Slashdot Mirror
Congress: The TSA Is Wasting Hundreds of Millions In Taxpayer Dollars
TheGift73 writes with a Techdirt story about a House Oversight Committee report that is very critical of the TSA's handling of money. "The House Oversight Committee has come out with a report slamming the TSA for tremendous amounts of waste, specifically in the 'deployment and storage' of its scanning equipment. Basically, it sounds like the TSA likes to go on giant spending sprees, buying up security equipment and then never, ever using it." Earlier this month Rand Paul laid out his plan for dealing with the TSA.
That was Rand Paul in that article you linked, by the way. They are not the same person.
Yet another reason why the TSA is useless.
Paul...
The purpose of the body scanners was to make Michael Chertoff very rich.
And in that goal they have been a smashing success. And they still are.
I assumed they were wasting billions in taxpayer dollars.
Hundreds of millions is an improvement.
The only good TSA is a dead TSA.
Anyone with a functioning brain should realize that TSA is a giant waste of money, unless you have stock in a nail-clipper supply company.
Every terror plot that has been averted since 9/11, was averted by passengers. Underwear bomber, shoe bomber, etc... all thwarted by civilians who won't tolerate that shit anymore.
This signature is false.
Too bad they so far have failed to do that. Why not just light 100 million dollars on fire and call it the same thing?
Imagine what a pain travel would be if they used their funding to full efficiency. :O
-1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
I'm going to guess "trolling" on this one. He's too literate (and too anonymous) to be serious, and no astroturfer would word it that way.
Harassing me, making me miss my flights, rifling through my belongings, grabbing by genitals, bombarding me with carcinogenic rays, infringing upon my human rights, AND wasting my tax dollars? Now that's where I draw the line!
If the government has to spend a bunch of money to make sure that doesn't happen, I'm perfectly okay with that.
What happens when they spend the money and it still happens? Is that cool, too? These guys are fucking criminals, I proctored the TSA testing for 3 years. Believe me, half of them looked like they were either under the influence of narcotics or had more than a passing familiarity with them. You are absolutely no safer with them then you were with the security you had before 9/11.
RuePaul Rand Paul, they are the same ;)
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them.
...it's the buying it part that's problematic.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Looks like at least someone in Congress has two brain cells to rub together. Or did they just realize that the prevailing political wind was strongly turning against the TSA and that supporting it would look bad come election time? Actually, come to think of it, I don't care: either way, lets hope it goes past "slamming" and turns into "slamming their doors shut".
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
Because after this latest underwear-related threat to our national security, I predict searches will get a LOT more annoying.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Congress really should look at themselves on this matter, hundreds of millions is pocket change compared to how much congress has wasted over last 30 years.
http://wh.gov/mCq
more cowbell
"the tsa is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars"
thank you captain obvious.
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
Congress: The Government Is Wasting Hundreds of Millions In Taxpayer Dollars
FTFY
1/10 on the troll scale there buddy. The TSA have caught exactly ZERO terrorists since their creation. They refuse to provide any statistics under the guise of "security".
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
The price for freedom is safety and security.
The catch, of course, is that safety and security are just illusions anyway. They can be promised to you but never delivered.
Can it really be considered 'wasting' money given that the function of the TSA is to spend money without constructive purpose?
(Of course it also inconveniences travellers and violates rights, but nothing beats a large government budget for making something look more important than it really is.)
News Flash!!! [Insert wasteful government entity]: [Insert another wasteful government entity] Is Wasting Hundreds of Millions in Taxpayer Dollars
Isn't the operating budget for congress in the hundreds of millions. Who creates and votes on the budget?
...when the bomb is swallowed and explodes while in the large intestine.
And yes, as a matter of fact, I *do* think that's funny.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Wasn't the whole POINT of the TSA to waste taxpayer money doing nothing?
