Frequent flyer finally gets it

A frequent flyer, who also happens to be a news reporter, was sexually assaulted by the TSA. I'm glad she decided to publicize it:
"The pat-down began and was uneventful until she went down my leg, up my dress, and her hand sideways hits me right in the crack of my labia. Startled, I jump and feel a lump in my throat trying to hold back tears."

Time travel at the TSA

This just in:

New airport security measures go into effect in 60 days. These security measures have been used by the TSA since 2008.

I guess the TSA has discovered time travel!

If you think I'm making this up, here's the entire excerpt I'm summarizing:

Airports: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is moving forward with new airport security measures. 

Airport security officials will employ advanced imaging technology — better known as full-body scanners — to screen passengers for explosive devices and other weapons. 

TSA has been using full-body scanners since 2008, but a federal court ordered the security agency to go through the formal rulemaking process. 

The rule goes into effect in 60 days.

Double-speak: When "surrendered" means "stolen"

A friend writes:

I was flying from SBA [Santa Barbara airport] to SFO [San Francisco airport].  I only had carry on since I was just going away for 2 nights to a friend's.  I absentmindedly packed my full size (5.2oz) Tom's toothpaste instead of a smaller tube because I had run out of the small tubes and I didn't think the 3oz liquid rule applied to toothpaste any longer.  

I have TSA pre-check, but - for some reason I haven't quite cleared up - United isn't recognizing me as that so my boarding pass didn't have it noted that way and I had to go through the song and dance of taking my shoes off, and going through the scanner. At SBA they require you to remove your liquids from your suitcase when putting luggage through the x-ray no matter who you are.  As a side note, if I had gone to the ticket counter to insist on Pre-check on my boarding pass (because SBA is so small) the only change would be that I could leave my shoes on and I would go through the old school metal detector.   

After I passed through the full body scanner and was waiting for my luggage and bags to come through they pulled my bag of toiletries aside and said the toothpaste violated the 3 oz rule.  I right away said, "Since when is toothpaste liquid? And, by the way, I've gotten that size tube through in the past."  (I may have fibbed there; not quite sure to be honest.)  They then said I could check my luggage if I like.  At this point who wants to get dressed again to then go downstairs, check in a bag (which is going to add 30 minutes to my trip by waiting for it on a carousel in SFO), then come back up to then just get undressed again and go through security again?  In hindsight I should have said OK, then just went back to my car to put my toothpaste in and still done carry-on.  But, I get so annoyed I can't think straight.  

So, after refusing and saying no, the TSA agent advised that I was surrendering my toothpaste.  That is when I lost my cool.  Hell no! I'm not surrendering anything.  I then accused her of stealing my toothpaste and she said, again: no, she was not; that I was surrendering.  I then decided to school her on the difference of surrendering (doing something voluntarily in my book at that point) vs the TSA taking my toothpaste without me agreeing to it (stealing).  I then grabbed my stuff in a huff and went over to a bench to put everything back on and back together.  Then to the bar to have a stiff drink.  

I just want to pause here and look at a couple things.

An Administrative Victory

Eight years after the TSA began installing naked scanners (and five years after wide-spread airport scanning), it has finally been told to comply with the basic administrative procedure of gathering public comment and issue a final rule. It has 30 days to comply (on top of the 4 years spent ignoring the original court order to comply, on top of not doing it at all for the 4 previous years).

I'm a cynic, so, while I appreciate the Competitive Enterprise Institute's standing firm on this, I don't see any significant changes on the horizon due solely to the TSA finally complying. However, this should at least alert some of the public and Congress to the status of TSA as a rogue agency. Even their final rule will have to ignore comments like mine if anything short of removing the scanners occurs.

An illustration of how inappropriate airport screening is

Another trans woman recently missed her flight and was put through an embarrassing ordeal at the hands of TSA.

