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US Airport Screeners Missed 95% of Weapons, Explosives In Undercover Tests
An anonymous reader writes: An internal investigation by the TSA found that 95% of agents testing airport checkpoints were able to bring weapons through. In one case, an alarm sounded, but during the pat down, the screener failed to detect a fake plastic explosive taped to the undercover agent's back. ABC reports: "Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was apparently so frustrated by the findings he sought a detailed briefing on them last week at TSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, according to sources. U.S. officials insisted changes have already been made at airports to address vulnerabilities identified by the latest tests. 'Upon learning the initial findings of the Office of Inspector General's report, Secretary Johnson immediately directed TSA to implement a series of actions, several of which are now in place, to address the issues raised in the report,' the DHS said in a written statement to ABC News."
But they did manage to grope 8 out of 10 Grandmas and 5 out of 10 toddlers.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
List the vulnerabilities at a company that fails penetration tests, watch the IT department fill out the checklist saying "we fixed that", lather, rinse, repeat.
I've been in the IT group that was carefully banned from securing things because the architect and the CTO just found it a lot easier to be able to do anything they wanted, to any system they wanted, any time they wanted, without a paper trail or traceable history. It took me a while to figure out it was deliberate: then I found where the architect had SSH tunnels running from the finance company internal network to his home box, with passphrase free SSH keys with root access on both ends, with the keys on NFS shares on both ends.
When I found that, and as the security consultant I was allowed to do nothing, I knew to make sure my checks were cashed *fast* and my resume already out elsewhere.
If they would stop testing it, then it would be better security theater. For example, when I went to the theater over the weekend to see a movie, the theater people didn't notice I had a small pocket knife in my pocket. This is exactly how the security theater at airports work. They don't notice either. Several trips recently I forgot to take my 1 quart baggie of liquids (small hairspray, small shampoo, etc.) out of my carry on. Did they notice, despite their warning signs? Nope. My wife doesn't travel much and she went through the scanner with stuff in her pocket. The signs say you can't do that. Do they notice or care? Nope. It is theater. Theater doesn't have to catch stuff, it just has to make dummies feel safer and make other dummies think twice before bringing weapons and explosives on board.
The testers also are just devising the hardest tests they can, ...
Hmm... Hardest tests? From TFS:
In one case, an alarm sounded, but during the pat down, the screener failed to detect a fake plastic explosive taped to the undercover agent's back.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
In billions. Total=$61B
Departmental Operations 748,024
Analysis and Operations(A&O) 302,268
Office of the Inspector General (OIG) 145,457
U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) 12,764,835
U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) 5,359,065
Transportation Security Administration(TSA) 7,305,098
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) 9,796,995
U.S. Secret Service (USSS) 1,895,905
National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) 2,857,666
Office of Health Affairs (OHA) 125,767
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 12,496,517
FEMA: Grant Programs 2,225,469
U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) 3,259,885
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) 259,595
Science &Technology Directorate (S&T) 1,071,818
Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) 304,423
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/defa...
They get paid regardless of whether they do a good job.
>> they did hire people who weren't previously employable by the government.
FTFY
I kind of liked their "we don't give a crap" attitude. It was very...China.
If you look like a Uyghur you will be checked much more thoroughly. The Chinese don't have the same problems with "ethnic profiling" that we do. I am white. My wife is Chinese. My half-breed kids are occasionally mistaken for Uyghurs, and hassled by security personnel. They have learned to always carry a photocopy of their American passport.