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Auditors Question TSA's Tech Spending, Security Solutions
Frosty P writes "Government auditors have faulted the TSA and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, for failing to properly test and evaluate technology before spending money on it. The TSA spent about $36 million on devices that puffed air on travelers to 'sniff' them out for explosives residue. All 207 of those machines ended up in warehouses, abandoned as unable to perform as advertised, deployed in many airports before the TSA had fully tested them. Since it was founded in 2001, the TSA has spent roughly $14 billion in more than 20,900 transactions with dozens of contractors, including $8 billion for the famous new body scanners that have recently come under scrutiny for being unable to perform the task for which they are advertised. 'TSA has an obsession of finding a single box that will solve all its problems. They've spent and wasted money looking for that one box, and there is no such solution,' said John Huey, an airport security expert."
Used to be cutting edge, now it's like where you go to catch up on old news that has already past...
Gee, TSA wasting tax payer money? Who'da thunk Chertoff's big money maker would be a big money waster for the rest of us "little people"?
Similar to the upcoming US election results
36 million on devices to puff air?
The TSA can blow me for free.
THL phish sticks
Seeing what happens when you point out holes in the TSA system it may better to just to let it slide. And any ways a of the tech is from pork barrel.
When they had their contest to find the best system to detect *, I suggested they ditch technology and go with human power. No computer yet can yet process all that we can in that mode of operation. You need to pay people some good money to actually want to do the job && keep it. Minimum wage or close to it means they don't care if they get fired, it's no big loss. Next, you have to have trained people, not people you put through a class and expect them to catch terrorists.
But don't tell any of that to the people spending money because if they don't spend money, they won't get money... and that's bad for their business and unpatriotic!
My abilities are only limited by my imagination
The TSA is simply a job creation program that has gone amok. At first it was extra baggage screeners, but it's now grown to the point that the only jobs they could think of involve fondling people. I think the idea is that if they get sued often enough, it will create lots of jobs for paralegals, expert witnesses and attorneys. The TSA likes machines because machines need operators, and each operator is one more job. In short the TSA is the biggest farce I've ever seen the government create, and it can't be closed down completely quickly enough.
-- $G
And this is what happens when you let magical thinking get spending power. Buy the magic box, and scare the monsters from the moon cult away. Seen any moon monsters lately? Magic box is working! Wait, scientist said magic box doesn't work? What does he know! Newspaper man proved magic box doesn't work? Nothing to worry about. My shaman/advisor says magic box doesn't work? Time to buy new magic box!
That's what happens when you choose to Federalize instead of professionalize.
Thank you, Tom Daschle, you ignorant bastard.
Oh, and the rest of your buddies, too.
They're just as stupid.
I'm wondering why no one is asking about using dogs for bomb sniffing.
I'm guessing that the reason the TSA isn't trying that is because dogs can be supplied by many "vendors". It's more difficult to patent a dog than a scanner.
The TSA has pulling this shit since at least 2008. Remember the CNN reporter who wound up on the no-fly list?
Oh yes, 14 billion, now lets look at ~ Can't bring up war, NO REFUSE! Agh no carrier?
I don't think it really matters that they have improperly spent all this money. So what?.. Is someone going to get in trouble for it over at TSA? Obviously not, they couldn't care less. The machines aren't about making you safer, it's about training you how to be a slave in this new globalized terrorist-filled society. If they cared about people's safety, they wouldn't let their workers walk right past security because they too, could be a terrorist.
Or they wouldn't be raiding the pilot's house that blew the whistle on this blatant hypocritical mission that the TSA is apparently on. http://www.news10.net/news/article.aspx?storyid=113529&provider=top&catid=188
These scanners are obviously making their way to shopping malls, schools, gov buildings, and just about anywhere else - so don't let them fool you and tell you it's for the brown men in turbans, feeling up your 14yr old daughter and your 75yr old grandmother has nothing to do with brown men in turbans plotting evil things in caves.
