Tag Archives: TSA / CBP

TSA fail their own stupid tests

open quoteMore than 25,000 security breaches — an average of about seven per day — have occurred at U.S. airports since November 2001, according to newly released Department of Homeland Security documents.

More than 14,000 were people entering “limited-access” areas by going through airport doors or passageways without permission, or unauthorized people going from airport buildings to planes, according to the documents.

The documents, obtained in advance by USA TODAY, were submitted to a House subcommittee on homeland security Wednesday. The documents don’t provide details about the security breaches or whether any could have led to potential attacks on planes or passengers.

. . . .

In 2006, tests by the TSA showed that security screeners at Los Angeles International Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport failed to find fake bombs hidden on undercover agents posing as passengers in more than 60% of tests, according to a classified report obtained by USA TODAY.

In 2003, five undercover Department of Homeland Security agents posing as passengers carried weapons undetected through several security checkpoints at Boston’s Logan International Airport.

Documents being introduced at Wednesday’s subcommittee hearing also show:

•6,000 security breaches in which Transportation Security Administration screeners failed to screen, or improperly screened, a passenger or a passenger’s carry-on items.

•2,616 security breaches involving an individual gaining unauthorized access to the “sterile area” at screening checkpoints or an exit lane without submitting to all screening procedures and inspections.

•1,026 incidents when someone gained unauthorized access to a sterile area but was “contained” or “constantly monitored” by airport or security personnel until apprehended.

•1,318 incidents in which someone gained unauthorized access from airport perimeters to aircraft operations or security identification display areas and was under constant surveillance until apprehended.close quote (Read more)

TSA pleased with new program which caused 4-hour delay

open quoteBOSTON — New security procedures being tested at Logan International Airport caused significant backups at security checkpoints Thursday, according to airlines.

Backups lasted for about four hours after the Transportation Security Administration began testing a procedure that requires more human interaction between security agents and passengers.

. . . .

An airline worker said the lines were the worst he had seen in 30 years, but the TSA said they were pleased with how the pilot program has gone over the last month and in time it will help them decide who needs more screening and who needs less.close quote (Read more from thebostonchannel.com)

Hmmm. TSA workers exposed to body scanners forming a “cancer cluster”

open quoteIn a FOIA lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, EPIC has just obtained documents concerning the radiation risks of TSA’s airport body scanner program. The documents include agency emails, radiation studies, memoranda of agreement concerning radiation testing programs, and results of some radiation tests. One document set reveals that even after TSA employees identified cancer clusters possibly linked to radiation exposure, the agency failed to issue employees dosimeters – safety devices that could assess the level of radiation exposure.close quote (Read more from epic.org)

Our psychopathic politicians and technocrat army will look at this and say “See? We need government healthcare now!”

TSA Blog about Texas laws banning intrusive searches says plainly

open quoteWhat’s our take on the Texas House of Representatives voting to ban the current TSA pat-down? Well, the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article. VI. Clause 2) prevents states from regulating the federal government.

We wish we lived in a world where you could just walk on a plane with no security screening, but that just isn’t the case unfortunately. Aviation security agencies worldwide have been using pat-downs long before TSA was created to prevent dangerous items from getting onto airplanes. close quote (Read more from blog.tsa.gov)

I wonder if they read the 4th Amendment.

Restaurant bans TSA employees

open quote“We have posted signs on our doors basically saying that [employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)] aren’t allowed to come into our business,” says a woman calling herself KC McLawson who works at “a cafe near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.” She and her boss, the policy’s author, became instant heroes after KC contacted “consumer advocate and journalist” Christopher Elliott and pseudonymously discussed the restaurant’s resolve: “Their kind aren’t welcomed in our establishment.”close quote (Read more from lewrockwell.com)

DHS: We Have the Authority to Routinely Strip-Search Air Travelers

open quoteThe Department of Homeland Security told a federal court that the agency believes it has the legal authority to strip-search every air traveler. The agency made the claim at oral argument in EPIC’s lawsuit to suspend the airport body scanner program. The agency also stated that it believed a mandatory strip-search rule could be instituted without any public comment or rulemaking. EPIC President Marc Rotenberg urged the Washington, DC appeals court to suspend the body scanner program, noting that the devices are “uniquely intrusive” and ineffective.close quote (Read more from lewrockwell.com)

See Also: TSA propaganda shows off the puppies which will eventually be used to harass & intimidate travelers

Texas Legislation Proposes Felony Charges for TSA Agents

open quoteRep. David Simpson (R-Longview) introduced a package of bills into the Texas House of Representatives on Tuesday that would challenge the TSA’s authority in a number of ways. The first bill, HB 1938, prohibits full body scanning equipment in any Texas airport and provides for criminal and civil penalties on any airport operator who installs the equipment. The second bill, HB 1937, criminalizes touching without consent and searches without probable cause.close quote (Read more from tenthamendmentcenter.com)

Obama Pencils In $37 Billion Budget Increase For DHS, Naked Body Scanners

open quoteThe Obama administration is to propose a $37 billion increase in federal spending for the Department of Homeland Security, earmarking funds for more radiation firing naked body scanners in airports around the country.

The DHS’ budget will grow by almost 3 percent over the 2011 budget level, as Reuters reports, while the overall national security budget will increase by almost 2 percent.

The 2012 budget proposal requests $43.8 billion for homeland security across the entire federal government, excluding the Defense Department, up $800 million from 2011.

The DHS plans to add an additional 275 naked body scanners to the 500 already installed and operated by the TSA at 78 airports nationwide.

The administration has proposed deploying 1,275 body scanners in airports by the end of 2012.close quote (Read more from infowars.com)

TSA misses loaded gun, classifies results of tests

open quoteLast fall, as he had done hundreds of times, Iranian-American businessman Farid Seif passed through security at a Houston airport and boarded an international flight.

He didn’t realize he had forgotten to remove the loaded snub nose “baby” Glock pistol from his computer bag.

. . . .

Experts tell ABC News that every year since the September 11 terror attacks, federal agencies have conducted random, covert “red team tests,” where undercover agents try to see just how much they can get past security checks at major U.S. airports. And while the Department of Homeland Security closely guards the results as classified, those that have leaked in media reports have been shocking.

. . . .

According to one report, undercover TSA agents testing security at a Newark airport terminal on one day in 2006 found that TSA screeners failed to detect concealed bombs and guns 20 out of 22 times. A 2007 government audit leaked to USA Today revealed that undercover agents were successful slipping simulated explosives and bomb parts through Los Angeles’s LAX airport in 50 out of 70 attempts, and at Chicago’s O’Hare airport agents made 75 attempts and succeeded in getting through undetected 45 times.close quote (Read more from abcnews.go.com)