There has been a software upgrade on millimeter wave scanners and removal of x-ray backscatter scanners, which supposedly alleviated privacy concerns. And, yet, the scanner can still tell that a person who is dressed like a woman is not anatomically a woman. Furthermore, such flagging by the scanner leads to a hands-on screening that is so personal, it is unclear to the TSA what the gender of the agent should be.

This is a problem. And not just for trans folks.

We should all be able to have a reasonable expectation of privacy for ourselves and our children when we merely want to travel through a modern, convenient, and affordable mode of transportation.

This means, no machines that can see anatomy (or, euphemistically, "anomalies") under our clothes (which, as I have said many times, we wear in large part to cover said anatomy!).

This means, government employees can not touch our body without a legal search warrant.

(So much for the sensitivity of the New York Times. The headline for their article on this topic is, "T.S.A. Defends Treatment of Transgender Air Traveler." Mouthpiece for the powers-that-be much?)

And here's the band-aid

The string of negative publicity following the IG report of the TSA's 95% failure rate at detecting bombs, combined with a Congressional hearing on other TSA ineffectiveness, was so thrilling to see! With editorials across the country calling for abolishing the TSA or at least a top-to-bottom revamp of the TSA, we instead get: a bipartisan bill insisting that the TSA maintain its equipment better (Yeah. That'll work.)

Rice’s legislation, the Keeping Our Travelers Safe and Secure Act (HR 2770), would require the TSA administrator to develop and implement a preventive maintenance process for airport screening technology within 180 days. The process must include specific maintenance schedules, guidance for TSA personnel and contractors on how to conduct and document maintenance actions, mechanisms to insure compliance and penalties for noncompliance.

Note how that barely scratches the surface of the IG's concerns:

“Our audits have repeatedly found that human error— often a simple failure to follow protocol—poses significant vulnerabilities,” [DHS inspector general John Roth] said. Further, despite the billions spent on aviation security technology, “our testing of certain systems has revealed no resulting improvement.”

Other areas of concern include how TSA plans for, buys, develops and maintains equipment; potential for misuse of the expedited PreCheck screening system; continued vulnerabilities in baggage screening equipment; unreliability of the behavior detection program; cybersecurity; and more.

Not to mention all those lost badges.

Is it too much to hope that this loser bill will fail and something with real muscle will be proposed instead?

TSA in the news again: Sexual Assault in Denver

Two great takes in prominent publications on the recent news of Denver screeners manipulating the naked scanners in order to grope the genitals of attractive men:

Time.com has former TSA screener recommending that

One or two full-body scanners per terminal, through which the occasional passenger could be randomly directed (alongside passengers on watch-lists), would provide that adequate deterrence. The vast majority of the traveling public need not pass through a full-body scanner, and need not be groped at all.

That would be a good start, for sure. But, even better, WashingtonPost.com has an editorial calling for abolition of the TSA.

"Surrendering" your belongings

My husband had a round-trip flight recently. In his backpack, along with his laptop, he accidentally left a Leatherman. This had been a gift and was personalized with his full name. He believed that he had it in his car, and when it went through security on the first leg of his trip without tripping an alarm, he was none the wiser. He stayed for a week in the Philadelphia area, and still did not notice this knife and tool combo in his bag.

Of course, as luck would have it, his Leatherman was discovered by the TSA at the Philadelphia airport on his return trip. It was confiscated, but in TSA speak: "surrendered." It sounds more voluntary and less totalitarian that way.

After he got home with no further incidents (I guess he is just an innocent citizen and not a threat to national security, after all), he called the TSA to find out how he could receive his property. It does have his name on it (and a somewhat unique name at that as out last name is not very common) so it should be easy to track down. He was told that he had "surrendered" it and that it was now the property of the TSA.

For the sake of the person who gave my husband the Leatherman, I want to assure everyone that my husband liked it very much and did not re-gift it to the TSA, despite what the TSA says.

