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TSA Airport Screenings Now Start Before You Arrive At the Airport
Bob the Super Hamste writes "The New York Times is reporting that the TSA is now doing background investigations on passengers before they arrive at the airport. The publicly stated reason for this is that it is to streamline the security procedures at airports allowing more passengers to receive less scrutiny while at the air port but this new authority allows the TSA additional information about each traveler. The prescreening that is being performed for domestic travel now uses a simiar standard to that of foreign individuals who where entering the US. The new measures go beyond what is used in the Secure Flight program and while light on details mentions that the passengers passport number will be used. The article does however point out the data sources that are available to the TSA to conduct these pre-screening with such as tax identification number, past travel itineraries, property records, physical characteristics, and law enforcement or intelligence information. Also mentioned is that individuals who do not have a passport will not be subjected to the rules and from my reading will not be eligible for lesser screening at that airport. The stated goal of this program is to have 25% of all airline passengers in the US receive lighter screening at the airport so that they don't have to take their shoes off, remove jackets, or remove laptops from bags. Additionally passengers who are in higher risk categories can receive additional screenings. Also mentioned is that all passengers are currently prescreened and that airlines are required to share your passport data with the TSA if they have it." One thing I've noticed as a passenger is that the most dangerous-feeling aspect of flying right now seems to be the winding security line itself.
I practically died with joy the first time I got to use a pre-check lane. Kept my coat, shoes, and belt on, didn't take shit out of my bags. It almost justified the 8 hours it took me to get a global entry card (drive to boston, wait, talk to beurocrats about how I'm not a threat, drive back to vermont).
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
See, they aren't even attempting to cloak this under a new threat of some kind. Now they are just trying to pretend it makes things more efficient. It won't. They will still scan you and your belongings. You will still not be able to save a few bucks by bringing your own drinks on board or even within the airport. You will still have to spend extra money on "travel-sized" things in order to comply with their nonsense.
This might be news on domestic flights but a few years back, arriving in LA from Australia, I was actually directly offered to step out of the international queue (I'm Canadian, but was with my Australian partner) to go into the US queue _without identifying myself_, that is I was directly solicited without volunteering any information about my nationality first.
Sure, they could have overheard my accent. But, on several other occasions I and my Australian partner arrived at the same time, with the same itineraries and the same bookings, and she always got SSSS and I didn't. I don't think I just got a pass for being Canadian. There has to have been more to it than that.
We know that the NSA launders information to the DEA and FBI. Looks like we can add the TSA to that list!
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
How about creating a TSA-like security check in order to get into the security-check line. So as soon as you arrive at the end of the line, you get checked. Although, the problem with this would be the creation of a new line leading up to the current security-check line. Although, the solution to that would be to have a security-check line at the end of that line too. And so on and so forth.
Maybe it's time to get rid of the TSA and require airports to implement their own "reasonable" security practices? Because what was mentioned in the article seems dangerous for our civil liberties. It's like the government is getting to the point of mandating who can and cannot travel across this country. Although, I think the No Fly list does that already.
One thing I've noticed as a passenger is that the most dangerous-feeling aspect of flying right now seems to be the winding security line itself.
You've obviously never ridden on a CRJ.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
We sure pay a heavy price for our politicians' love of meddling in the Middle East.
Serious question here: as a civilian electronics engineer working for the DoD, I had to go through a rigorous background check, interview process, and polygraph to obtain my current clearance level and job. This costs an extraordinary amount of money (likely over $10K), why the hell do I have to pay and go through yet another background check and interview process for pre-check?
One would think that we'd be in the business of trying to save some time and money these days....
"One thing I've noticed as a passenger is that the most dangerous-feeling aspect of flying right now seems to be the winding security line itself."
That's the same feeling the second cow in line has on its way up the ramp to a bolt in the head
Soon passports will be required for domestic travel...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Outside view on US customs. This is an article from a Dutch writer who was treated quite shabbily at the US borders:
http://dasmag.nl/why-i-will-never-return-to-the-usa/
So while they spin this as "you'll get through screening quicker" what they really want is background checks on nearly everyone that travels by plane.
Fucking seriously let's save all that tax money and the tax money being wasted now, and just racially profile. What's the fucking problem?
