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.

Comments

That was Rand Paul.

[InvisibleClergy]

That was Rand Paul in that article you linked, by the way. They are not the same person.

Re:That was Rand Paul.

[PuckSR]

Given that Rand Paul frequently lumps so many things that are disconnected together(i.e Fed employees make more than the average American)....I don't think it is too bad that they got him confused with his Dad.

Note: The error with the Federal Employee comparison is that it would be more apt to compare Federal employment to a large company like 3M(with a large number of professional employees) than to compare it with the entire population of the country which has a high number of minimum wage employees and retirees.

Re:That was Rand Paul.

[lgw]

Federal employees in professional jobs also make more than their private-sector counterparts these days (if you measure total comp, critically pension benefits), is the thing. It used to be that public sector meant lower pay but stable job and short hours, but that just hasn't been the case for a while now.

Oh well, eventually we'll either make cuts or the government will collapse under its own weight, and either way the comp issue will be corrected.

Re:That was Rand Paul.

[cpt kangarooski]

Government does produce wealth, by tackling matters of public good which the private sector is unwilling or unable to handle, and by dealing with market failures, and by regulating private entities that are unwilling or unable to act in a restrained manner. However, government should not act for its own benefit, but instead for the benefit of its citizenry, residents, and others, somewhat like a non-profit organization, so this might not be apparent to you.

Re:That was Rand Paul.

[cpt kangarooski]

Remind me why we allow them to move jobs overseas? Free markets are fine if they produce a greater benefit to the people than any alternative, but if they don't, we shouldn't pause for a moment to intervene to ensure a more useful outcome. A variety of options present themselves, including strengthening unions (whilst keeping out corruption), limiting the freedom of movement of capital (and perhaps the accumulation of over large amounts of the same), weakening the dollar, taxing imports from countries that don't adhere to environmental / labor / civil liberties standards similar or better than our own, reforming the government to discard odious debt, etc.

Working out possible solutions and taking action strikes me as better than your policy, which seems to be to do nothing, and complain that you're all out of ideas.

Re:That was Rand Paul.

[coinreturn]

If you think about it part of the reason why the private sector is doing worse is because the public sector is doing better. Since the government doesn't produce wealth just consumes it, the private sector's wealth is being transferred to the public sector.

So when the government builds the interstate highway system or a new bridge, hiring contractors to do the actual paving, etc, that is not producing wealth? If that's just "transfer of wealth" in your book, then no activity private or public produces wealth.

..Again.

[rykin]

Yet another reason why the TSA is useless.

Re:..Again.

[Entropius]

We could achieve the same economic effect with much less fuss if we'd just pay all the TSA inspectors to stay home and dress up as Barney Fife while we groped ourselves. Probably be a better economic stimulus in other ways, too, if y'know what I mean.

Of course

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Of course

[smchris]

Indeed. "Waste" is a polite, or innocent, synonym for corruption rotten to the core.

I feel better.

[mcmonkey]

I assumed they were wasting billions in taxpayer dollars.

Hundreds of millions is an improvement.

Re:I feel better.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've developed a handy guide to determining how much taxpayer money the TSA is wasting.

Step 1: Determine the total budget of the TSA.

You are now done.

Re:I feel better.

[tato (and tato only)]

You forgot to include the value of the items stolen by TSA employees, and items confiscated because they are alleged security hazards. Also, if you value the time of travelers as anything greater than zero, the needless delays imposed by TSA practices should be included.

Re:I feel better.

[atriusofbricia]

You forgot to include the value of the items stolen by TSA employees, and items confiscated because they are alleged security hazards. Also, if you value the time of travelers as anything greater than zero, the needless delays imposed by TSA practices should be included.

Don't forget:
1. Lost value from people who no longer fly due to the TSA
2. Lost value from International tourism which no longer happens because of the TSA
3. Lost jobs from damage to the tourism industry
4. Projects canceled because of all of the above

And on and on and on and on...
End the TSA!

Re:I feel better.

[zentigger]

actually the value of articles confiscated is not entirely wasted as those articles have founded a flourishing "surplus" industry:

http://www.eyeflare.com/article/where-buy-goods-confiscated-tsa/

Re:I feel better.

[Anonymous Coward]

Lost lives as a result of cancer from being subjected to the scanners...

Re:I feel better.

[Sosarian Avatar]

Wow, the sites that page links to have some really interesting things for sale—even children! Makes for a great new parental threat: "Bratleigh, don't forget, little boys and girls that misbehave at the airport are confiscated by the TSA and auctioned off to meaner parents..."

Re:I feel better.

[rtb61]

The TSA was designed by private interests for the benefit of private interests. Those flying private or charter never need fear. Everyone else, well, ultimately you are the enemy of the 1% and a threat to their existence, a threat that needs to be controlled and taught it's place. You or your family have no right to privacy not of their possessions or of their body. Upon demand you and you family will present themselves naked to be physically molested at will. When the real intent of the TSA is corrupt don't be surprised when the organisation becomes corrupt. Reality want change then demand TSA conduct the same activity for private and charter flights, watch how fast the law changes after that.

Re:I feel better.

[roman_mir]

By the way, what happened to the PROPERTY RIGHTS in USA?

How is it possible that a fucking TSA monkey, that is representative of your chimp government can just steal your fucking private property?

How the fuck do you all still look at yourselves in the mirror knowing that you didn't throw the fucking turds out of power yet with an armed revolt?

Well ... yeah

[jxander]

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.

Re:Well ... yeah

[Eponymous Hero]

bic. bic lighters are making a fucking fortune as a result of the TSA. more disposable and ubiquitous at airports than nail clippers. there are more people who smoke daily than people who happen to need a nail clipper that week.

Re:Well ... yeah

[kwiqsilver]

But imagine how bad it would have been if we didn't have the US government protecting us from terrorists...by helping the underwear bomber get on the plane, ignoring that he was on the watch list, and giving him a dud bomb?

Re:Well ... yeah

[Mitreya]

TSA is a giant waste of money, unless you have stock in a nail-clipper supply company.

Oh, the list goes on! The whole industry formed around the idea of providing
3-oz plastic bottles (took years until something convenient came to the market, btw)
TSA-approved locks on the luggage
The water/soda vendors in the airport almost doubled their prices.
TSA-approved laptop bags that make it easier to flip them open
All we need now is self-removing shoes.

Re:It's worth the expense

[h4rr4r]

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?

Thank Goodness!

[firewrought]

Imagine what a pain travel would be if they used their funding to full efficiency. :O

Huh.

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Re:It's worth the expense

[AngryDeuce]

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.

typo

[MrShaggy]

RuePaul Rand Paul, they are the same ;)

Re:typo

[Beardo the Bearded]

Wait, I thought RuPaul, Ron Paul, and Rand Paul were the same guy.

Oh man, I thought for a while the republicans were going to run a drag queen for the presidential candidate.

Re:typo

[desdinova 216]

It might be more entertaining if it was RuPaul running for president.

Re:typo

[meerling]

Not even close! Just look at the ears. Besides, Rupaul wears better dresses. :)

I'm ok with them not using the equipment....

[schlachter]

...it's the buying it part that's problematic.

Well finally

[Baloroth]

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".

Re:Well finally

[Hatta]

Unfortunately, "wasting" in this case doesn't refer to security theatre. The "wasting" that the oversight committee is complaining about here is that the TSA is lots of props for their theatre, but not putting on a performance.

If the TSA actually used what they bought, regardless of whether that actually made anyone any safer or not, that would entirely satisfy the oversight committee.

Speaking of waste money

[arbiter1]

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.

and this is news?

[lister king of smeg]

"the tsa is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars"

thank you captain obvious.

Re:It's worth the expense

[ArchieBunker]

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".

Re:Fly naked! It's the only way to be sure.

[DigiShaman]

Nope. DHS is now worried about body bombs. Basically, surgically implanted bombs where the scar heals. The terrorist waits a year or so before boarding a plane.

You can't stop something like that unless you X-Ray every man, woman, and child. And they will do it too. Don't doubt me on this!

A hefty price

[Fishbulb]

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.

Re:A hefty price

[ZeroSumHappiness]

I thought the price for freedom was a buck-o-five?

Re:A hefty price

[element-o.p.]

No, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance (--Thomas Jefferson). In that regard, we citizens of America have failed horrendously.

This is but an interesting sideline, however, since I believe what you were trying to say is that the price of safety and security (or at least, "the appearance of...") is freedom, since we seem to have offered our freedom up wholesale for TSA's security theater.

Re:It's worth the expense

[cpu6502]

>>>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.

Re:It's worth the expense

[Eponymous Hero]

not all cynical irony is trolling. some people are just facetious because it makes the frustration hurt less.

Re:Fly naked! It's the only way to be sure.

[Eponymous Hero]

my friend's mom's fake tits are the bomb, and there's no scar there either.

Re:It's worth the expense

[kwiqsilver]

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]

Re:Fly naked! It's the only way to be sure.

[Paracelcus]

Now what I propose is that I (70) and all other over 65 show up at the airport in a bathrobe and slippers (nothing else) send your belongings ahead via FedEx or UPS, and before entering the screening area, kick off the slippers and take off the bathrobe, REMEMBER, OVER 65 ONLY! Insist on a hand search (I've got some hiding places I want explored)!

Re:It's worth the expense

[steelfood]

Those are the things that kill 99.999% of Americans.

DHMO is also a prolific killer. And, it's everywhere.

TSA lines: the next terror frontier

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:TSA lines: the next terror frontier

[L4t3r4lu5]

Some guys tried driving a car full of explosives into Glasgow Airport a few years ago.

When the "bomb" failed to explode (simply setting the car occupants on fire), a local headbutted one of them to the floor. Official reports he was helping the man stop, drop, and roll.

This is how you deal with terrorists.

Re:It's worth the expense

[sjames]

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).

Where are the press conferences

[bhalter80]

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.

Re:We're working on that

[bfandreas]

Dihydrogenmonoxide is not only dangerous when inhaled, ingested in quantities, it causes CATASTROPHIC events killing THOUSANDS each year! It's never ben publicized but it caused major damage in New Orleans after Katrina. Even months AFTER the storm was gone! Why does the government hush it up?
Do not mock this tragedy! Not only for our children, for our children's children!

The myth of the "average" gov't worker

[mcharlet]

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.

Re:It's worth the expense

[isorox]

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.

I think Congress got it backwards

[saveferrousoxide]

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