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."

Comments

from my limited experience

[antiperimetaparalogo]

Long time ago i served as a conscript in the Greek Special Forces: part of our training was to do infiltration inside (Greek) "regular" forces' bases - that was for us (S.F.) a training in missions we may do in a real war situation AND a test for the bases' security (on behalf of the regular army/navy/air force command)... while we (S.F.) almost always succeed (so, "regular" forces "failed"), i can guarantee the good status of Greek "regular" forces' base security.

My point is that the methods (and level of "fake enemy") on those "friendly" security checks are very different from what most people (most "bad guys" included) will ever use.

Re:Security theatre.

[Required Snark]

The real name of the Department of Homeland Security: the Department of Homeland Pork

The TSA clowns at airports are not government employees, they are private contractors. It the last resort for someone who wants to wear a uniform and have a badge but is too incompetent to be a mall cop. So it's no surprise that they have a 95% failure rate.

A huge chunk of taxpayer money gets wasted and there is little real world payoff. Make no mistake, the real big bucks go to the upper management, political insiders who grease the wheels for lucrative contracts. Just a division of the military industrial complex.

Another example: the Air Force just signed the very first contract with Boeing for commercial manned flights to the International Space Station. The Boeing crew vehicle hasn't even flown yet, unlike the SpaceX capsule which is now going through it's manned launch escape testing. Boeing is in bed with the AF, SpaceX isn't. All the AF guys know that they will just slide over to high paying jobs at Boeing when they retire, and there are lots of Congress Critters who get campaign contribution from Boeing, and want to protect defense jobs in their state.

Saving money? Competition? Innovation? Not even on the table. It's government of, by and for the insiders. And you are paying for it.