On the other side of that, I have not flown commercially since before 9/11 and don't plan on it anytime soon.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Can someone tell me why the TSA would need to check Tax Identification numbers in order for someone to get on a plane? I can see it now, "I'm sorry sir, we have some questions about these deductions you claimed on your 2011 tax returns. We are going to have to ask you to step into the special screening lane and talk to our TSA auditors."
Look... nearly everything the government has done after 9/11 to stop 9/11 from happening again would not actually stop it from happening.
The people that did that would not have been stopped by more robust baggage screening. Even an air marshal might not have stopped them.
Passenger profiles can stop bad people because it isn't about what clever way they've come up with to sneak something dangerous on to the plane. Rather, you just look for bad people and ignore what is in their baggage because it doesn't matter. That person doesn't fly. This is in large part how the israelis do it. And say what you will about their politics, we can agree that they're under greater threat of terrorism pretty much constantly and yet how many of their planes are hijacked or even interfered with in any way shape or form? Exactly.
This is how you do it. Not by asking people to take their shoes off. You do a background check on every single person that wants to fly. 99.99999 percent of the population will know the bliss of pre-9/11 air travel while a tiny minority will get to spend some uncomfortable time in a back room getting grilled... largely with justification.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
"One thing I've noticed as a passenger is that the most dangerous-feeling aspect of flying right now seems to be the winding security line itself."
Really? I despise the TSA and the burdensome screening process as much as the next person, and this is far from sympathising, but you honestly mean to say you felt endangered by the screening process? Of all the legitimate dangers you face in your daily life, and you're going to try to convince people that walking through a winding line and submitting to largely no-contact screening makes you fearful? And then you expect people to take you just as seriously after that?
Long signatures suck.
Yes it is a joke.
Sadly we the US citizens are the butt of the joke.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
I'm planning on ex-pat'ing to Korea. Hopefully I'll have enough money to do it sooner rather than later.
But yes, I'm ready to leave the country of my birth as it's evolved into someplace not so nice to live.
I feel like a modern day slave, left just enough of my pay to survive.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
The science and the math behind the tools of control are not classified. There is no classified physics, chemistry, and math. You and I can access them and learn. The components and sensors and knowledge required to build resistance measures are open source. You and I can see them, understand them, and employ them. In Today's--though perhaps not in "Tomorrow's"--America, you can still acquire the tools you need to resist and defeat Tyranny.
Take stock. Search your own heart. Can you live in a world where you are not free? Most of you will choose controlled comfort. You will cede control over your very existence to some remote, faceless drone within a bureaucracy, be it government- or corporate-controlled. Still there are a few who would rather die, no matter how much they have to lose, than acquiesce to petty, stupid tyrants.
I have a wife and kids. I love them dearly. I want to live a long life with them. But if I could trade my life for their freedom, I would do so in an instant. Those of you who are like me, assess and consider. We have been in a bubble of denial, but now that time is over. We all must choose whether to stand and be counted, or to kneel and submit. Choose the former and you're an American, choose the latter and you're a slave.
Decide.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Terrorisom by TSA is for your own protection against terrorism
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
I've always heard about Israeli-style airport security being top notch. That's to say that they apply a level of intelligence, instead of blindly molesting passengers. Can anyone comment on how this methodology compares to the way they do it in Israel? Thanks!
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
I don't mind having my jacket/coat X-rayed.
I don't mind having my laptop X-rayed seperatly.
I can live with my shoes being x-rayed.
But what pisses me of is that I have to do all of this without proper infrastructure at the checkpoint. Those lines are still designed for people walking through the scanner in paralell to one item going through X-ray. Pick up your carry on after the scanner and walk on. But now this design gets clogged up by people like me who are unfortunately born with only two arms and hands and therefor CANT'T pick up their stuff as it comes out of the X-ray item by item. That's what bags were invented for!
I apologize to all people who had to wait behind me because I had to repack my bag, re-tie my shoes and wear my belt again. I'm sorry, but I can't remove that stuff all at once.
bickerdyke
"If elected I promise to introduce legislation to disband the TSA, NSA and DEA. If it fails I will introduce it again. I will introduce it and introduce it until it passes or my term ends."
