has a lot to do with that.  After getting manhandled by the TSA trying to board, peoples temper gets short.  I have meet some very friendly and professional TSA people, they are a credit to their organization and a pleasure to deal with .  That being said, I have met some real pricks, those that what I call      " Badge Heavy".  They view their job and what authority they have as an excuse to hassle people...just for sport.  And most people will not complain...if they do, they get singled out  " for additional screening" and they miss their flight and the airlines will not refund their tickets because they were held up at security.  It is a no win for them...so they bide their time and grit their teeth, then when they get on the airplane, they are already pissed and lash out at either another passenger or at the aircrew.   I have been hassled by TSA and I dare not make a scene, for all they have to do is notify my employer and I am gone, history, outta here.  So I grit my teeth and deal with it.  My son has flown with me many times on the day trips that I take him on and so far he hasn't been hassled, that would be my Rubicon.   But I am not surprised that TSA has been busted again for misconduct.  When you work for the Feds, you have job security and it is difficult to fire a dirt-bag.  The civil service procedures are lengthy for a reason, to prevent employees from being disciplined for whistle-blowing or for not assisting in political patronage of certain groups...The IRS seems to be exempt from this belief however.  For this reason it is difficult to get rid of the dirt-bags.  In the meantime, they abuse the flying public.

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  TSA Workers Allegedly Stealing From Passengers and Sleeping on Duty2:34
• View PhotoMore outrage over the agency that …

Transportation Security Administration officers were cited for more than 9,600 cases of misconduct from 2010 to 2012, according to a new government report that shows agency employees often received light punishments for sneaking prohibited items past scanners or napping on the job.

The report, released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, found nearly 2,000 cases of screeners who were sleeping, not following procedures or allowing relatives to bypass security checkpoints. More than 3,000 screeners showed up late, not at all or left the job without permission, GAO reported.
In one instance of misconduct, a security officer left a checkpoint to help a relative check in and then came back with the family member's bag and allowed it to go around security. A TSA supervisor saw the misconduct and insisted the bag be screened, according to the report.
The bag contained "prohibited items" after it was finally screened. The report did not elaborate on the nature of the items in the bag. The screener was eventually suspended for seven days.
TSA Workers Allegedly Stealing From Passengers and Sleeping on Duty
The report also cited 56 cases of theft during the three-year span. In an undercover investigation by ABC News in 2012, 10 iPads were left at airport security checkpoints throughout the nation with a history of theft. Nine out of ten were returned, but one TSA officer, who was later fired, denied he stole an iPad when ABC News tracked the device to his home in Orlando.
But the report suggests the TSA is doing a poor job tracking the offenses and is not always handing out the punishment it should. The GAO's evaluation of TSA's 2012 data shows that 50 percent of the workers accused of sleeping on the job received less than the lowest penalty called for by TSA policies.
Forty-seven percent of the cases that GAO analyzed resulted in letters of reprimand, 31 percent resulted in suspensions of a definite duration and 17 percent resulted in the employee's removal from TSA.
"I get worried about this because in the history of air terrorism, employee security has been the one gap that has been the hardest gap to cover," aviation security expert Jeff Price.
The Top 20 Airports for TSA Theft
Following the report, the TSA released a statement saying, it holds their workers to "the highest ethical standards" and has "zero tolerance for misconduct."
"TSA concurs with GAO's four recommendations to ensure that the agency establishes a process to verify that TSA staff at airports are in compliance, and is already working to implement these recommendations," the agency added.
There are more than 56,000 screeners at the nation's airports, most doing their jobs, but the GAO's report points out the persistent and ongoing problem with those who are failing to comply with federal regulations.
Two subcommittees of the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing later today to examine how the TSA responds to reports of misbehavior and unethical conduct by its employees.
TSA Deputy Administrator John W. Halinski will represent the agency on Capitol Hill.

TSA approves private screeners in Orlanda

I work in the aviation field and I do fly as a perk of my employment, that being said, I believe the biggest reason for the people having problems with the airlines is the TSA, after getting prodded, xrayed and herded like cattle and felt belittled by the heavy handed tactics of the TSA, after getting stuff confiscated, or out right stolen, people board airplanes already in a surly mood so it doesn't take much for anything on the airplane to set people off.  Think about it...you can't lash out at the TSA, they can capriciously decide to not let you board just to prove who has the bigger dick,  so you take it out on the airline employee that works for a private company.  A private company that is responsible for customer service whereas with the TSA customer service is not a factor. they are by God a professional federalized union workforce that contributed money to the democrats so customer service....they will keep you form boarding the airplane....Customer service...?..Yeah right.
    I hope this is a trend that continues.....