I heard through the grape vine that Homeland Security sends dump-trucks with their offices supplies into the desert at night. You can only use so many post-it notes to write; "#2 in Al Qaeda caught / blowed up!"
Quick -- someone look busy!
>>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
>>>The TSA's whole job is to keep radical idiots from blowing me and my family up in mid air.
You're worried about the 1 in 700 million odds of death-by-terrorist. And yet you stuff your face with fat & sugar, which WILL kill you through artery blockage. Way to totally invalidate your original argument.
Stop being afraid of unlikely events like death-by-terrorist, death-by-tsunami, or death-by-meteorite, and focus on the REAL killers like heart attack, brain stroke, cancer, or driving to work in your car. Those are the things that kill 99.999% of Americans.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
...that the contractors making bank here are controlled by republicans?
not all cynical irony is trolling. some people are just facetious because it makes the frustration hurt less.
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
http://freakoutnation.com/2012/03/11/on-the-tsa-the-staggering-cost-the-invasion-of-privacy-and-the-groping-infographic/
Homer: Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol must be working like a charm.
Lisa: That's specious reasoning, Dad.
Homer: Thank you, dear.
Lisa: By your logic I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.
Homer: Oh, how does it work?
Lisa: It doesn't work.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: It's just a stupid rock.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: But I don't see any tigers around, do you?
[Homer thinks of this, then pulls out some money]
Homer: Lisa, I want to buy your rock.
[Lisa refuses at first, then takes the exchange]
What we clearly need is an office of oversight and management for the TSA. The brand new department would have a branch office in every major city airport. Employees would work 2 hours a day and get paid 6 figure salaries through retirement [mandatory at ripe old age of 35 and which would be inherited by their children after they died]. The overseers would observe the gropings and the periodically make sure the screener's rubber glove was clean. They would also occasionally glance at the TSA books occasionally before rubber stamping them and approving them their annual 20% budget increase request.
Problem solved!
Clearly this is the only way to promote fiscal discipline while maintaining public safety (for the children of course).
Reading this made my blood boil - please support this petition to wind down the TSA
http://wh.gov/mMW
Those are the things that kill 99.999% of Americans.
DHMO is also a prolific killer. And, it's everywhere.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
The TSA figures that if they can slip a few dollars out of each piece of luggage, they can make up that shortfall in no time. Heck, they might even turn a profit.
Have gnu, will travel.
You wanna make an absolute terror scene? Roll a carryon sized bag full of explosives into the middle of a TSA line on the day before Thanksgiving in a major airport. It's likely that you will kill a thousand or more people, will be on the news for weeks, and will absolutely freak out anyone who is going to fly somewhere. It's the soft spot of the target. Coordinate a dozen of these one-man wrecking balls to go off within a minute of so of each other, and you can take out not just 4X as many people as on 9/11 with the same number of "hijackers" but shut down the entire air traffic system of the US on the busiest travel day of the year.
All made possible by the TSA policies and the screening intensity escalation.
if TSA wanted to save lifes in transportation the should look at cars, +30000 die on the road in the US every year
I suspect that the money is more accurately going from taxpayer's pockets into certain individual's pockets, not blindly wasted.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Let your opinion be heard http://wh.gov/mMW Thanks
We're all pooling together to rid this world of pure DHMO.
Don't forget ManBearPig
I bet it's still higher than Congress'.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Alas, the TSA isn't even that good. You'd have to throw in Moe beating a bear with a 2x4 while the Bear Patrol is busy raiding the nursery school for it's stuffed toys to complete the picture (to be on the safe side, show them tazing the babies).
"Just be thankful you're not getting all the government you're paying for." --Will Rogers
1. Be the TSA or DHS
2. Confiscate items at airports
3. Auction off confiscated loot/items
4. Profit!!!
Well, death itself is not what one should fear. Another successful terrorist act in US air space will lead to the removal of the last few strands of rights and privacy we currently enjoy, as well as the devaluation of our currency as we waste another $3-4 trillion on a series of pointless wars and subsequent nation building.
