Airline screeners fail government bomb tests

[Alicnwondrln]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11863165/

i wonder why i dont feel safer.

 

[DebbieB]

I was going through Newark airport this afternoon. I noticed that the screeners were all having a big conversation about baseball players. I was watching the guy looking at the scanner, I really wondered how carefully he was looking and discussing baseball at the same time.

 

[JudicialTyranny]

Not to turn it into something political, but after 9/11, the Democrats told us that this wouldn't happen if we made all of the screeners "career" government employees.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

well i ofund this intersting cuz in of the bush low poll numbers threads I wa stold i was lucky bush was preisdent cuz i am so much safer
LOL
LOL give me a break

 

[Free4Life11]

I think it's ridiculous that you practically have to strip these days and they still can't detect stuff!

I'm glad they're finally not wasting their time with razors and nail clippers anymore, even small scissors. Let them detect the real stuff, guns, large blades, and chemicals/bombs.

I personally don't believe for a SECOND that the 9/11 hijackers took over the plane with boxcutters. I don't believe it. Sure if you cut someone just perfect you could porbably hurt or even kill them, but I just have a hard time belieiving it.

That being said, what chemicals did they smuggle through? How easy would it be to construct a bomb, once through security, without anyone noticing.

 

[Charade]

well i ofund this intersting cuz in of the bush low poll numbers threads I wa stold i was lucky bush was preisdent cuz i am so much safer
LOL
LOL give me a break

We had two choices for airport security. Government employees or the private sector.

Which would you have prefered?

 

[Charade]

This does disturb me but I'm thinking, did we really need to know this now? Now the terrorists know. If they found a failure in the system, they should have detected it, fixed it, THEN told us about it.

 

[escape]

This does disturb me but I'm thinking, did we really need to know this now? Now the terrorists know. If they found a failure in the system, they should have detected it, fixed it, THEN told us about it.

I often think the same thing when the government announces stuff like this.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

The TSA is a joke, a huge expensive joke filled with people who get paid too much and have too many protections. What should have been done was to contuinue with private screeners with federal oversight, and requiring certian training that would need to be repeated so often.

Actually some airports have been permitted to go back to private screeners,and I guess it's an option now for all airports, but it seems we are stuck in a rut.

Either way, things will get through, always. My main issue is how much we are spending on this program.

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

For those of you whose only contact with TSA Screeners is what you see at the airport, I can understand your feelings, especially when the news media is always portraying these screeners so poorly. But from someone who is married to one of those federal officers, let me tell you a little about his high paying easy job. First off, my DH was in the military. After leaving the military he worked for the Federal government through the veterans administration. He chose to become a screener after 911, because he thought it was important. He still does. After a full lifetime of government work, he took a cut in pay to become a screener. I make more than he does. He doesn't even make $30,000 a year. But he loves his job. He loves interacting with you people that come through his check point. And for all that, he does not have job security. You know why? Because these "screeners" and for your information they are transportation security officers, must go through rigorous constant training. They are tested every few weeks. If they fail any portion of a test, they are given one opportunity to retest. If they do not pass again, they are removed from whatever area they have not passed, put through training again and if they again do not pass, they are fired. Because they are watching for so many things and the list is constantly being updated, they are in constant training mode. They do not yet have the capability for bomb sniffing equipment, so they can only detect from the naked eye things that might alert them. And because bomb making varies to such great degree and idiots every day are creating new ways to make them, something that could potentially make a bomb might slip through. However I am constantly reassured by my DH and his coworkers at the number of firearms and weapons confiscated on a daily basis. I am surprised at the ignorance of the travelers who continue to assume they can carry these weapons through. The job is not easy and the officers must take constant abuse by travelers who see them as stupid screeners, whose job it is to make the passenger miserable. But for those of you who take the time to smile, you make my DH's day, and thank you for understanding he is there for you, he views his job as serving his country and he enjoys knowing he is doing something to help make you safer.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

For the record I work in the industry and my DH is an airport police officer, and that is where my knowledge and feelings come from.

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

It all comes down to each individual airport. Our TSA officers work with the police officers. However, as in every area of employment, levels of excellence vary, it always depends on the management and quality of employees hired.

 

[LisaR]

For those of you whose only contact with TSA Screeners is what you see at the airport, I can understand your feelings, especially when the news media is always portraying these screeners so poorly. But from someone who is married to one of those federal officers, let me tell you a little about his high paying easy job. First off, my DH was in the military. After leaving the military he worked for the Federal government through the veterans administration. He chose to become a screener after 911, because he thought it was important. He still does. After a full lifetime of government work, he took a cut in pay to become a screener. I make more than he does. He doesn't even make $30,000 a year. But he loves his job. He loves interacting with you people that come through his check point. And for all that, he does not have job security. You know why? Because these "screeners" and for your information they are transportation security officers, must go through rigorous constant training. They are tested every few weeks. If they fail any portion of a test, they are given one opportunity to retest. If they do not pass again, they are removed from whatever area they have not passed, put through training again and if they again do not pass, they are fired. Because they are watching for so many things and the list is constantly being updated, they are in constant training mode. They do not yet have the capability for bomb sniffing equipment, so they can only detect from the naked eye things that might alert them. And because bomb making varies to such great degree and idiots every day are creating new ways to make them, something that could potentially make a bomb might slip through. However I am constantly reassured by my DH and his coworkers at the number of firearms and weapons confiscated on a daily basis. I am surprised at the ignorance of the travelers who continue to assume they can carry these weapons through. The job is not easy and the officers must take constant abuse by travelers who see them as stupid screeners, whose job it is to make the passenger miserable. But for those of you who take the time to smile, you make my DH's day, and thank you for understanding he is there for you, he views his job as serving his country and he enjoys knowing he is doing something to help make you safer.

I am not nasty, mean or disrespectful to any screener (or hopefully anyone I encounter). I am glad your DH takes his job seriously and I appreciate that. However, the FACTS are very clear that the job is not getting done in many airports. I am not sure if it is because of lack of equipment to screen properly, lack of training, lack of pay or lack of caring. In all honesty, I don't care what the reason is. I just want it fixed.

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

Has it ever occurred to anyone that maybe they want the TSA portrayed the way it is? The media never actually is allowed to have knowledge of actual threats. I know this because of terrorist alerts and bomb threats right here in our own airport, that no one ever knew about. There is so much I have learned from DH. The job of the TSA is to make the passengers feel safe and they do that by the passenger never knowing what has been confiscated or who has been pulled out of boarding because of the threat they pose. My boss was flying to MCO and before she boarded they had a bomb scare. It never even made the media, which means TSA did their job correctly. She never knew about that and I never told her because TSA officers are not suppose to share that info. They took 2 major weapons off a passenger from my bosses flight and she never knew. Had she known, she would have refused to fly. She is terrified of flying. I knew before her flight ever left the ground. Did she think going through the bag check was annoying? I'm sure she did. Did she think it was stupid when the officer tried joking with her? Yes. But what she never knew kept her safe. None of those passengers knew that a man flagged as a terrorist had been kept from flying that flight. And that is what is important. I'm done defending my DH. Carry on with your Dis duties

 

[Miss Jasmine]

It isn't just the media that the TSA does not inform, it often does not inform the LEOs, the ones who are charged with the actual security of the airport. It's a screwed up system and it needs help. For goodness sakes nothing is ever done locally, everything is cleared with Washington. So why the heck do we even need local management. And the things they want people arrested for, it would boggle your mind.

I really don't even want to get going on all of this.