TSA 'Warning' Media About Reporting On Body Scanner Failures?

OverTheGeicoE writes "When anti-TSA activist Jonathan Corbett exposed a severe weakness in TSA's body scanners, one would expect the story to attract a lot of media attention. Apparently TSA is attempting to stop reporters from covering the story. According to Corbett, at least one reporter has been 'strongly cautioned' by TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz not to cover the story. If TSA is worried that this is new information they need to suppress to keep it away from terrorists, that horse may have left the barn years ago. Corbett's demonstration may just be confirmation of a 2010 paper in the Journal of Transportation Security that concluded that 'an object such as a wire or a boxcutter blade, taped to the side of the body, or even a small gun in the same location, will be invisible' to X-ray scanners."

Comments

Warned about what?

[Kenja]

What where the consequences they where threatened with?

Re:Warned about what?

[Jafafa Hots]

Guantanimo? Enemy combatants? Declared enemies of the state by the Pres., shot in the head and buried in an unmarked grave?

Unlikely, yes. But now "legal" under Bush/Obama.

Re:Warned about what?

[forkfail]

When a three letter agency cautions you with unspecified malice, even if they can't (yet) drag you out of your house at night, you know they can make your life difficult...

Re:Warned about what?

[forkfail]

They can send you to jail for not cooperating (or even citing the constitution at them), prevent you from traveling freely and deny you the right to exit the country. They can put you on watch lists that make the "more traditional" TLA's pay attention to you. And their influence is spreading.

So, yes, they are.

Re:Warned about what?

[mr100percent]

The "having you killed" suggestion is overblown, but I'm sure the TSA could realistically add you to No-Fly lists, just because.

Re:Warned about what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Totally by coincidence your tax returns get audited. If you have kids, child protection services shows up at your door with complaints about child abuse. Every time you do a rolling stop a cop is right there to give you a ticket. As a journalist, every time you try to attend a press conference there seems to be no more space left, sorry. Your usual contacts at the police force run out of scoops to feed you. If you try to cover a protest you're one of the first to be arrested. The list goes on... None of which has any relation to the fact that you covered an "unpopular" story, of course.

Re:Warned about what?

[msauve]

The more citizens who fight the system, the harder it is for them to do any of that. What happens if/when there are 10,000,000 names on the Do Not Fly list?

Whatever happened to the principles the US was founded on? "Live Free or Die," "Don't Tread On Me," "Liberty or Death?" We've become a country of Bread and Circuses consuming, Entitlement gratified proles.

Re:Warned about what?

[Kenja]

Actually, they cant. But they could recommend to Homeland Security that you be added, and odds are they would just rubber stamp it.

Re:Warned about what?

[artor3]

But I thought that if we see something, we're supposed to say something?

Re:Warned about what?

[jonamous]

Except the KGB actually had some badasses in it. Have you seen TSA agents? I could make a run for it and still get on the plane, stow my carry-on and calmly wait for takeoff before they managed to make it to the gate.

Re:Warned about what?

[JWSmythe]

The flaw was exposed in February 2011 by an undercover TSA agent. He tested a known, unpatched, exploit.

Here's more links to stories.

Re:Warned about what?

[Anonymous Coward]

You have a weird definition of "they can't".

Easy fix?

[casualsax3]

Aside from just scrapping them entirely, wouldn't this be a non-issue if they just had the traveler rotate 90 degrees and repeated the scan?

Re:Easy fix?

[Marillion]

Oh sure. So you're advocating doubling the radiation dosage from a device that more than a few radiation experts are concerned about. Various pilot unions are very concerned about the amount of radiation their members are being exposed to.

Re:Easy fix?

[HolyCrapSCOsux]

That's what metal detectors do. I fly a lot. these go thusly:
wait, get in, put your feet on the prints (rotated 90 degrees from normal walking direction), hold up your arms
wait for the scanner to swipe through it's arc.
get out
wait on another set of footprints

total time 20-45 seconds per scan.

Re:Easy fix?