1.) 'Tis not your money (the government answers to the tax-payers).
2.) 'Tis only an illusion of security. People who believe comforting lies can never be safe.
I am John Hurt.
I want to have a warm, fuzzy feeling about the recent bad publicity for the TSA/SOPA/PIPA/CISPA. Heck, the commander-in-chief himself actually (kind of) stood up for something controversial.
However, I since it's an election year I know that this is just an extended April Fools and everything any politician states comes with fingers crossed behind the back.
Please, for the love of all things, prove me wrong America.
If we abolished the TSA what are all the pedophiles and peeping toms going to do with themselves? They'd probably end up getting in trouble. With the TSA they have a 100% legal outlet for their sexual urges and cravings.
PedoBob's schedule:
9am-12am: Man the peep booth and exercise the fleshlight and anal vibrator.
1pm-3pm: Fondle little boys' dicks and balls and slide your fingers down their ass crack, pausing for a nice feel up of the anus. Don't forget to enjoy the sensual scalp message. Carefully remember the sensations for later wanking session at home.
3pm-5pm: Get the now sticky fleshlight out of the hiding place and get ready for some more 'work' wanking to all the naked boys and girls. Tell yourself how you are keeping the public safe from terrorists. Then have another wank.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
At least not all federal employees. I am a software developer for the feds, I took a substantial pay cut from my last civilian job (in this economy, can't be too picky). Took the job about one year ago. I am certain my pay is well below what civilian employees would be paid.
Forget that myth about great benefits. That used to be true, about 15 years ago, but all that has changed. Federal employees get the equivalent of a 401K. Health benefits are no better, same HMOs etc. Tuition assistance is the same, or worse.
Even job security is not what it used to be for federal employees, there have been huge layoffs in the last year. Also hiring freezes and so on.
The funniest part about this is that recently America, for apparently the first time in ages, has started campaigning to attract international tourists.
Do you have any idea what the expression on people's faces here in Australia looks like when you say:
"Hey! America wants tourists! Cheap travel and accom. Get on board! BUT you need to:
1) Submit your fingerprints, credit card numbers and private personal information to the American government months in advance
2) Submit to radiation (on the way out - Australia now forces all international passengers to be irradiated on exiting the country)
3) Allow a complete stranger to grope you and your family, including your children, specifically involving fondling your genitals and you have no legal right to refuse
4) Allow a complete stranger to potentially detain you, strip search, throw you in jail without or eject you from the country (only if you are very very lucky, and most likely AFTER they have groped and strip searched you) "
and all because you thought that America might be the place to have a nice relaxing holiday away from home and see the sights.
You do get some very strange looks.
People have discussed holidays here at the office from time to time.. and I go through this every time. They don't believe me. I advise googling it. This generally turns into an hour long conversation about why America does not want tourists and a general discuss about other places to go which are absolutely no where near America.
Damn shame Canada is so close to America. Several people in the office quite like going there.
It's a real pity Japan is turning into America. I won't go there myself as I believe that only criminals are fingerprinted. Now I probably will never visit Japan. I'd like to live there, but it is doubtful I will emigrate in this environment.
The Congress Is Wasting Hundreds of Billions In Taxpayer Dollars.
efficient project management rule #1 - use 99% of the budget this year, so next year you get more. when you get the money, make sure that:
* first, you allocate budget to purchase equipment through friendly and grateful companies. [pays for your private jet]
* then, you allocate budget to make a decent living for thousands of bureaucrats in washington who move around papers with tsa stationary. [keeps their kids in private schools]
* then, you allocate budget for tens of thousands unskilled minimal wage tsa workers across the country. [keeps trash off the streets]
* then, whatever is left of the budget minus 1% you blow on shit that will sit in the storage. [keeps the ball rolling]
Every law enforcement agency in the land has learned the value of sensationalizing the war on drugs. Every time they take more than an ounce of pot off a college kid there's on the news talking about what a great bust this was. Given that in the last 11 years passengers en route have subdued no less than 3, people in a position to take down the plane :
Shoe bomber
Underwear bomber
Nutzo pilot on Jet Blue
Clearly passengers and crew can handle a wide range of threats in the air. During this time TSA has had exactly 0 of these kinds of press conferences regarding stoping a plot AT the airport what value is the TSA adding again?
