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WZVN-TV: 5 TSA employees removed from duty @ Southwest Florida International (RSW)

WZVN-TV: 5 TSA employees removed from duty @ Southwest Florida International (RSW)

Old Jun 2, 2012, 6:03 am
  #1  
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Exclamation Rep Mica:"meltdown of TSA operations & significant system failure@Florida airport

Politico's Burgess Everett has breaking news about an incident at an unspecified Florida airport:

Politico:
John Mica tells TSA to come clean about airport 'meltdown'

6/1/12 10:35 PM EDT


A short quote:
Rep. John Mica accused TSA on Friday night of keeping the press in the dark about an incident that may indicate a dramatic meltdown of TSA operations and a significant system failure at an unspecified Florida airport.

I am calling on TSA to make details of this latest meltdown public, and disappointed they would try to keep the media in the dark about this latest system failure that is once again embarrassing to that agency, the Florida Republican said.

An aide to Mica said the House Transportation and Infrastructure chairman received information of proposed disciplinary action, but declined to comment further. Background on a news release from the committee said the incident may involve a substantial number of TSA employees, including high-ranking airport security officials.
The article also includes a TSA statement that implies that TSA employees are actually being fired over this incident.
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Old Jun 2, 2012, 6:11 am
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WZVN-TV: 5 TSA employees removed from duty @ Southwest Florida International (RSW)

TSA has begun the process to fire five (5) TSA employees at Fort Meyers' Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW):

WZVN television:
5 TSA employees removed from duty at RSW

Posted: Friday, June 1, 2012 9:15 PM EST
Updated: Friday, June 1, 2012 9:16 PM EST


A short quote:
According to the TSA, an investigation determined that some of the employees did not follow the proper procedure for applying random, supplemental screening procedures during an isolated period last year.

The TSA ensures that all bags and people were screened and travelers were never in danger.
There you have it, folks -- even TSA admits that travelers are never in danger when its proper procedures are ignored.
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Old Jun 2, 2012, 9:32 am
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Originally Posted by RatherBeOnATrain
TSA has begun the process to fire five (5) TSA employees at Fort Meyers' Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW):

WZVN television:
5 TSA employees removed from duty at RSW

Posted: Friday, June 1, 2012 9:15 PM EST
Updated: Friday, June 1, 2012 9:16 PM EST


A short quote:
According to the TSA, an investigation determined that some of the employees did not follow the proper procedure for applying random, supplemental screening procedures during an isolated period last year.

The TSA ensures that all bags and people were screened and travelers were never in danger.
There you have it, folks -- even TSA admits that travelers are never in danger when its proper procedures are ignored.
what random procedures did they not apply? didn't ring enough chimes during random gropes?
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Old Jun 2, 2012, 10:39 am
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Q: What do you call 5 TSA employees fired at one airport?

A: A start, but not nearly enough.

Five down, 60,000+ to go.
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Old Jun 2, 2012, 11:19 am
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Originally Posted by Caradoc

Five down, 60,000+ to go.
This behavior does in no way reflect on the other, fine TSA employees, for they commit other crimes.
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Old Jun 2, 2012, 12:57 pm
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"TSA holds all of its employees to the highest professional and ethical standards and has a zero tolerance for misconduct in the workplace,
Now where have I heard this before?
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Old Jun 2, 2012, 1:41 pm
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Originally Posted by goalie
Now where have I heard this before?
"If you say it three times, it must be true"

Three times TSA, not Ad nauseam....
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Old Jun 2, 2012, 1:48 pm
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I'd like to think that perhaps this episode and some of the others we've witnessed (an airport that allegedly was going to terminate employees for failing to screen a relatively small number of random bags) is part of a larger effort to start cleaning up some of the agency's problems.

Unfortunately, there still doesn't seem to be any attempt to offer the pax viable real-time support from an unbiased source when things go haywire at the checkpoint.
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Old Jun 2, 2012, 1:49 pm
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"Good Catch" Article - WINK News Now:TSA finds loaded handgun in suspect's bag at RSW

Here's a "Good Catch" article from Tuesday:

WINK News Now:
TSA finds loaded handgun in suspect's bag at RSW

May 29, 2012 at 1:01 PM


A short quote:
LEE COUNTY, Fla.- The Lee County Port Authority detained a 59-year-old man at the Southwest Florida International Airport on Sunday after TSA officers found a firearm in his bag.