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Good news everyone: if you refrain from bitching about the ?SA on Slashdot, you will be allowed to board faster. Thank you for your cooperation :-(.
Have gnu, will travel.
I am not going to visit that country. I wanted to, but I don't want to anymore. Let the world know when you've dealt with your fascists.
Unfortunately, there is a scenario I could foresee that involves the rest of the world dealing with our fascists.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
so does this mean they are going to start arresting people with active warrants at the TSA checkpoint?
never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
I just got back from the US (British citizen) and a couple of years ago I went to Israel to visit my then-girlfriend (now wife).
TSA wasn't as bad as I thought and even though we both requested not to go through the scanner the staff were polite and professional (this was at El Paso, and later at Orlando-MCO). I've had more, erm , invasive patdowns before and they explain everything. However, it seems to me that they give the same level of scrutiny to everyone.
Flying to and from Israel (on El Al certainly) there's a level of profiling. They come through the check-in line "chatting" to people, looking for holes in their story and subconscious giveaways that they're lying. Me, I lived in Saudi Arabia for years and had Egyptian stamps in my passport, so I was deemed in need of a few extra searches, but nothing out of the ordinary. My wife, on the other hand, an Israeli national, gets basically no questions when travelling back. Again they were very professional, even friendly.
So, I'd say the US system is pretty thorough with everyone, whereas Israeli security find out early on if you're a person of interest and if you are, they take a bit more time to "chat" to you.
JG
-- "...I'm a bad guy because I, well, I sing some rock-and-roll songs." M. Manson
Has the most depressing, "Good German" comments section I have read by sheeple in a long time...
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Maybe they should use logic instead. Bulletproof and lock the cabin door so nobody is getting in under any circumstances. Increase bomb and explosive detection technology. Leave it at that. Then how suspicious or dangerous a passenger is has no relevance because they're not hijacking the plane and they're not blowing it up.
The Tea Party has been trying to defund the TSA for several years now. And is probably it's #1 opponent. Have you heard of Senator Rand Paul???????????
We didn't hand over anything. .gov already has access to it all courtesy of NSA.
That's exactly what this program is. You can get into TSA PreCheck when you sign up for Global Entry. You volunteer to do it, so you can speed your immigration/customs/security screening in the future. It's really nice to blast through customs in a matter of minutes rather than hours, and to show up at my airport (LAX) just 30 minutes before boarding - and still arrive at the gate with 15 minutes to spare.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
For years members of the 501st Fighting Keyboard Brigade, Slashdot Division have been droning on and on about "security theater" and the TSA's "one size fits all" approach to airline security. Mighty cries were heard across the realm about the need to use intelligence and data to truly focus on those who pose a greater threat.
Congratulations, the TSA heard your pleas and is responding accordingly. And as the infamous Chinese curse says, "May you find what you are looking for."
"One thing I've noticed as a passenger is that the most dangerous-feeling aspect of flying right now seems to be the winding security line itself."
Exactly this. You wouldn't need to worry about getting past security, or even having a plane ticket, to cause all kinds of panic & pandemonium with a b*mb. At times there are hundreds of people standing in those lines in the larger airports...
The security line is an easy target. It would be trivial to successfully attack one. And yet it doesn't happen. It almost makes one think that terrorism isn't much of a threat.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
It used to be that every time news like this came out I would think that things couldn't get much worse, but recently I have come to the conclusion that things can and will continue to get a lot worse. I now wonder just how much worse will it get? What's going to be next and when will the madness stop?
My policy on ID for flights is that I never, ever use my passport as ID for domestic flights. That's not what it's for.
I usually use my pilot's license instead. The new ones look like a passport, but they're not.
...laura
Funny thing is you never have to actually power on the electronics you carry, Just lock them with a password of encrypt them and by law the TSA can't ask you to give them entry.
Nevermind. Just guilty.
That sinking feeling deep in your gut when you KNOW you screwed up bad summed up with: {head desk} {head desk}
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131019/02322924936/accidentally-revealed-document-shows-tsa-doesnt-think-terrorists-are-plotting-to-attack-airplanes.shtml
PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
You should be able to drive into a terminal and they pick up your car and put it on a flatbed train. That way, you sit in your own car, listen to your own music, pee in your own soda bottle, until the trip is over. Maybe they put an intercom on your window or maybe they just paste a cell phone number on your windshield for emergencies.
