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Confessions Of an Ex-TSA Agent: Secrets Of the I.O. Room
Jason Edward Harrington has seen some of the same frustrations, misgivings, and objections that have crossed the mind of probably every commercial airline traveler who's flown over the last decade in the U.S. One difference: Harrington got to see them from the perspective of a TSA agent. His description of the realities of the job (including learning the rote responses that agents are instructed to reassure the public with) is wince-worthy and compelling. A sample makes it clear why the TSA has such famously low morale, even among Federal agencies: "I hated it from the beginning. It was a job that had me patting down the crotches of children, the elderly and even infants as part of the post-9/11 airport security show. I confiscated jars of homemade apple butter on the pretense that they could pose threats to national security. I was even required to confiscate nail clippers from airline pilots—the implied logic being that pilots could use the nail clippers to hijack the very planes they were flying." It only gets worse from there.
well it comforting to know that the same government that managed this program is now moving on to something as *truly* important as our and our childrens healthcare.
right?
never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
The TSA exists because Americans tolerate it.
It's that simple.
We hold the purse strings AND the votes. Either one alone is enough to eliminate the TSA. But we have said, en-mass, that the TSA is acceptable in our society. So it will continue.
don't want our gov officials of citizens to be on the bad side of that statement. TSA sucks.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
I've been reading that guy's blog since day one:
http://takingsenseaway.wordpre...
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Glad to know the only two times I ever went through the scanners (I travel for work frequently) that maybe somebody did see me flipping the double bird. Even happier that the on last several dozen trips my wife and I live by the words 'opt out'. Several agents have commented to me readily while feeling me up and violating my privacy that what they were doing was completely useless. In one case I was told by an agent that he felt up the CEO of the company that makes the current machines, who refuses to use them for himself or his family.
Time to get rid of the TSA, the only organization that can still get funding with a 0% success rate.
Be careful Mr. Harrington. Gitmo isn't closed yet. You wouldn't want some guys in a van to stop by and take you on a "trip" would you?
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
... confiscated jars of homemade apple butter on the pretense that they could pose threats to national security.
In all fairness, if I got a job as a TSA agent, and my bosses told me that jars of homemade apple butter could be a threat, I for one would take their word for it. I might post on slashdot hoping some educted chemists could debunk the issue, but I wouldn't presume to know that apple butter didn't happen to be a great masking material for some other explosive material.
Wouldn't be easier to put a security guard on each flight and instruct them to shoot to kill? Bullet holes? How about special hatches in the floor so they could just drop the MFs from the plane? Projectile extremists destroying property and endangering people on the ground? Tasers. Give every adult on the plane a taser. Boom! Done! Sure, there will be a few injuries every year. But, it would be a much better experience (and perhaps a little fun) for everyone. You would really need to hang new signs though. Like: "Please, do not taze the aloof parents of crying babies"
For the love of god, could we please try something else? The TSA is truly embarrassing.
Brave Sir Robin ran away. ("No!") Bravely ran away away. ("I didn't!")
because its easier. I guess its back to signing Justin Bieber petitions because that's the type of effort I can get behind.
through.
Most of the people where I work feel the TSA is doing a good job. In fact their response reminds of the Simpson's clip where Lisa sells Homer a rock that keeps bears away. You cannot reason with people this ignorant. They actually believe that the TSA is preventing terrorism and that the only people complaining are brown people. The only way for people to question the TSA is if someone like Edward Snowden manages to get media publicity and expose a bunch of documents or expose some insider contract on those X-ray porno machines sold by Michael Chertoff.
Given what's happened to other whistleblowers, I have to say this guy's got balls of titanium.
Als insisted they made sense. And why haven't they been reassigned by somebody with a common sense?
You can edit the URL from "beta.slashdot.org" to "www.slashdot.org".
And yes, the beta thing sucks.
it shouldn't redirect at all! it shouldn't auto-load at all!
i'll have one red snow cone from the Snoopy cone maker, please.
http://shitforbrains.slashdot....
I can't believe this. We've been subjected to the Slashdot beta site against our will now for probably a month, if not longer. The hatred for it is unanimous.
EVERYBODY WHO HAS HAD TO USE THE BETA HATES IT!
Why can't those running Slashdot see this?
I see comments expressing EXTREME HATRED for the Slashdot beta in the discussion of nearly every story I read here.
NOBODY LIKES THE BETA SITE BECAUSE IT IS TOTAL SHIT! THIS HAS BEEN EXPRESSED TIME AND TIME AND TIME AGAIN!
Please, this failed beta project needs to be canned. Put an end to this total stupidity now. The beta site is a failure in ever respect, and it cannot be saved.
This surreal drawn-out failure is absurd. How long do the users here have to point out how completely awful this beta site inherently is? How long until somebody at Slashdot clues in about how everybody absolutely hates the beta site?