[Anonymous Coward]

Even if it was working as advertised, was free, didn't inconvenience you at all, wasn't an illegal search, and didn't have health risks... would it actually make you safer?

Re:Easy fix?

[VortexCortex]

A double dose of cyanide will completely prevent any future terrorists from harming you.

Re:Easy fix?

[Anonymous Coward]

Honestly, I feel bad for the people who work around the machines. There's no shielding. When TSA agents start getting cancer, part of me will feel bad for them. But part of me will be laughing hysterically.

Re:Easy fix?

[artor3]

Someone who has actually used one of these could probably confirm or deny this...

As someone who has actually used one of these (many times), my answer is a solid "deny". You don't just walk through these scanners the way you do with the metal detectors. You walk in, turn to the side, spread your legs, put your hands in the air, and hold that position for about five seconds. They slow down the lines immensely. If you then had to turn another 90 degrees and hold for another five seconds, it would make things even worse.

Considering that the scanners don't even detect the sort of threat they were rolled out in response to (the underwear bomber), they should just be scrapped entirely, and the government should do everything in its power to find a loophole in the contract to get some of our money back.

Re:Easy fix?

[Drgnkght]

Anyone know if anyone has ever tried to go through one with a film badge dosimeter or something similar? That might prove very interesting.

Re:Probably not suppressed for Terrorists.

[zlives]

or that we the sheep might object to yet more tax dollars spent on perceived security...

TSA has this covered.

[Xandrax]

Much like the underwear bomber, TSA has this all planned out.

1. Allow terrorist onboard with a weapon hidden at his side.
2. Civilians on plane stop terrorist when he attempts to take over plane.
3. TSA announces that the system worked.

These "reporters" are clearly interfering with step #1.

Stupid constitution.

[zippo01]

Conversation between TSA and reporter. TSA:You really don't want to run that story about the billions wasted on ineffective airport body scanners. On a side note I hear Guantanamo Bay is nice this time of year, me and the wife are thinking of taking a trip. Reporter: Don't I have constitutional rights of free speech and what not. TSA: Don't worry about that. I mean, we ignored them when we put the scanners in anyway, didn't we. Reporter: Oh yeah.

They're hardly perfect

[Kjella]

I remember back in 2002 I had this huge inner door house key, like really big old fashioned solid iron thing. It ended up being in my pocket as I walked through the metal detector, so I just clenched it in my palm thinking I'll have to show it anyway. Passed right through, not a beep. It was big enough it'd easily be the blade of a pretty good knife. And it beeped for some other passengers so it wasn't defective either. Of course this was after 9/11 so everybody was on their toes, I showed it to a friend and he was like "Seriously? You got to be kidding me..." but it happened.

Re:They're hardly perfect

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Luckily, neither brass nor bronze are of any value for either holding an edge or inflicting blunt trauma...

And no need to even mention ceramics or the fancier plastics, that shit is totally harmless.

Re:They're hardly perfect

[AngryDeuce]

Man, I once got through with a few unused razor blades in my carry-on I had left there by mistake. I don't know if it was the cardboard covering or what, but they weren't even inside my bag, it was one of those backpacks with the mesh pockets and you could see them right through it. Got right through.

Meanwhile, my sister-in-law, who is permanently disabled due to being wounded in Iraq, has 10 pounds of metal in her leg, and has to walk with a cane, she gets a ration of shit every single fucking time we go through the airport. They try to take not only her cane, but her damn knee brace every single time, saying it could be used as a weapon, but the best part is, when she complains and makes a scene, they always wave her through, which really makes me want to ask (if I wanted to end up in a windowless room when my plane takes off, that is): If it truly could be used as a weapon and is dangerous, why the fuck is complaining enough to get waved through? And if it's not, why the fuck do they stop her and try to take it from her every time she goes through security?

The TSA is a fucking joke...

BS? Barbara Streisand?

[HiggsBison]

I call BS.

I was wondering who would bring up the Barbara Streisand Effect first.