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 06/18/2012

TSA tentatively okays private screeners in Orlando

By Joe Davidson

The Transportation Security Administration has given preliminary approval to a plan that would allow Orlando Sanford International Airport to use private security screeners.
Screeners employed by private companies are already used at 16 airports under the agency’s Screening Partnership Program. Republicans have pressed for greater use of private screeners and welcomed last week’s announcement.
“I hope this opens a new era of reform for TSA operations, not only at Orlando Sanford but across the nation,” said Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “It’s critical that TSA get out of the business of running a huge bureaucracy and human resources operation and refocus its attention on security, analyzing intelligence, and setting the highest risk-based security standards. TSA needs to focus on going after terrorists — not little old ladies, veterans and children.”
Democrats and the union representing TSA officers, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), have opposed privatization of the workforce that screens people and luggage at the nation’s airports.
In February, AFGE President John Gage told Congress: “The mission of corporations is to make profits from the shareholders and that is in direct conflict with the single focused mission of air travel security for Americans.”
At a House hearing earlier this month, TSA Administrator John Pistole rejected an assertion by Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the Homeland Security transportation subcommittee, that TSA “could reduce its ranks by 30 percent to 40 percent and still be able to do the job just as effectively.”
Said Pistole: “No, I don’t agree with that. That’s a huge number.”
TSA said the Orlando plan for private screeners will not become final until the agency approves “a proposal that does ‘not compromise security or detrimentally affect the cost-efficiency or the effectiveness of the screening of passengers or property at the airport.’  There will be no immediate change to operations or the federal workforce” at the airport.
federaldiary@washpost.com

Orlando AIrport to evict TSA Screeners

As an aviation person and a frequent flier getting hassled by the TSA seems to be part of the flying experience.  People don't like to fly because of the hassle and the bad attitudes inflicted on them by the average TSA screener makes their flying experience miserable.  My job depends on a happy flying public, when the planes are full, my company makes money and we get bonuses.  When people are miserable they tend to lash out, they can't lash out at the TSA..so they lash out at the airlines and their employees instead.  
       I hope this continues.  Make the TSA work to keep their operation by treating the flying public better.or they get replaced.

Major US Airport To Evict TSA Screeners

Orlando Sanford International could prompt stampede of other opt-outs
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Wednesday, March 14, 2012

One of America’s busiest airports, Orlando Sanford International, has announced it will opt out of using TSA workers to screen passengers, a move which threatens the highly unpopular federal agency’s role in other airports across the nation.

“The president of the airport said Tuesday that he would apply again to use private operators to screen passengers, using federal standards and oversight,” reports the Miami Herald.

With Sanford International having originally been prevented by the TSA from opting out back in November 2010 when the federal agency froze the ability for airports to use their own private screeners, a law passed by the Senate last month forces the TSA to reconsider applications.

Larry Dale hinted that the move was motivated by the innumerable horror stories passengers have told of their encounters with the TSA, noting that the change was designed to provide a more “customer friendly” operation.

The agency has been slow to reissue the guidelines on the the rule change, prompting Republican Representatives John Mica of Florida, Darrell Issa of California and Jason Chaffetz of Utah to press TSA head John Pistole to implement the mandate.

Appearing at Orlando Sanford International yesterday, Mica said he had written to 200 airports advising them of the opportunity to op out of using TSA screeners.

Orlando Sanford is in the top 30 busiest airports in the world, with large numbers of takeoffs and landings.

The TSA has been keen to downplay the opportunity for airports to dispense with their screeners, fearing a mass exodus that could undermine the justification for the agency’s continued existence, especially given the fact that its reputation has been repeatedly savaged by a number of scandals.

• 

The most recent controversy involved a viral You Tube video created by engineer Jon Corbett which demonstrated how the TSA’s body scanners were virtually useless because they are unable to detect objects carried on the side of the body carried in a pocket.

The TSA responded by threatening the media not to cover the issue while putting out a blog statement that completely failed to rebut the claims made by Corbett.

A November 2010 poll found that the TSA’s “enhanced pat downs,” some of which include touching genitalia, angered 57% of regular adult fliers.

West Yellowstone Airport in Montana has already replaced its TSA screeners with private security. Bert Mooney Airport, also in Montana, is attempting to do the same.

However, when Texas lawmakers attempted to pass a bill last year that would have outlawed invasive TSA pat downs, the feds threatened to implement a blockade that would have imposed a de facto “no fly zone” over the lone star state.

Kicking out the incompetent, criminally-inclined and abusive TSA across the nation will not only encourage millions of peeved Americans to start flying again, pumping much needed money into the travel industry, it will also create thousands of new private sector jobs.

RELATED: TSA Harasses and Gropes Quadruple Amputee

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.