Back to his conversation with the TSA: My husband asked what had happened to his property and was told by the person he was speaking to (if automatons can be called people) that they "did not have the authority" to tell him where it was. Apparently, my husband's coerced gift to the feds is now a state secret (now do you see why they should free Bradley Manning?).

Googling the subject later, my husband suspects that the property is turned over to the city of Philadelphia and, if valuable,  auctioned. I told him he ought to call Philly PD and report his Leatherman stolen, last seen at the airport.

TSA budget + $400,000

Because people carry change in their pocket, and this sets off alarms both in metal detector walk-throughs as well as naked scanners, airline passengers unintentionally forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars in change each year. And the TSA, bastion of public service that it is, keeps all that loose change. Seems they should return it to the taxpayers via a refund (could just be a line-item on our 1040a, "Taxpayer money acquired at illegal checkpoints due to you") rather than put back into TSA coffers.

Oh - and how many of you think that none of the agents at the checkpoint pocket some change along the way?

In Time For the Holidays: TSA worker, Arrested for Sexual Assault

ABC News reported that another TSA was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Manassas, VA, making this the tenth screener arrested for a sex crime this year. “The suspect, Harold Glen Rodman, was wearing his uniform and displayed a badge to the victim, a 37-year-old woman. Police arrested Rodman on Nov. 20. He is charged with aggravated sexual battery, object sexual penetration, forcible sodomy and abduction with intent to defile.”
TSA employs 55,000 workers whose daily activities include viewing naked images of travelers and making contact with their genitals. They allow male scanner viewers to view the nude images of men, women and children and do not have privacy software on the 250 x-ray scanners installed at many major airports, including LAX, JFK, O’Hare, Orlando, Boston and Phoenix. TSA has also stated that their employees conduct pat downs on 60,000 passengers a day and make contact with genitals and breasts, including those of children, as a required component of that procedure.
Predictably, when a Federal agency sanctions digital strip searches of women by make workers and requires its workers to rub the genitals of strangers in public many of these workers will come to consider sexual assault acceptable behavior. This culture of arrogant disregard for the privacy rights of passengers attracts those predisposed to these tendencies and erodes their workers respect for the rights of others.In the last twelve months there have been 11 TSA screeners arrested for sex crimes, 10 of which involved children. In all, there have been 62 TSA screeners arrested this year, a rate of one very six days.This level of criminal activity is unacceptable for any Federal agency and is particularly outrageous for one charged with providing airport security.
Congress must investigate this agency and institute the necessary reforms as soon as possible and TSA management held accountable for this breach of the public trust. The traveling public and airline industry can’t afford to wait while TSA gains the needed skills through a series of mistakes and crimes by their personnel.

TSA News Roundup

• We know the TSA doesn't really protect us from terrorists, but it can occasionally catch people who are smuggling live animals (including parrots, snakes and turtles). Aside from such smuggling having nothing to do with national security, I'm pretty sure that stewardesses and fellow passengers could similarly note a live animal on a plane.
• The TSA agent who had used her position of power to aid a drug smuggling ring had her day in court and pled guilty. But, of course, it's "unfair" to form an opinion of other TSA agents based on this one agent's actions. Unless you realize that corruption is bred by bureaucracy.
• What's worse than a regurgitation of a TSA press release about cartoon software upgrades? An editorial that is a regurgitation of said press release. It even ends by saying: "the TSA deserves credit for responding to customer concerns."
• Ineffective TSA lead to calls for draconian measures by some:

The 'professional' TSA

Bureaucrats have been so proud of how "professional" the TSA is now. I'm not sure what this means, but, presumably, it's not a reference to low-life criminality. Bill Fisher writes to me to say:

Another TSA screener arrestedfor child molestation making this the 7th TSA screener arrested since December of 2010 for a sex related crime. This is what you get when the Government sanctions child molestation, sexual assault and strip searches in the guise of airport security.