So now, Barbara Streisand is a Terrorist!

FoxNews is covering the story

[McGruber]

FoxNews is covering the story:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/08/blogger-shows-world-how-to-sneak-anything-past-tsas-nude-body-scanners/

I'm impressed.

Re:FoxNews is covering the story

[artor3]

Obama is president, which means government is bad. As soon as a Republican is in the White House, government will go back to being good.

That is, according to Fox.

Re:Probably not suppressed for Terrorists.

[Hatta]

What terrorists?

Re:the TSA is unconstitutional as heck!

[FudRucker]

yes i do, thats why airline security should be privatized and run by the airlines themselves at the expense of the airlines/customers and not the tax payers, the TSA is just another expensive bloated ineffective bureaucracy we all have to pay for

Osama must be laughing in his grave.

[Brad1138]

Could he have ever imagined the repercussions of his attack. On so many levels, from more government ie: the dept of Home land security, to the ridiculousness of what we have to go through to fly. The whole country (or at least government) running around worrying about terrorists and the incredible expense it incurs. Our image around the world.... It goes on and on. He single-handedly turned the the U.S. into a near bankrupt, joke.

Re:Osama must be laughing in his grave.

[Animats]

Could he have ever imagined the repercussions of his attack?

He did. Read "bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America". This was written before 9/11, and includes many of bin Laden's own comments. He recognized that America was too strong to take down, and had to be weakened internally first. His plan was to destroy America's moral authority in the world. He wanted a more oppressive and heavy-handed America, to help build hate and opposition in the rest of the world. That was the objective of his terrorism.

He succeeded.

It's hard to remember now, but just before 9/11, the US didn't have any serious enemies. The big players, Russia, China, Japan, and the European Union, were on good terms with the US. The Middle East was intimidated, but reassured by the fact that, once the US was finished liberating Kuwait, all the US troops packed up and went home.

If the US had simply focused on cleaning up the mess and finding bin Laden, we would have been far better off.

Re:Osama must be laughing in his grave.

[Opportunist]

That's actually pretty accurate.

In the 90s of the last century, the US were the big winner of the cold war. The Soviet Union folded and Russia snuggled up with the US. Former East Bloc countries in Europe trampled over each other in the desperate attempt to be the first to get a foot into NATO, China was pretty happy to have a business partner, India was happy to be an outsourcing partner, the Middle East was ok with the US, after all the only country there the US smacked about was the one that didn't want to create an Islamic nation, in general, the only countries that weren't in love with the US were North Korea and Cuba. And, bluntly, who gives half a crap about them? And the rest was pretty swell too, the industry powerhorse of the world, the pinnacle of freedom and opportunity, everyone's darling. For real.

Now, twenty years later, the US are in a crisis, nationally and internationally. Debt skyrockets because of military expenses, industry struggles and China is laughing their ass off while shipping cheap crap over, internationally the US are seen as the schoolyard bully that everyone only plays nice with because they fear to be the next to get smacked about... The US sure went a long way downhill.

Re:Probably not suppressed for Terrorists.

[Opportunist]

You should watch Fox News from time to time. Been watching the real news shows again, right?

Please, tune in to the propaganda, you're getting so out of the loop.

Re:I have an easier fix

[waferbuster]

Sigh. Have you ever held a glock? What material do you suppose the slide (you know, that thingy on the top that goes back and forth each time it goes bang) is made of? That's right... Steel. Which is a metal. How about the barrel? Oh yeah, that's steel too. Recoil spring? I'll give you a hint... steel. Should I go on?

But you're half right... the frame is made of... polymer. A fancy name for plastic. So if you separated the slide from the frame, and took all the little movable metal parts out of the frame, then the frame probably wouldn't set off the metal detector (the little metal inserts molded into the frame are probably too small to set off the walk-thru metal detector).
Summary: Glocks (and all other mainstream guns) have major parts made of metal. More metal than a belt buckle. If a beltbuckle sets of the metal detector, so will a gun. Even a glock.

http://xkcd.com/386/