The magical number is: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
They work better than any other system, period. They don't have to irradiate you and they don't have to grope you. Admittedly Muslims and some other people consider them unclean, but they don't even have to touch what they're sniffing. The training takes time and money, it's true, but I have to wonder how many sniffer dogs could be trained for $14 billion...
I piss off bigots.
seriously, I've done counter-terrorism and I can tell you that all the tech solutions are literal wastes of money.
Even the tests of TSA screening show a trained terrorist can get all the items aboard 4 out of 5 times, with a more than 95 percent success rate on getting them into the cargo hold as well.
The only things that work - and have worked - are:
1. Dogs.
2. Pigs. Even better than dogs.
3. Throwing your coat or blanket on top of any hijacker and subduing them, yelling "Terrorist! We're all going to die - get them!"
Everything else is an utter and absolute waste of time and effort.
And a whole lot of cash.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Considering what happens to people who question this administration...
The last thing I want is airport security handed over to the lowest bidder whose only obligation is to maximize profits for his shareholders. Some things are WAY too important to be left to the free market, and looking out for public safety is at the top of the list. TSA employees may be one step above rent-a-cops, but at least they ARE one step above rent-a-cops.
I piss off bigots.
You should consider how much it costs the TSA for each terrorist they caught. Take that $14 billion, and divide it by the number of terrorists they've caught to date (0) since 9/11, and see how economical it has actually been. $14,000,000,000/0 = ?
Ummm, can someone do the math for me, my calculator doesn't have that enough digits.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Why? You can get a private pilot's license for less than $10k worth of training.
Who needs the TSA?
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
The thought of all that money well spent makes me feel safe.
"It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes." Douglas Adams
If the pilot is behind a locked door (that the knife cannot cut through), are we really concerned about knives?
And dogs should be able to detect firearms.
I'm very happy that Auditors are Questioning TSA's tech spending...
I mean, they're only a few months after slashdotters, the general public, and pretty much anyone except the idiots who made the devices.
does that include lessons on *landing* as well?
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Getting a pilot's license is not all that hard (almost every one of my co-workers has a VFR license and most of them own a single-engine ship.)
The hard part is getting and *keeping* an IFR ticket, where you have to put in so many flight hours that it's really tough to do if you're not a full-time commercial pilot. Let's not even talk about the costs of owning, leasing, or even just fueling and maintaining even a low-end private jet.
It's fantastically liberating to be able to fly your own plane, but it also tends to be quite limiting. Consider the range on your, let's say, Cessna 182, for the 7-8 hours max you'd want to be in the left seat. Also consider what happens when you're grounded or diverted by VFR.
Most private pilots still go via commercial carriers when they travel. Flying yourself from Los Angeles to Maine can be fun, but it's no less greuling (and often not much faster) than the equivalent road trip.
The "use it or lose it" factor of IFR currency (FAR 61.57) in reality pretty much requires you to fly continuously, and without IFR you're stuck with mainly recreational flying in a relatively limited geographical area, only in clear skies. It doesn't suck, but it is not in reality the substitute you hold it out to be, nor do the costs end at the price of school.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
My friend and I were on our way home from Iraq for mid-tour leave in ~2005. Being in our military uniforms we were granted some additional freedoms other passengers were not. While on board one of the flights my friend and I sat next to a very nice man in his mid 30's early 40's. During the flight we found out that he worked for the TSA. During our conversation we started talking about airport security and how I inadvertently carried a knife, straight razor and multi-tool through 4 security check points and multiple scanners (obviously not the ones like today, but still). At one point my friend jokingly said "So I guess the only thing you couldn't smuggle on-board is a chain saw!" to which the TSA worker replied "Only if it's running..."
Post Military duty I haven't gotten on a plane since. I know "airplanes are safer than traveling by car" but I can't stand that kind of gross incompetence. (Hence why I got out of the Military after 4 years).
The TSA will be audited again, but by another company. "We will audit until we pass, even if we have to go through all the auditing companies we can get our hands on", a spokesperson said.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I've got the stupid magic box they're searching for. It's called the ballot box and if any politician were to grow a spine and stand up to these goons I'd use it. The box that comes next in the series is far less peaceful.
