TSA

[Townsend]

I believe the Israelis allow profiling.

So does the USA...just quietly.

[Red Arrow]

So does the USA...just quietly.

The Israelis don't really try to hide it.   The USA tries to deny it.

[patric]

CLEVELAND — A Transportation Security Administration officer was fatally shot by her husband Sunday before he killed himself on an off-site parking lot at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, authorities said.

Before turning the gun on himself, the husband fired at a second TSA employee but missed, police spokesman Sgt. Sammy Morris said. The late morning shooting at an airport employee parking lot was an apparent homicide and suicide, Morris said.

[Townsend]

T.S.A. to Remove Controversial X-Ray Scanners

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/01/18/business/ap-us-airport-scanners.html?partner=socialflow&smid=tw-nytimesbusiness&_r=0

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Transportation Security Administration confirms that it is getting rid of airport body scanners that produce a naked image of travelers.

Right now the TSA uses two types of scanners. One makes a generic image showing where agents should look for an object on the traveler's body. Those scanners are staying.

The other kind of scanner uses X-rays. They raised privacy concerns because they show metal objects on the traveler's body — along with every other detail, too. Congress has mandated that those scanners be changed or removed by June.

TSA says the X-ray scanners will be gone by June. It says the company that makes them, Rapiscan, was not able to come up with a software fix to make the scanners comply with the Congressional mandate.

[patric]

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=16728.msg255753#msg255753

[patric]

On a story about what TSA will allow on planes, there were baskets of all sorts of confiscated things -- a horseshoe caught my eye.

...But in the same basket was one of these shake-dumbells:


http://money.cnn.com/gallery/pf/2012/12/11/tsa-weapons/12.html

For real?  Hijacking an airliner with one of those would have to be epic...

[Gaspar]

On a story about what TSA will allow on planes, there were baskets of all sorts of confiscated things -- a horseshoe caught my eye.

...But in the same basket was one of these shake-dumbells:


http://money.cnn.com/gallery/pf/2012/12/11/tsa-weapons/12.html

For real?  Hijacking an airliner with one of those would have to be epic...

Could cause the pilot to fall out of his seat laughing?

[patric]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles International Airport security screener arrested on suspicion of making threats appears on a website that contains rambling letters criticizing America and a promise of something more devastating than the 9/11 attacks.

Nna Alpha Onuoha, 29, was arrested late Tuesday, hours after he quit his Transportation Security Administration job. He was being interviewed by federal investigators and charges could be filed Wednesday.

The website shows Onuoha posing with crosses and includes several letters filled with religious references. An Aug. 25 posting attributed to him said a message would be released on Sept. 11 and America "will be reduced to nothing."

"Do not expect another 9/11," it said. "What will unfold on this day and on the days ahead will be greater than 9/11."

On Tuesday, federal officials said Onuoha made two calls to LAX after resigning and told officials to evacuate terminals. Parts of the airport were cleared and searched. Nothing was found.

Onuoha, originally from Nigeria, had worked for TSA since 2006 but was suspended recently, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

U.S. Army records show that Onuoha was deployed to Kosovo from 2005 to 2006 — where he earned the rank of specialist and a handful of medals. He participated in the U.S. Vets initiative in Los Angeles, which offers services to service members adjusting to civilian life.

It was unclear when exactly Onuoha first joined U.S. Vets, but officials said he got his job with the TSA six years ago through the program.

[Vashta Nerada]

Power struggle between Police and TSA led to agent's death:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/15/lapd-investigates-delay-in-help-for-tsa-worker/3600363/

[patric]

Last week TSA screeners didnt know that a Washington D.C. drivers license was an American credential,
this week's story is much more creepy:


Law enforcement sources tell us the incident started when Eric Slighton entered the security area wearing khaki pants, a blue polo shirt and blue rubber gloves - an outfit that might have been mistaken for those worn by screeners with the private Covenant security firm.

Slighton, apparently without saying much, steered a woman into one of the private screening booths used to pat down selected passengers, our sources say. What happened inside isn't known, because the woman, who was Asian, soon disappeared to catch an international flight.

A few minutes later, Slighton allegedly directed a second woman toward the booth, our sources say. This time, however, he caught the attention of real screeners, who figured something was wrong because male screeners are prohibited from taking women into the booth for a pat-down without a female screener also being present.

Covenant screeners detained Slighton until San Francisco police officers arrived. Because officers couldn't find any women who had actually entered the booth with the fake screener, they booked him only for alleged public drunkenness.

Besides facing the public drunkenness charge, authorities say, Eric Slighton could be booked on other counts, such as false imprisonment. However, the case has largely gone hush-hush since the federal Transportation Security Administration, which oversees airport security, took over the investigation into how the breach happened.

[patric]

Following the revelation that investigators were able to slip through airport security with weapons and phony bombs more than 95 percent of the time, Homeland Security has vowed to get to the bottom...of whoever leaked this bad publicity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/homeland-security-looking-for-leaker-of-report-on-airport-checkpoint-failures/2015/06/09/570ede22-0eb3-11e5-adec-e82f8395c032_story.html

[patric]

Could cause the pilot to fall out of his seat laughing?

Oh for got about this one.

[Jammie]

http://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines/tsa-fails-to-identify-73-employees-with-terrorism-ties.html

I didn't find this info posted on here so I thought I'd through it out there. Kinda scary!

[patric]

Woman sues over strip search at Tulsa International airport

(AP) – A Las Vegas woman has sued the Transportation Security Administration after she says they made her strip down in Oklahoma before a flight back to Nevada, KTNV reports.

Rhonda Mengert says in her lawsuit she was traveling through Tulsa International Airport on Mother's Day when an implant in her hip set off the metal detector, The TV station reported.

Mengert said she agreed to be pat down by a TSA agent. During the search, the agent found a "common feminine hygiene product" that she was wearing underneath her clothes.

Mengert told KNTV that TSA agents then took her to a private room and asked her to strip down and expose her genitals. The lawsuit says they then instructed her to remove the feminine hygiene product.

"I was told I needed to pull my pants and my underwear down to my knees and remove the item and show it to them for inspection," Mengert said, "it was horrific. It was horrible. It was degrading."

Mengert said she is suffering severe emotional distress and says the search violated her rights.

The TSA issued the following statement about the lawsuit: "Due to pending litigation, we cannot comment on the specifics of this case. TSA does not conduct strip searches and is committed to ensuring the security of travelers, while treating passengers of all ages with dignity and respect."

https://www.foxnews.com/us/woman-sues-tsa-over-strip-search-at-oklahoma-airport