DA charges Spring Creek TSA Screener with Lewdness & Child Molestation

The others include:

• TSA Agent Rapes 14 Year Old Girl  (youtube)
• PHL TSA Screener Charged with Child Pornography
• TSA agent arrested for molestation (Orlando, FL)
• TSO Arrested for Rape in Londonderry NH
• A TSO arrested for kidnappingand attempted rape in ATL.
• RIC TSA Officer Bob SeasholsAdmits Plot to Post Porn on Christian Site

This now makes 44 screeners arrested in the past nine months.

Separating you from all of your belongings, Part 2

A fearless writer at About.com notes that you are separated from your belongings not only when you go through the scanner, but also when you opt-out.

Keeping tabs on TSA criminals

Some up-to-date compilations are here. An excerpt:

TSA Crimes (28 crimes as of 6-24-11 + 5 = 33 Screeners)

TSA Agent Caught With Passenger's iPad in His Pants; Allegedly Took $50,000 in Other Goods, Cops Say

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/07/tsa_agent_nelson_santiago_ipad_grand_theft.php

Plea Deal In TSA Airport Screener Assault Case

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/funny/plea-deal-tsa-screener-assault-390182

TSA officer Paul Yashou arrested on suspicion of taking $30,000 worth of items from suitcases at LAX

Separating you from all of your belongings

When I travel, I want to make sure I don't lose some key items. My phone, a credit card and/or cash, maybe a key to my house or car, my ID, and maybe a ticket for whatever transportation I'm taking. In the past, when I've gone through airport security, the magnetometer requires that I depart with my cell phone and purse, but I'll often keep my ID, maybe a credit card, and my boarding pass in my pocket or hand. I think this is totally normal behavior, and, to be honest, I'd be much more comfortable if I didn't have to part ways with my cell phone and wallet. And I feel naked without my watch. I avoid(ed) wearing a belt and jewelry when I would fly, and some women even avoid underwire bras (which can definitely make the woman "feel naked") But, the way magnetometers and carry-on x-ray machines are set up, you put things down on the belt, walk alongside the x-ray machine, and - often times - your items come out of the machine after you have made your way through.

I haven't been through a naked scanner, and I haven't seen a checkpoint with one in person. However, in all of the pictures and videos I've seen, the x-ray belt is not directly adjacent to the scanner, and the passenger is standing still, facing sideways, and looking at the inside of the scanner. In one of the numerous stories about the software upgrade, the TSA rep is bragging about how a piece of paper was identified in a man's pocket by the naked scanner.

But wouldn't it be entirely normal for a person to have a $20 in their pocket? Or their ID? Or their boarding pass?

What planet do you live on where you feel safer being visibly and physically separated from all of your belongings, including the various security blankets that you carry with you every other waking hour?

Another TSA thief

They know how to pick 'em!

On Monday police arrested Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport screener Nelson Santiago on two counts of grand theft for allegedly stealing up to $50,000 worth of passenger valuables over a six month period.

Read more.

Update on the scanner-related heckling case

The Smoking Gun reports:

The Transportation Security Administration employee charged with assaulting a coworker who taunted him about the size of his penis after his genitalia was exposed by a full-body scanner has agreed to attend anger management classes and write a letter of apology as part of a settlement of his criminal case, records show.

TSA screener Rolando Negrin, 46, will also perform 50 hours of community service and make a $100 charitable donation, according to terms of a pre-trial diversion program that, if successfully completed, will result in dismissal of the felony battery case lodged against Negrin in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

Blue uniform = hubris and power

That's what these TSA agents must think:


H/T Mark Fee

Another day, another thief

A "lead TSO" was stealing money from tourists at Honolulu's airport. (And, also, security was really bad there anyway, but it's supposedly fixed now .)

Sentencing for TSA criminal

This is an update on the story from earlier this year about the TSA employees at Newark getting caught stealing from passengers: the supervisor collecting graft from the thieves will be locked up.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif