Fredd

On top of that, for those of us worried about germs from groping searches, it's well known that currency is germ-laden.

Two TSA agents were busted today at Kennedy Airport for stealing $160,000 in cash from bags, authorities said.

Davon Webb, 30, and Couman Perad, who turned 36 today, were arrested after admitting they had regularly stolen from checked bags, sources said.

In one instance, Perad, who joined the Transportation Security Administration in 2002, and Webb, who has been an agent since 2004, stole $39,000 on Jan. 30 from a bag at Terminal 8, sources said.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/b...#ixzz1E9GXrIBG

ElizabethConley

Look how long these two thugs have been working for the TSA. How much do you want to bet that they were thieves before they joined and stole the entire time they were employed there?

Fredd

Impossible because they all go through intensive background checks.

N830MH

Well, well, well, he gotten his background checks!!!! Naughty!!! He can't have stealing the money out of checked bags and TSA didn't being caught both of them were trying to attempting steals the passengers money. He could go to jails for the years. He could be banned from his jobs at airports. He won't be accepted work for federal government for the life. He shouldn't not supposed to touch the money at all. Never!!

FriendlySkies

Another one bites the dust...

Definitely a trust-worthy organization

FliesWay2Much

Geez, combined with the Fulbright Scholar in the IND parking lot, that makes three "bad apples" just today!

The official spokeshole response:

FriendlySkies

No coincidence, of course

Where do they find these people? Oh, right, I can answer my own question

FaustsAccountant

Nah. They just need to be retrained *cough*go-watch-a-video-in-the-conference-room*cough*
Then back to "work", business as usual. Isolated incident taken care of.

cordelli

Seriously, who checks a bag with $40,000 in cash in it?

The story goes on to detail a series of security lapses at Newark too:

Also today, the TSA confirmed that a string of security lapses took place at Newark Airport within the past month, the Newark Star-Ledger reported.

A knife inside a carry-on made it past a checkpoint and two passengers were allowed to board flights despite issues with their full-body scans, TSA officials told the newspaper.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the two incidents were among a string of five security lapses at Newark within the last 30 days.

Another incident reported by the officials involved a dead dog that was brought to the airport by its owner and loaded onto a Continental Airlines jet without ever being screened.

TSA officials had reportedly ordered that the dog's carcass be screened, but it never happened.

Fredd

They're obviously not Sherlock Holmes...

Gregory (Scotland Yard detective): "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time."
Holmes: "That was the curious incident."

Ari

I hope the feds take over from the Sstate and indict him; I don't trust the State to give him enough time to think about what he did. I trust a federal judge (who is not exempt from TSA screening, by the way) to sentence more appropriately.

oboshoe

They really have alot of felons for a "company" the size of 60,000 people.

In any large group, you do get some bad apples, as a comparison I work for a private company with a similar employment size. TSA has more "bad apple" incidents in the last month than my company has had in the last decade. Of course we do background checks and try to recruit the best so its probably not a fair comparison.

I bet if you compared the felony rate committed by TSA agents vs the general population, you would find TSA is much worse and probably way way worse than compared against the typical flying public.

oboshoe

Someone who trusts the government to protect them.

jkhuggins

I wouldn't. But there's an interesting question. What's the best way to transport $40,000 in cash? Putting it in your carry-on bag may draw attention to oneself, especially when a TSO notices it during the standard inspection of carry-on items and thinks they made "the big catch". And drawing attention to that kind of money on your person creates its own risks. Leaving it in one's luggage may not be "secure", but nobody expects it.

Schneier tells a story about how, sometimes, security through obscurity does have a role. In 1905, folks wanted to ship a 3106 carat diamond from South Africa to England. News leaked out that it was being hand carried aboard a particular steamer ship, well protected by private security. But the one on the ship was a fake; they had taken the rather bold step of sticking it in a box, putting a three shilling stamp on it, and mailing it to England like any other package. It got there just fine ... precisely because nobody ever expected that someone would do something that preposterous.

I doubt I'd ever do it. 'Course, I'll never have $40,000 in cash to transport in my lifetime, either. But it may not be quite as crazy as it appears.

ElizabethConley

I'm confident you're 100% correct.