I don't know what's the worst part of your anecdote. How oblivious you seem to be at your privileged status and why that is a Bad Thing for the rights of all to be considered equal under the law, or how easy it would seem to be to join those ranks. One faked up official looking ID and maybe I could be treated like a free citizen like you.
Oh and using repeated exposure to relax the vigil of the guards is an old ninja trick, get a job as feeble sweeper of courtyards or emptier of chamber-pots until the guards know you, then strike your target. The guys who go easy on you because they know you are failing in their jobs. (no surprise there. Their jobs were failures from the beginning)
Then there is the servile response of the TSA agent and what it says about his mindset. He's trained and required to do things he KNOWS are useless, annoying and almost certainly infringing on the civil and constitutional rights of the citizens he searches. He's trained to say that everyone is subject to this, no exceptions, but he appears to believe that irritating a member of the bureaucracy may result in retribution in some form. A civil servant, in one of the crappiest jobs there is to be had in government service, was afraid of you and what you might choose to do if delayed. Do you really think that cringing, on the part of any civil servant, but security people especially is a good thing?
The moral of your story seems to be that the security theatre we all complain about is clearly something to be inflicted on the peasant masses, not members of the elite like yourself. You get a free pass on the bullshit the rest of us are being forced to endure and you attribute that to a few agents having their heads on straight. You are a functionary of what has become the ruling structure, you are getting special treatment as a result and you think that means the system works. You're an apparatchik and don't even know it....
Why the heck does a pilot bring nail clippers to work? I don't.
Five of the items you listed are "mobilization for ___ war". You're far too smart to actually believe the US has stopped getting ready for war. The NAME of the war has changed, the activity has not.
Similarly for most of the other names in your list. FSA was the FDA, Social Security Administration, and a few other things. Has the FDA stopped? SSA? No, they moved the program from one department to another. Nothing stopped .
I'm kind of disappointed, cold fjord. You normally think before you post, but you're off your game on this one.
So, your saying that Senator Obama was responsible for the formation and implementing the TSA when Bush jr. was the President?
Hint for the uninformed:
The TSA was put in place by a Republican George Bush jr., during the first of his two terms in office.
I marked you foe NOT because I'm an Oama fan, but because I see you as too stupid to even describe in words, and because of the whole TSA, PATRIOT Act, DHS, and all of the other unconstitutional crap turning me fiercely anti-Republican.
Bush jr. and company all need to be lined up against the wall and shot for the traitors they are.
And while we're at it, Obama and co. can join them for not correcting this crap.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Daily visitor, regular reader, used to have 15 mod points every few days, and then *poof*, for reasons unknown, I haven't had mod points in two years.
So in lieu of an upmod, please accept this (+6, Sidesplittingly-Funny) from someone who misses the /. of old.
The TSA must be a "different" kind of organization than that which I work for, the United States Air Force. I have written many "letters to the editor" under my real name on many topics that expose my generally Socialist bent and strong anti-authoritarian opinions. Yet, I have never been "admonished", and I recently had my security clearance extended for another 10 years after the standard Security Clearance Anal Probe.
I think the TSA is a "different" kind of US government agency, one that need to go.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Not the people right?
That sudden loss of pressure is all Hollywood.
Suddenly losing all blood pressure would be bad, yet a pin prick doesn't kill you. Why? Because the pin prick is so tiny compared to the size of your body. A 9mm bullet hole in 50,000mm plane is similar. Some air leaks out, just like some blood leaks from a paper cut. Not enough to make any difference, though.
For actual scale, a bullet hole is about 1/5,000 the size of the plane. That's equal to a hole in your skin that is 1/100th of an inch. A typical hypodermic needle is 15 times that size.
Mod points get cut off if you go against the grain to much. Think twice before modding that non-trolling post that the mods disagree with up!
Do we really want to keep repeating the same mistakes for thousands of years? Because basically, if things stay as they are, that's exactly what will happen.
I'm just tired of the world being mediocre because of the wishes of a few people at the top, be it my own country Australia with our tremendously stupid Prime Minister, Mr. Abbott, or the Tea Party douchebags who wouldn't just shut the fuck up and deal with the fact that they can't have everything their way. (they're both practically the same thing, right wing extremists who are just re-hashing the same old shitty conservative policy from 30 years ago).
I mean, Tony Abbott is practically trying to make Trickle Down Economics work here... although you will NEVER hear anybody characterize it as that, personally I think my fellow Australians are too stupid to know what that even means. It would be hilarious if he wasn't so hell bent on achieving it.
It comes down to this: You can't shit on other human beings and expect to get away with it all the time, sometimes people will get fed up, sometimes people get tired of the arrangements they have. Look what happened in your country 13 years ago, a small faction of Radical Islamists basically got fed up with America, what they did was horrible, I can only imagine the pain and anguish of those people who lost somebody because of that event, but your government did a deal with them many years previous, your country helped them get into power in their region all just to make things difficult for the Soviets, and what was the point? They fucking collapsed under their own weight during the early 90's!