Consider what happens when you multiply by the number of successful hijackings or bombings. Then multiply that by 20 Billion dollars to see the net impact on the economy.
If our planes explode, our economy implodes. I wish it wasn't that simple but it is. 2 Bombings in as many months would instantly bring our economy to a standstill.
$14,000,000,000 / 0 x 0 x $20,000,000 = Kiss My Ass
does that include lessons on *landing* as well?
Thats extra.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
The TSA reminds me more an more of a corporate office run top to bottom by a sociopath in middle management. From the funny, but not quiet provably illegal money handling, to the majority of resources being utilized to implement plans that seem more designed to empower and entertain some tin-pot tyrant than to actually do anything useful, to the selective enforcement of often ad hoc, inappropriately arbitrary, and often contradictory rules, to the massive, crushing retaliation against anyone that points out the 800 pound guerrilla or the elephant he rides on. It's like deja-vu, all over again.
Expect similar things for getting your pilot's license within 12 months.
A bloated bureaucratic behemoth that paid for iPods for cops and bullet proof vests for dogs? But didn't pay for extra employees for searches? Or keeping cops on the street?
The next thing you will be telling me is that there is a pattern of bribery and corruption between contractors and employees administering the contracts.
They need their budget slashed immediately.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Then you'll change your tune (to a higher pitch when it malfunctions).
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I'm just thankful that our leftist benefactor, George Soros makes plenty of money off of the TSA body scanners. If he wasn't a leftist, I'd feel like these were bad people ...
Even a Chihuahua or a Pomeranian can be trained to sniff drugs or explosives and who would be afraid of a Pom walking through the airport/train/bus station with his little Police/TSA vest on. Heck, every innocent person would be walking up to meet the cutest little security agent on the force and all you'd have to do would be watching for the guys avoiding him. Check him for allergies and he's likely clear as well.
MEL: "Just get us on the ground."
WASH: "Don't worry, that'll happen..."
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
According to the article:
"Since the introduction of metal detectors in the 1970s, technologies have been bought and cobbled together in a somewhat piecemeal approach," said Tom LaTourrette, a security expert at RAND Corp., a nonprofit research institute.
"No one has been able to provide a satisfactory answer to the question of how to best structure aviation security," he said.
According to most of us in the real world:
"But the TSA's done a darn fine job of showing us how NOT to."
Hey I used to post on /. It worked out badly. So many trolls, bait bandits, and PC folks.... but after 2+ years since my last post... here goes.
The technology solution alone has proven itself not up to the task. Ya gotta wonder if we gotta start looking at the basic policy questions and the solution space.
What/who are the targets? What/who are the threats? Pretty clear air transport is among the targets, and near the top. The US financial structure, and political and military are probably stacked up pretty high too.
Threats?. Seem like Islamic fundamentalists (radicals) pretty much, not too many idealist Tim Mcveigh's doin the suicide bomber thing, not even many militia quackpots, racists, or pseudo-religious northam zealots either (despite Bis Sis and staffs feelings to the contrary). Something seems to be unique to the radical Islamic culture and stuff about disregard for human life in the context of the warrior jihad espoused by the Islamic radicals. It's just not too credible to suggest any significant threat outside of radical Islam. Whatever we do, we may wanna focus on whatever kernels of truth there are to this.
TSA is clearly looking for a silver bullet of sorts, and they could care less how ineffective, unpopular, or potentially unconstitutional the solution might be.
Probably the solution is a combination of technology and unsophisticated stuff; suggestions:
1) Change in senior leadership.. someone more engaged in both the political, programmatic and day to day management of the implementation.
2) Political acknowledgment that in such a huge threat space, technology is not the sole solution, and that despite potentially politically such unpopular tactics, profiling might be more fruitful/effective than a sniffer or millimeter waves (naked scanner).
3) Some serious changes in the way TSA stands up, trains, staffs airports (and further the other facets of the transportation grid).
4) Better management of the TSA acquisition program in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as opposed to the good old boy system
My girlfriend and I sat down to figure out how we could fly to her dad's airport outside of Baltimore from the LA Basin in a Cessna 172SP. We were looking at 16-18 hours of flight time over two or three days, five or six stops, and a bill of about $2400 to $2700 for the rental -- each way. Even without the rental fees, it would be something in the neighborhood of $650-$730 in fuel each way. That assumes no diversions and reasonable weather the entire way. It would be an incredible trip and a lot of fun, but it would also be much more financially difficult.
Being a private pilot works when you can get a few friends to go in on a trip to someplace that can be pricey even commercially. Flying from the LA Basin into Sacramento, for example, the numbers and time just about even out. More popular places like San Francisco, Las Vegas, or even Phoenix are tougher to match, and most long-distance flights are just right out. Until one gets into higher-performance aircraft (175 knots or faster and 800NM range or more), long-distance travel just doesn't work economically, and often not even then. For example, the above trip in a Cessna 350 would be a two-hop flight requiring about 12 hours in flight, give or take, depending on the cruise speed. At the common rental rate of $350/hour, that would be $4200 each way.
I love to sit in the left seat, but for most serious trips, I turn it over to the professionals.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
I hope the truth results in action.
Once I can enter an airport without being molested and/or photographed nude, I might actually start flying once in a while again.
A lot of people think I am silly for valuing my sovereignty over my own body. I think they are silly for letting the government treat them like animals.
If the do-badders who have it in for the USA and the West have learned anything, it's how to force an empire to it's knees by making them blow all their money. The USA did it by brute force outspending the Soviet Union and now the do-badders will achieve the same to the USA by causing them to blow cash they don't have on totally non-constructive adventures like fighting in the middle east and pissing billions away on useless homeland security ventures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September
It never has been.
The solution that works prevents terrorists from even getting to the airport - Intelligence.
Unfortunately, intelligence is hard work, and requires LOTS of highly trained people to make it work well. Not the minimum wage security people manning the boxes.
Can someone finally get fired? How god damned hard is it to xerox Israels security system and be done with it? If Muslim terrorist want to crash a plane, it's certainly going to be one filled with Israelis. There are clearly not any Jews falling from the skys of the middle east so can we just assume they must be doing something right?
Its only the last half inch that hurts.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
tsa needs to have its budget cut by at least half.
The Powers That Be want you to be a bit scared when you're going through the airport, but they mainly want you to be scared of Terrorists, and mainly feel that the TSA are there to protect you and catch the terrorists, not feel directly threatened by the TSA. Big Brother Government is there to Protect You, and you're supposed to be obedient.
They do use some smaller dogs as sniffers, beagles and the like, that aren't scary dogs, but even then, you expect police sniffer dogs to be looking for drugs, and you expect that the police will lie about what the dog's telling them if they feel like singling you out.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I've got an IFR pilot rating and an RV-8 - which gets about 170 knots and a decent range, although it's pretty cramped (better than coach, though), and lacks de-icing capabilities, I regularly fly it around the central US, and for most flights it's faster than commercial (counting drive-to-airport, checking in, waiting, flying, retrieving baggage and leaving airport), and no 'freedom fondle' or worrying about breakage, theft or the TSA rule-of-the-week. As an example, from my home in west-central MN to a client site in Dallas is about a 20 hour drive (direct), about a 6 hour flight in my plane (with one pit stop), or about 7 hours commercially (3.5 hours to 'real' airport, 1 hour AT airport, about 3 hours in air). Fuel is a bit more than a typical coach fare, but less than two tickets if I bring a passenger (it's a 2-seater). I occasionally have to wait or divert for weather, but I get to do it on MY schedule, not the airlines. It isn't for everybody, but it's not as far fetched as many think. I've had the plane about 6 years and I've been (for business or recreation) all over - Fargo, Minneapolis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, DC, Orlando, Key West, Dallas, Phoenix, St Louis, Atlanta, and hundreds of smaller towns around the country.
On top of that, the plane is fully aerobatic and fun as hell.