On a side note air-charter (14 CFR Part 135) opperators do not have their passengers screened by the TSA, were never required to install bullet proof doors at the cockpit and can and do opperate the same aircraft types that scheduled air cariers opperate.
I would rather die at the hands of a terrorist than give up an ounce of liberty.
Last year they spent ten-million dollars on divining rods and they never used them. OMG! But they did make a lot of money at tazering the innocent and molesting people into missing their flights.
On the flip side, junkies are probably the most likely to know where you're hiding your stash or anything else deemed illegal. They've years of personal experience dealing with their own concealment practices. There might still be weapons on the plane, but you can be sure as shit there's nothing worth injecting or swallowing any more.
Freebies for the TSA crew !
Getting loaded on the government purse with government approval - good score.
The TSA's whole job is to keep radical idiots from blowing me and my family up in mid air.
Why is there such a fear that the bogey man will blow you up in mid air? Do you fear being blown up at the mall? At church? At school? At your office? Anywhere else people congregate? Yet you are so worried about the sky? You do know that they spent quit a bit more than $200M.
That is the only way to make it more efficient. They could even upsell when doing the grope. "Would you like fries with that?"
It's not a waste if you're in the business of government. When you're spending other people's money, it hardly matters whether you "succeed" or "fail". What matters is that the money passes through your hands, giving you a chance to exploit that cash flow for personal gain. Government failure is typically used as justification for even more spending, quite unlike what happens when you're spending your own money.
It's actually pretty astonishing how many really good people are in the level of government just beneath senior leadership. We know people who work 12-16 hours a day at extremely high-stress, difficult jobs that would stretch the capabilities of most people. They love working in government despite the fact that they would get an instant raise of +25% (and the chance to get an annual bonus) if they moved to the private sector. The book "To Big to Fail" has a great description of Paulson looking at his staff in astonishment thinking that all of these folks would be making far more money if they weren't there in the room with him. I think it's misleading to consider the "average" government worker. The *best* government workers are very, very good but have their salaries roughly capped at around 150k. This is probably a pretty good bargain for us taxpayers.
Are you sure it's the TSA you want to look into that? They'd probably try to solve it by making everyone go through scanners and get groped before getting into their car.
If the equipment is found to not be used and sitting collecting dust, take it out of the budget for the next year, and let them recuperate the costs by selling off the machines for a proper price (not cheap to get rid of it) and let them use THAT money to buy the next stuff they need...all of a sudden we will see a lot less waste!!!
Everyone knows that to attempt to produce good theater and spectacle one must waste massive quantities of money... That, or hire a bunch of ass-clowns to do the grunt-work.
In this case, the TSA covered both their cheeks^H^H^H^H^H^Hoptions at once.
..show them tazing the babies... with one hand, and the other in their diapers... TFTFY
The TSA's whole job is to keep radical idiots from blowing me and my family up in mid air. If the government has to spend a bunch of money to make sure that doesn't happen, I'm perfectly okay with that. Seriously, $200M. How many millionaires can't afford to pay a few extra bucks in taxes every year to make sure 300 million plus people can fly safely?
Please list the people the TSA have stopped from blowing you and your family up.
Speak softly and carry a big stick.
--Theodore Roosevelt (supposedly, a W. African proverb)
Congress loves to shout about how crappy the TSA is, but then they keep giving them huge sums of money to continue being crappy.
And they actually expect the public to believe they give a rat's ass about anything besides money