Ultimately, America is responsible for what happens to America, don't fuck with people if you can't handle the retaliation.
I mean you guys are so mixed up, you want to all be good righteous people who treat eachother right according to your constitution, yet as soon as someone blows up some buildings you all lose your fucking minds and practically tear the same piece of paper to pieces AND THEN ON TOP OF THAT go to some shithole country that the vast majority of Americans had not even heard of and can't even find on a map and then rain down fire and death upon anybody who even resembles a Taliban supporter, to the point where you have drones killing civilians over there for looking suspicious.
It's very simple, all humans should be treated the same, with respect and courtesy, but if you fuck other people over, don't expect to get away with it forever. The TSA is something I would definitely class as fucking people over, there's just no justification for touching other people's genitals, I don't care what some paranoid pol or military official says, they all have proven track records of lying to the public at this point, anybody who is still supporting all this security bullshit in it's current form is suspect, mainly because it's been proven time and time again that even with all of this TSA crap, there's still GAPING holes in the security. If the average American can see them, you can bet your ass that the Taliban can.
He said black powder. Black powder is potassium NITRATE aka kno3.
A little charcoal, a lot of potassium nitrate, and a pinch of sulfur.
He says that he was told to say things that they knew were not true, eg:
Yes: an employer can tell you how to spend your time when at your place of employment, but do they have the right to make you tell lies ? What about the managers who ask others to tell lies, do they care that they know that they are doing wrong ? If you do care, then why do it ? I know that in practice if you do not lie your job may be at risk, but can you be fired for not wanting to be dishonest ? It seems, somehow, that when you work for an organisation that many people feel that they must support ''their team'', even when it is doing wrong. Mr Harrington has at least come clean after the event, but how many employees at other organisation do not have the balls to do so ?
This does not just happen at the TSA, it happens in many organisations: salesmen making exaggerated product claims, banks screwing customers, NSA employees claiming that they obey the law, ... If and when these calumnies are found out the organisation might get a knock, but rarely the individual. We need to bring back personal accountability for what individuals do, we then might see a reduction in ''corporate lying'' and the world would be a better place.
I know that I am an idealist, but is this a deam too far ?
"It was a job that had me patting down the crotches of children, the elderly and even infants"
Never make a job of what you love.
In the end it's still just a job, and you've ruined your hobby.
kartune85 : Incapable of reason, observation or learning. A kind of dim, drab, flightless parrot.
All these programs HAVE NOT ENDED, because all of them cost money, which was borrowed by increasing the debt.
As long as US has any debt, US is still paying for the programs initiated. That is the hole point that all the initiatives need to be paid with your future dollars. Yor ollars WILL be taken from you in the form of higher taxes or through devaluation.
A good example is Germany who just recently finished paying WW1 debts.
All those programs can be boiled down to the scheme to go after YOUR money in one shape or in another
Please, post those pictures and texts so we all can call you an idiot.
Again, I disagree. Today, the internal structuring of the military is being tampered with to accommodate various special interest groups.
Actually, the MUCH more important thing going on right now is tampering with the military to make it effective, or trying to. Did ending DADT take some time and resources? Yes, because they used that time to make damn sure it wouldn't effect combat capabilities and that front-line troops would be ready for it. They were smart about it and learned exactly where they were most likely to have problems (33% of marines were the most concerned about it), and had good training and a strong message all the way down the chain of command. It worked, and more importantly, it worked as the military put it into effect, and NOT the way it would have gone down otherwise--because if it hadn't been done, a federal court would have ordered it and full service integration would have had to happen overnight. That came damn close to happening, and I'm sure a few soldiers had their lives saved by the fact that Defense was ready to move on it.
However, there are MUCH bigger problems at defense. Aquisitions is insane and parochial, and based on what Congress wants for their district pork rather than on what is actually needed to run a country. In order to actually get anything done, you need crash programs that SECDEF arranges personally and a way for the real needs of soldiers in the field to penetrate up the chain of command--which it usually doesn't, now. And the institutional bureaucratic problems on the Veteran's side are an almost intractable problem.
Those groups begin with women and gays, and continue with Muslims, atheists, and ends God knows where.
A recent article shows that the Pentagon is reconsidering uniform requirements to permit beards and turbans for Muslims. Now consider that beards have been outlawed by our military for decades, based on "discipline" considerations. No redneck, no Jew, no mountain man has been permitted to display a beard while in uniform. Suddenly - we are courting Muslims, so out of the goodness of our hearts, we are going to allow them to wear beards and turbans.