The long lines are what they are bombing now, terrorists targeting airports right now are thinking that rolling up with a suitcase filled with explosives in the middle of a large crowd waiting for security:
a) Shuts down the whole airport.
b) Inflicts more causalities than randomly crashing an airliner
c) Will make security spend massive amounts of money countering
Let''s review, TSA has made us less safe by offering us up as a larger and slower target. It is like putting security at the watering hole to make sure no one is a crocodile while lions eat everyone else who is waiting in line.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
1) Make sure that cockpit doors are reinforced (this should already have been done)
2) Arm any pilot / co-pilot who wants to be armed and has training
3) Metal detectors, x-ray luggage & carry-ons
4) Hand every boarding passenger a baseball bat
[Insert pithy quote here]
Two important points: How much did the training cost, and how much did the plane cost? A perfect 35 hours for each of the PPL and IFR under Part 141 at $50 per hour for the instructor is $3500, and essentially nobody makes those numbers (70 hours is the national average for PPL and it's something like 60 hours for IFR). Factor in plane rental (or acquisition/fuel) and run it over the hours, and it takes a long time to make that back. If you own your plane, you need to take into account all the maintenance that goes into the plane, which can be considerable, especially when you factor in subscription features like are available in modern sets like the G1000.
I don't at all regret getting my PPL, and I look forward to IFR training, but I also didn't do it to save money.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Getting a pilot's license is not all that hard (almost every one of my co-workers has a VFR license and most of them own a single-engine ship.)
The hard part is getting and *keeping* an IFR ticket, where you have to put in so many flight hours that it's really tough to do if you're not a full-time commercial pilot. Let's not even talk about the costs of owning, leasing, or even just fueling and maintaining even a low-end private jet.
It's fantastically liberating to be able to fly your own plane, but it also tends to be quite limiting. Consider the range on your, let's say, Cessna 182, for the 7-8 hours max you'd want to be in the left seat. Also consider what happens when you're grounded or diverted by VFR.
Most private pilots still go via commercial carriers when they travel. Flying yourself from Los Angeles to Maine can be fun, but it's no less greuling (and often not much faster) than the equivalent road trip.
The "use it or lose it" factor of IFR currency (FAR 61.57) in reality pretty much requires you to fly continuously, and without IFR you're stuck with mainly recreational flying in a relatively limited geographical area, only in clear skies. It doesn't suck, but it is not in reality the substitute you hold it out to be, nor do the costs end at the price of school.
I'm an active FAA-certificated instrument and multi-engine flight instructor who likes to use light single-engine aircraft for personal travel for 150 to 500 mile trips in the northeastern United States. Anything beyond 500 miles = airline. Anything less than 150 = drive.
If a Cessna 182 were even capable of such endurance, would you want to sit in there for 7-8 hours? A 4 hour VFR flight is tiring. A 4 hour hand-flown IFR flight is more exhausting than an 8 hour shift of manual labor. IFR currency isn't "user it or lose it." The FAA comes up with some off-the-wall proposed regulations, but they haven't made currency THAT hard, yet.
If your instrument currency expires, you have 6 months to simply go for a ride with a pilot friend so that he can keep an eye outside while you fly the currency requirements on instruments with a view-limiting device that keeps you from seeing outside. If you've exceeded 6 months since currency expiration, you require an Instrument Proficiency Check from a flight instructor, designated pilot examiner or the FAA. See FAR 61.57(c). This is the worst state your instrument currency can be in. There is no "lose it" when it comes to instrument currency, and flying once every 6 months to keep your instrument currency is hardly continuous. Of course, being IFR current is NOT the same as being IFR proficient. This requires a much higher level of flying activity. However, it still doesn't require continuous flying by the pilot to maintain proficiency.
With that said, I hate flying commercially because of the TSA and their ineffective "security theater." Given my love for aviation, I find this criminally sad. Have you heard of the airline pilot who exposed the flaws and obvious gaps in TSA security at SFO via Youtube? I've seen similar gaps since 2003. The TSA is a joke. The Agency does just enough to make the customers feel good and enhance the perception of security enough to allow the TSA to "grow the business."