Michael Anderson was arrested on charges of carrying a concealed weapon.
The incident appears to have happened on May 27, 2012, since RSW is listed in the "Firearms" table (JPG) in the weekly Blogdad Bob update: Blogdad Bob - Friday, June 1, 2012

Good work, Blogdad Bob, for posting that table as a JPEG -- as you know, the search engines cannot text data when you post it as graphics.
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Old Jun 2, 2012, 7:39 pm
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The employees were dismissed for not conducting random, supplemental screening operations during 2011.

This reads like they weren't doing name game or gate checks...that they truly were Thousands Standing Around.
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Old Jun 2, 2012, 10:05 pm
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Hm... let's examine the Telephone game being played by the news organizations here:

The Politico article says "The employees were dismissed for not conducting random, supplemental screening operations during 2011, according to NBC2."

This makes it sound like they were not conducting the searches they were supposed to be conducting.

But the NBC2 article's exact words (repeated verbatim in the ABC7 article) are "According to the TSA, an investigation determined that some of the employees did not follow the proper procedure for applying random, supplemental screening procedures during an isolated period last year."

This is an entirely different proposition. Not following proper procedure for applying random searches could mean a LOT of different things - including selecting only attractive females for pat-downs, or perhaps "profiling" only people with certain skin tones or certain ethnic appearances, or even targeting only people who failed to respect TSA's authoritah.

So, I'm wondering if maybe some of the blatant abuses of authority and knowing departures from proper procedure that we've heard reported here on FT over the last few years have finally caught up with at least a few bad apples.
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Old Jun 2, 2012, 10:39 pm
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Originally Posted by WillCAD
Hm... let's examine the Telephone game being played by the news organizations here:

The Politico article says "The employees were dismissed for not conducting random, supplemental screening operations during 2011, according to NBC2."

This makes it sound like they were not conducting the searches they were supposed to be conducting.

But the NBC2 article's exact words (repeated verbatim in the ABC7 article) are "According to the TSA, an investigation determined that some of the employees did not follow the proper procedure for applying random, supplemental screening procedures during an isolated period last year."

This is an entirely different proposition. Not following proper procedure for applying random searches could mean a LOT of different things - including selecting only attractive females for pat-downs, or perhaps "profiling" only people with certain skin tones or certain ethnic appearances, or even targeting only people who failed to respect TSA's authoritah.

So, I'm wondering if maybe some of the blatant abuses of authority and knowing departures from proper procedure that we've heard reported here on FT over the last few years have finally caught up with at least a few bad apples.
Or perhaps male screeners objected to groping male pax, so only female pax were selected for gropes.

Someone registered a complaint, and it seems highly unlikely to me that it was a pax, particularly because this appears to have involved multiple TSOs over a period of time.

TSA HQ has to assure us that safety was never compromised, since apparently this took place over a period of time and the screeners were still actively employed until recently.

I'm a bit skeptical when TSA (only in recent months) suggests that terminations are being processed. Supposedly 28 screeners were going to lose their jobs in HNL, but the last report I saw said that most were appealing that decision. Let's not forget that the BUF BDO who escorted drug dealers past security had already been terminated once before being rehired.

The change in language in the press releases is interesting, however. We don't seem to be hearing as much about 're-training' these days, and a willingness to even suggest that TSA might consider terminating a TSO is unusual, to say the least. In the past, no matter how egregious the offense, TSA would never go farther than saying that the TSO was no longer with the agency.
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Old Jun 3, 2012, 1:28 pm
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Originally Posted by dimramon
This behavior does in no way reflect on the other, fine TSA employees, for they commit other crimes.
I think they having a criminal background check. They didn't passed the background check.
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Old Jun 3, 2012, 4:46 pm
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Another article, this one from Matt Grant at Fox-4 (WFTX-TV):

Fox-4 (WFTX-TV):
TSA investigates RSW employees
TSA employees disciplined at Southwest Florida International Airport

Jun. 2, 2012


A short quote:
"TSA holds all of its employees to the highest professional and ethical standards," said TSA spokesperson Sari Koshetz in a statement, "and has zero tolerance for misconduct in the workplace."
Sari "zero tolerance for misconduct" Koshetz was the TSA spokesperson who was threatening mainstream media about not covering the viral YouTube video showing that the nude-o-scopes are competely worthless:

TSA Out of Our Pants:
BREAKING: TSA Threatens Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story

March 8, 2012
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Old Jun 3, 2012, 10:10 pm
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So...they firing 5 TSA screeners from airport? Why? Is that inappropriate behavior at RSW. They can't go through the scanner. No one would putting everyone into the scanner. This is unacceptable for the behavior. Leave the passengers alone! Nobody who doesn't want go through the scanner. This must remove all scanner out of airports immediately.
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