So what? If we are going to allow beards I'm sure the soldier with them will still have to be well-groomed (to the extent soldiers usually are, anyway--try smelling one after a week in the field for ranger training), and if we allow them only for religious reasons I'm sure they will be available for people of different religions where the religion mandates them, and if we allow them for people who will work in cultures where beards are status symbols it may even *help* the image of the United States in those countries. Let's not foreclose the possibility that it's okay just because it's never been done.
Fundamentally, when you really think about it, are these things really a problem that will prevent the military from doing it's job, or is it just that you're uncomfortable with them or with the way they've been done or presented?
How many bad guys have you caught here, in this airport (Madison, Wisconsin) in the last 10 years?
That's a good question.
Well here's a good answer -- ZERO.
Kind of makes all that money floating into the economy from my tax dollars seem soooo worthwhile.
It doesn't matter how much your truck weighs, if your driving like a jackass and you have enough wheels, you can hydroplane any vehicle. An elephant could waterski behind my boat, if I could figure out how to tow it fast enough. If you are stupid enough to lose control of an semi, please call me. You may just be dumb enough to help me figure out how to waterski an elephant.
Koalas. They're telepathic. Plus, they control the weather. -Margaret
Yes I work for the TSA. One does what he must in this economy. That said after joining, I actually discovered it's not really like what people on the outside describe it as. Maybe that's because I started only recently, and things have changed, but I suspect much more of this article is an appeal to confirmation bias. I'll try to clear things up, but because I can only reveal things that are already public knowledge, I'll be limited as to what I can talk about to things you'd observe yourself if you went through a screening checkpoint.
So let's get started on the things this article claims. Right off the bat I see one big obvious mistake. It uses the term "TSA Agent." They're actually called Transportation Security Officers, or "TSO" for short. We don't like being called "agents." It's a small annoyance we put up with from the public, but no TSO would call himself an agent. We prefer officer.
Next up. These so called code words. I've never heard these inmy airport. On the checkpoint, extreme professionalism is demanded of our crew. Behavior like that and offhand unnecessary statements are scrutinized. Singling out someone for additional screening is strictly forbidden. Commentary on a passenger is strictly forbidden. If you behaved like this at my checkpoint, you'd quickly find yourself out of a job.
We do have random additional screening protocols. These are set by the machine to go off at random intervals. We do not control them.
Now let's talk about the machines. The notorious backscatter X-ray machines. Those were decommissioned before I started. They no longer exist. The modern AITs use radio waves on the same frequency as a cellphone or walky talky. An algorithm is used to detect anomolies, and the only screen that exists simply depicts the location of anomolies and no body information on the passenger. The screen is right there for you to view. From what I gather from the old timers, no one liked the backscatter machines, and they were glad to see them go.
As far as the x-ray goes. The person running the X-ray has say over what does and doesn't get searched, but I assure you they're paying attention, because they're tested on a daily basis. If they call a bag search without good reason it will come back on them because frivalous searches effect throughput.
Now let's talk about the most grevious claim of this article. The claim of feeling up children and crotches. Here's two things about our pat down procedure. We do not grab. There is no grabbing. Flat hands only. If someone is grabbing they're doing it wrong. The procedure also requires avoiding the "zipper line." As far as kids. We don't pat down kids. There is a long procedure that requires approval from upstairs to do a pat down on a child, and the answer from upstairs is generally a no, unless there is a very good reason to do it, such as the child is flying with a suspected terrorist.
Additonally, no we do not detain people, strip search people, or confiscate their stuff. What we can do is tell someone they aren't getting on the plane, and call a LEO if we see evidence of criminal behavior. We can not tell somoen to take something off. Next time someone says the TSA confiscated grandpa's pocket knife, I can tell you that they're diverting the blame. We only tell people they can't take the item on the plane. They have every chance to take the item back out, put it in their car, or hand it off. Bigger airports even have a post office where they can mail the item to themselves. The fact is they didn't value grandpa's heirloom pocket knife more than their own mild inconvenience.
As far as the background checks go, I had to wait 6 months between hire, and starting for my background check to clear. I can't vouch for if there is bad management elsewhere who are looking the other way, but it was made quite clear to me that my record must be spotless in order to join. No felonies, no misdimenours, and yes past employers and references did actually call me to ask if the ba
Shit I don't mind the TSA at all!
I just put on my very best redneck accent and tell the TSA:
Get in there nice and deep like boy!
Grunting noises ensue as they pet me down, enjoy it so much now a days that I actually get most other passengers doing the exact same shit as well haha
Yippee ki yay motherf*ckers!
The US government being involved in healthcare is a "very new thing?" Tell that to the National Institute of Health, Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration hospitals, military hospitals, and the Food and Drug Administration, among others. You may not like all (I dislike some) of what the House and Senate voted for, now named after the President for some reason, but the involvement in healthcare is hardly new!
about the possessive pronoun "its"