Our local aero club had a IFR certified simulator. At least in NZ hours on that was good enough for keeping your instrument ratings, and it was much cheaper than plane. However its still time, and you need someone else with proper instrument ratings to sign the hours off.
But lets face it. Non of us at the club flew for travel, we flew for fun.
The Grey Goo disaster happened 3 billion years ago. This rock is covered in self replicating machines!
I just want to tell you both good luck, we're all counting on you.
I am officially gone from
Great idea, I'll just use this extra $10k I have lying around and sell a few of my yachts to buy a personal airliner. Thanks so much, I don't know why I didn't think of this simple solution!
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I'm still dabbling at the other end of the spectrum: flying gliders. Cheap, "easy", and lots of fun. Homeland Security keeps proposing rules that could shut it down, but luckily the FAA has been open to rational discussions.
Keeping your glider rating is almost trivial. There are some guys in our club in their 80's and half paralyzed. And cheap too. As low at $20/hr, including tow and instructor. And there's nothing like flying 120 knots in a plane with no engine!
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
Lowest bidder only maximizing profit for shareholder.
Incumbent official only maximizing donations to reelection campaigns.
I do not see much difference.
The head of the TSA is not elected and not of much use to anyone else who wants to get elected, since everybody hates him. He is also -- in principle, at least -- responsible to the public as a whole, not just his shareholders.
I piss off bigots.
>>A 4 hour VFR flight is tiring. A 4 hour hand-flown IFR flight is more exhausting than an 8 hour shift of manual labor Word. I had to fly from Nassau (Bahamas) to BWI (Baltimore) in nasty IFR with no autopilot. I felt like I had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson at the end of that flight.
cut spending and do away with this useless group that was created to give us a "perceived sense of security" when we fly. Terrorists that want to blow up or hijack a plane will, TSA or no TSA.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
>>A 4 hour VFR flight is tiring. A 4 hour hand-flown IFR flight is more exhausting than an 8 hour shift of manual labor
Word.
I had to fly from Nassau (Bahamas) to BWI (Baltimore) in nasty IFR with no autopilot. I felt like I had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson at the end of that flight.
Was that after you stole his tiger?
The part of Israel's security we ought to copy -- there if you shoot a terrorist, you're a hero. Here, you're a homicidal manic in need of jail time (at least).
Why can't we just man up and take care of this ourselves? We'd do a better job than they do, that's been proven as well. See John Lott's "More guns, less crime" for many examples. We simply make it too dangerous to be a terrorist. Works great on crime, when a potential crook realizes he might not face our namby-pamby legal system, but instead face judge, jury, and executioner all at once, and be dead in one second. Kinda takes the fun out of crime. Too lousy a risk/reward ratio.
There is next to no crime where I live, out in the boonies -- and practically everyone is armed, it's just part of the culture of farming and hunting. Coincidence? We have crooks living around here, we know who they are, but they're smart enough to go to gun free zones to ply their trade....
Funny thing about that. Darwin takes care of any who don't pay attention to that one.
Why guess when you can know? Measure!
and everyone on slashdot wrote thoughtful, well-reasoned commentary
You're confusing facts and fiction..
Insert
Quit taking planes.
Show the airlines you aren't happy with how things are, and refuse to use them until stuff changes.
Remember 911? Remember how shutting air travel down for a week caused airlines to claim they were losing mass money and needed bailouts to continue?
What do you think would happen if for a month, or 2, they got less business? They'd bitch at the government, and TSA would have to get the shaft.
You need to speak the language, which is money.
You are the consumer, quit fucking consuming air flights till they fix it.
Be seeing you...
I got mine for less than $5k. The airplane will cost you around $18k to $20k(USD) minimum.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
Ahh, but how much for the parking space...
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Depends on where you park it. If you can get into Cox Airpark (a 1400ft grass strip), $1200/yr. RDU is about $300/month (I think). Sanford-Lee is $200, unless they've gone up since the last time I checked.
The plane I'm building is highway towable. So, unless I get lazy, it will stay in my garage.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba