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.

[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.

[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.

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.

[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.

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.

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.

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.

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

[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)!

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: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.