Kind of like a ferry, but across the wastelands of suburbia.
There is good reason for feeling that. The most realistic terrorist threat model today is that someone would explode a device (or commit some other outrage) in the TSA line. It would probably be more effective than taking out an airliner (it would totally shut down many airports), and it would be a lot easier to accomplish.
The lines at entrances to the Baghdad "Green Zone" and other similar security checkpoints in Iraq have been frequently the target of attacks of this sort. However, those checkpoints are really intended to protect specific people and activities inside the security bubble, and those attacks don't typically hurt the high-value targets inside, and so those checkpoints are actually providing the intended security, albeit at a cost. Since the TSA security checkpoints really serve no security purpose (how realistic is the threat model they nominally protect against?), it's hard (for me at least, YMMV) not to conclude that they actually reduce security.
I actually think I saw this happen at the Pittsburgh airport this last week. A Sikh ahead of me was told he was selected for a light screening after they looked him up. A TSA agent basically walked him directly to the millimeter scanner without having him remove any of the normal articles. Bags still went through the x-ray, but he was essentially expedited through the process. I didn't pay much attention after that, but it struck me as odd at the time.
"Special People". People would rather go through strip search than have to watch govt employees get special treatment.
Do i dear to say it: Orwell was optimist
It seems like the more you get this pork project out of peoples' faces, the more they'll accept it, and keep on paying for it all instead of constantly bitching about it. As long as the system delays travellers and also makes everyone less safe (because of the lines of concentrated targets), it's always going to face some risk, however small, of getting cut. Pre-screening could help to cement the parasite's permanence: out of site, out of mind. (And the safety improvement, shockingly, would actually be real!)
Whether that's good or bad, depends on which side you're on.
The only catch I can think of, is that the entertainment media (e.g. Fox News, MSNBC) might lose out, by the loss of an easy rage story. So we should expect to see them oppose this. It'll be amusing to see how Fox spins pre-screening as Obama making everyone less safe and less free. MSNBC doesn't really get to use that angle until we have a Republican president, so I don't know how they'll do it. But they'll have to do something until then. Maybe troll through Fox's 2001-2008 archive for ideas on how to lie about how your guy is being made to do something bad, by That Other Party.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
I'll forego my modpoints for this thread. The thing that bothers me about this idea is that you're asking the same people who maintain a secret no-appeal "no fly" list to pretty-please give you permission to have a decent travel experience. They have demonstrated they have little interest in being fair about these things, and I think it sets a dangerous precedent in the sense that it establishes second-class citizens. That sounds like a direct conflict with "All men are created equal" to me.
And furthermore, why should I ask permission to travel? Look, just because there's a workaround for edge cases doesn't mean the premise of controlling my right to travel is valid. The right to travel is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We may not fully respect that document any more than our own Constitution in the US, but it's about as close to consensus as we're likely to get and there's not much excuse to ignore that as far as I'm concerned.
And that's not even considering the potential for abuse by the people we're trying to keep off of planes with all this security theater...
Goddammit just when I get my first +5 the Beta rolls out and kills everything
No Evidence of Terrorist Plots Against Aviation in US
This begs the question, then, of what evidence the government possesses to rationalize that we should be so afraid of non-metallic explosives being brought aboard flights departing from the U.S. that we must sacrifice our civil liberties. The answer: there is none. "As of mid-2011, terrorist threat groups present in the Homeland are not known to be actively plotting against civil aviation targets or airports; instead, their focus is on fundraising, recruiting, and propagandizing."
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Sorry, Pollyanna, but you and your wonder car will still have to share the highway with barely functional cars and trucks such as a large chunk of seasonal wheat trucks headed to elevators while sporting ANTIQUE* classification license plates. Bonus: a good chunk of these museum pieces are piloted by high school kids.
* Antique tags are for anything older than 1975, IIRC.
Time to close your facebook account?
"One thing I've noticed as a passenger is that the most dangerous-feeling aspect of flying right now seems to be the winding security line itself."
Ya, the terrorists won.
Did the terrorist benefit from 9/11...???? I would say nope.
9/11 was a huge PR coup for Al-Qaeda. Most Americans had never even heard of them prior to 9/11. Afterwards they were a household name. The terrorists also turned the USA into a nation that is now afraid of its own shadow and gropes toddlers at checkpoints.
The invasion of Iraq also turned many more people to Al-Qaeda's side and caused much more funding to be directed their way.
So yes, the terrorists benefited tremendously from 9/11.
I wish someone would help me understand the reality based logic embedded in this. As TSA supporters are so quick to point out in their senseless parade of fear mongering propaganda you only have to be wrong once.
It costs attackers nothing to go thru whatever hoops are needed to obtain "I'm just an average Joe" status. If they fail to attain nothing is lost. The feedback any adversary would get out of this status is absolutely priceless.
Likewise adversaries could slip things into bags or coherence trusted people into doing something unbecoming of such trust.
If your going to assert your security measures are not worthless it is hard to understand how security can concurrently be maintained while carving out exceptions to significant percentage of passengers.
What I find more troubling is government performing background checks on people who just want to fly who have no other practical choice for getting to where they need to be treating real people differently based on the result of some magical secret hueristic algorithm let alone privacy implications of inputs to such algorithms. If your going to treat people like shit treat everyone like shit...not just the poor powerless kids.. get the rich old connected snobs who contribute to political campaigns.
the most dangerous-feeling aspect of flying right now seems to be the winding security line itself.
Yep. Any perp who wants to get attention by committing mayhem can just attack the hundreds of people being herded like cattle, awaiting the porno scanner obedience ritual. TSA is not, and never was about safety. Its only purpose is to compel obedience to government.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
One thing I've noticed as a passenger is that the most dangerous-feeling aspect of flying right now seems to be the winding security line itself.
Hardly surprising. Thousands of people packed tighter than they will be on board, all it would take is one suicide bomber (you know how much explosive and shrapnel can be packed into a roller bag? Never mind nerve gas.) to wipe out more people than have died in the USA to air travel since commercial flight began.
But don't worry. If it ever happens, TSA will adopt new procedures that will have people go through a security examination checkpoint before getting into the security line.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Racial profiling wouldn't work... how about the likes of Timothy McVeigh, Theodore Kaczynski, Eric Robert Rudolph... etc etc
We prefer the eggshell method of security: We can withstand brute force and brazen attempts but a tiny tap crumbles the whole operation.
It will be a fun day (if it already hasn't passed) when passengers are under more scrutiny than the employees, thus the TSA actually being the biggest threat.
is when the turbulence shakes the plane. It feels like the plane might do a quick nose dive randomly.
Does this mean I can get on the plan with my whiskey flask? I used to love getting cocked on a flight. Ever since they banned more than 4 OZ's of liquid that kind killed me and my whiskey from boarding the plane. Also I have been driving or riding my motorcycle more and more instead of flying because of the personal freedom the roadways afford me.
Paul E. Bahre
A little off topic, but the reality is probably the exact opposite of that perception. If anything, 9/11 massively harmed "terrorists" (Al-Qaeda and Islamofacists in particular), rather than benefiting them.
http://exiledonline.com/wn-38-ira-vs-al-qaeda-i-was-wrong/
For the bullet points - 9/11 destroyed Al-Qaeda by basically causing the US (and most of the international community) to take notice and bomb them out of existence. Similarly, future terrorist plots now have a much higher barrier to success as a result of the increased security measures (even if most of it is security-theater). Contrast with a successful terrorist organization (the IRA) that effectively "won" and achieved their goals in part because a concerted effort to avoid mass deaths and the bad press of a 9/11-type event.
The fact that 9/11 also turned us into a society scared of its own shadow is really collateral. That doesn't get Al-Qaeda what it wants, as much as makes our society more totalitarian and fascistic.
One of the big pushes of the Tea Party was to focus on two core issues. Debt and Liberty. And not waste time on moral issues like homosexuality, birth control, etc.
The push was for a much more inclusive group.
The Tea Party gets to participate in the Republican primary.
The Libertarian Party expends too much effort on hemp.