Public service announcement.

Traveling with a firearm, I got this from Sipsey Street, the actual link is here

- Abstract -

Many of us attend cons and other events which involve the transportation of computers, photography equipment, or other expensive tech in our bags. If our destination if far-flung, often air travel is involved... this almost always means being separated from our luggage for extended periods of time and entrusting its care to a litany of individuals with questionable ethics and training.

After a particularly horrible episode of baggage pilferage and tool theft, I made the decision to never again fly with an unlocked bag. However, all "TSA compliant" locks tend to be rather awful and provide little to no real security. It was for this reason that I now choose to fly with firearms at all times. Federal law allows me (in fact, it REQUIRES me) to lock my luggage with proper padlocks and does not permit any airport staffer to open my bags once they have left my possession.

In this talk, I will summarize the relevant laws and policies concerning travel with firearms. It's easier than you think, often adds little to no extra time to your schedule (indeed, it can EXPEDITE the check-in process sometimes), and is in my opinion the best way to prevent tampering and theft of bags during air travel.

TSA will try Israili style screening.

I saw this on PJ media  I am sceptical about the politically correct TSA having the ability to pull this off.   I fly out of Atlanta (ATL) on a regular basis and I have see that the TSA here in Atlanta is basically a jobs program.  The Israili use profiling and a layered question and they investigate the background of all passengers on EL.AL the Israili national carrier. 

    

Boston’s TSA screeners — part of a security force whose competency has come under fire nationwide — soon will be carrying out sophisticated behavioral inspections under a first-in-the-nation program that’s already raising concerns of racial profiling, harassment of innocent travelers and longer lines.
The training for the Israeli-style screening — a projected $1 billion national program dubbed Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques — kicks off today at Logan International Airport and will be put to use in Terminal A on Aug. 15. It requires screeners to make quick reads of whether passengers pose a danger or a terror threat based on their reactions to a set of routine questions.
But security experts wonder whether Transportation Safety Administration agents are up to the challenge after an embarrassing string of blunders — including patting down a 95-year-old grandmother in Florida and making her remove her adult diaper and frisking a 3-year-old girl who screamed “stop touching me” at a checkpoint in Tennessee.

The “embarrassing string of blunders” came as a direct result of a misguided screening policy that relies on random sampling rather than threat detection. When security screeners are discouraged from using their judgment, use profiling to narrow threat detection, and are more concerned with appearances than results, then we get security theater rather than actual security. Taking a diaper off of a 95-year-old invalid didn’t make any flight one iota safer, but it made the TSA safer from criticism that they discriminate in security screenings.
However, the Herald quotes Glenn Reynolds as skeptical whether the TSA has the right people to use the Israeli approach on a large scale. I wrote about that issue when describing my own journey through Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv:

Israelis use a multi-tiered security system that relies more on psychology than technology.  Travelers arrive and immediately get queued, bags in hand, to interview lines with security agents.  They check passports and ask a few questions to test responses; if they don’t like the answers or if you fit a profile that indicates a higher risk, you get routed to a more intensive security assessment.  If you get cleared, you then take all your bags to an X-ray station, where a few more questions may or may not be asked.  Once cleared, you then take your bags to the airline ticket counter to check any bags needed — and since Israelis take a rather casual and aggressive attitude towards queuing, that can become quite an adventure.
You’re still not done by this point.  Travelers then have to go through another security check, this one more like the traditional US model with metal detectors and carry-on bag X-rays, but no groping or backscatter scanners.  Finally, travelers have to go through a formal passport review, which can mean another brief interview, and possibly another diversion if the answers indicate risk.  All told, it took me more than 90 minutes to get to my gate, although a good portion of that can be attributed to the ticket counter.
This process works well, mainly because Israelis are looking for actual security problems and not simply sampling for problems.  But the application in the US would be controversial on several points.  First, as noted, Israelis have no qualms about profiling as part of this process.  But perhaps more of an issue is the time and effort needed in this process.  The Israelis have just three international airports through which less than 10 million people pass a year; the US system is much larger, with much heavier traffic.  The 90-minute path to get to a gate would almost certainly be longer in the US (although perhaps not, if the ticket counters are more efficient), multiplied across hundreds of airports and the costs multiplied as well, and most airports in the US aren’t configured for that many people to be held up before the security checkpoints that are already installed.  Travelers here are already frustrated by delays getting to gates; unless we’re really living in fear, I doubt that the Israeli model would be tolerated here.

That process is people-intensive, and training-intensive.  It also requires more room than most American airports have, and probably more patience than most American travelers have.  I’d like to see us adopt a version of the Israeli approach that works, and kudos to TSA for finally trying something new