TSA and the War on Drugs
Dec 3, 2016, 8:33 am
#91
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 4
Potasium Nitrate is a powder and very can be made to be very dangerous. Once ignited it is deadly in many forms. Depending on what you mix it with or even on its own. Im going to stop now and you can do your own research. If you have not terrified yourself you have not done enough research. There is another powder that would fly thru any current security screening that is even more scary. I think we should limit what is discussed. I do not want to make it easy for some crazy person or wanna be terrorist. That said you should report anything suspicious when you travel.
I bought a carbon suitcase from a third party seller on Amazon. When I went through JFK they swabbed it and they told me that the inside of the suitcase had been full of drugs. They knew it was not my drugs since my clothes had no drugs on them.
Dec 3, 2016, 10:09 am
#92
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: An NPR mind living in a Fox News world
Posts: 14,165
Dec 3, 2016, 7:51 pm
#93
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,092
Dec 4, 2016, 6:12 pm
#94
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Greensboro
Programs: TSA
Posts: 2,424
LAX, terminal 5.
They go digging through my bag, the item of interest turns out to be a bottle of lite salt. The agent explains the x-ray can't tell the difference between salt and certain other powders.
Afterwards, I realized that the only powder they should care about is gunpowder and the lack of anything that could serve as a pressure vessel would mean it was of no threat, either. Thus he must have meant drugs.
They go digging through my bag, the item of interest turns out to be a bottle of lite salt. The agent explains the x-ray can't tell the difference between salt and certain other powders.
Afterwards, I realized that the only powder they should care about is gunpowder and the lack of anything that could serve as a pressure vessel would mean it was of no threat, either. Thus he must have meant drugs.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...red+explosives
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...red+explosives
There are tons of powdered explosives. they vary in strength just as much as other forms of explosives.
The official position of TSA is that we look for WEI, and powdered explosives fall under the "E" heading.
Dec 4, 2016, 6:13 pm
#95
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Greensboro
Programs: TSA
Posts: 2,424
Dec 4, 2016, 10:35 pm
#96
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,410
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...red+explosives
There are tons of powdered explosives. they vary in strength just as much as other forms of explosives.
There are tons of powdered explosives. they vary in strength just as much as other forms of explosives.
Just because you can do a Google search doesn't mean you actually accomplished much. Your hit #1 links to the page I linked above--note there is no "powder" category.
The only powders on that first hit are black powder--which I dismissed as without confinement it's not useful, flash powder--again, not useful, and ammonal--you need a hefty blasting cap for that.
Dec 5, 2016, 3:38 am
#97
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Potasium Nitrate is a powder and very can be made to be very dangerous. Once ignited it is deadly in many forms. Depending on what you mix it with or even on its own. Im going to stop now and you can do your own research. If you have not terrified yourself you have not done enough research. There is another powder that would fly thru any current security screening that is even more scary. I think we should limit what is discussed. I do not want to make it easy for some crazy person or wanna be terrorist. That said you should report anything suspicious when you travel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_forms_of_explosives
Just because you can do a Google search doesn't mean you actually accomplished much. Your hit #1 links to the page I linked above--note there is no "powder" category.
The only powders on that first hit are black powder--which I dismissed as without confinement it's not useful, flash powder--again, not useful, and ammonal--you need a hefty blasting cap for that.
Just because you can do a Google search doesn't mean you actually accomplished much. Your hit #1 links to the page I linked above--note there is no "powder" category.
The only powders on that first hit are black powder--which I dismissed as without confinement it's not useful, flash powder--again, not useful, and ammonal--you need a hefty blasting cap for that.
Just because something may be made explosive doesn't necessarily make it all that dangerous.
<redacted by moderator>.
Last edited by TWA884; Dec 5, 2016 at 10:56 am Reason: Not necessary
Dec 5, 2016, 8:06 am
#98
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: An NPR mind living in a Fox News world
Posts: 14,165
I know -- As you pointed out above, if allowed to train themselves, some will become counternarcotics experts via The Google, some by watching Cops; and some by personal hands-on experience. I just can't believe that they "accidentally" discover drugs or illegal cash. Maybe I'll start carrying a Zip-lock bag of oregano and see what happens.
Dec 5, 2016, 9:07 am
#99
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: where the chile is hot
Programs: AA,RR,NW,Delta ,UA,CO
Posts: 41,668
From my point of view, screener discretion, augmented or otherwise, puts me at risk every single time I am forced to fly without my medically necessary nitro pills. Even TSA Customer Cares says that my pills may be permitted at the checkpoint. SSI, 'screener discretion', and now 'augmented' unsupervised training can all prevent me from taking my meds with me.
Dec 5, 2016, 9:11 am
#100
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: where the chile is hot
Programs: AA,RR,NW,Delta ,UA,CO
Posts: 41,668
I know -- As you pointed out above, if allowed to train themselves, some will become counternarcotics experts via The Google, some by watching Cops; and some by personal hands-on experience. I just can't believe that they "accidentally" discover drugs or illegal cash. Maybe I'll start carrying a Zip-lock bag of oregano and see what happens.
Bottom line, TSOs are searching for things they are explicitly trained and rewarded for searching for.
<deleted by moderator>.
Last edited by TWA884; Dec 5, 2016 at 10:58 am Reason: Not necessary
Dec 5, 2016, 9:40 am
#101
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
A committee of Congress heard remarkable testimony last week about a long-running programme by the Drug Enforcement Administration. For years, officials from the Department of Justice testified, the DEA has paid millions of dollars to a variety of confidential sources to provide tips on travellers who may be transporting drugs or large sums of money. Those sources include staff at airlines, Amtrak, parcel services and even the Transportation Safety Administration.
Dec 5, 2016, 4:24 pm
#102
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Yes. More can't be expected than that. Amusingly, a full bottle of Coca-Cola is allowed by the screeners if you say it's for a baby. Then they may sometimes try to argue that there is too much for a baby to drink. But if you're flying from the US to Asia or Europe or both, then the quantity argument may end. It's all product of the training. As long as you don't use the magic word "explosive" when showing the mentos and coca-cola bottle, the explosive combination is likely to be able to be cleared if traveling with a lap-child and claiming the stuff is for the baby's long trip. Like drugs, Coca-Cola probably is not good for the average baby/toddler, but the TSA rules and training enable somethings to be cleared with less fuss than something which results in rewards for a TSA "good catch".
Dec 5, 2016, 10:43 pm
#103
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,410
Powdered Mentos candy in a water-soluble gel capsule placed into a sealed bottle of Coca-Cola may be explosive too. Both are readily available for airside purchase at most US international gateway airports.
Just because something may be made explosive doesn't necessarily make it all that dangerous.
<redacted by moderator>.
Just because something may be made explosive doesn't necessarily make it all that dangerous.
<redacted by moderator>.
Dec 6, 2016, 1:48 am
#104
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
This is the product of training, amongst other things.
Dec 6, 2016, 9:27 am
#105
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,092
I know -- As you pointed out above, if allowed to train themselves, some will become counternarcotics experts via The Google, some by watching Cops; and some by personal hands-on experience. I just can't believe that they "accidentally" discover drugs or illegal cash. Maybe I'll start carrying a Zip-lock bag of oregano and see what happens.