chollie

The only people above reproach are the TSOs who have had a background check and are on the honor system to self-report any nastiness they're involved in after that.

What more do you want? Evidence that groups of TSOs have been involved in smuggling drugs, smuggling weapons, and targeting male pax for sexual molestation?

TSA's response would be "yeah, OK, but they're only a tiny part of the work force and besides, they only lied, smuggled, stole and molested - they didn't engage in terroristic acts like pax and airport workers".

Section 107

[QUOTE=chollie;26152949]No one has explained to me why it is impossible to have a device like a laptop constructed so that it is both an explosive device and can appear to power up normally.QUOTE]

It's not. I once saw a training film where they showed us how a Barbasol shaving cream can could secretly keep embryos frozen while still dispensing shaving cream.

Laptop like that that would be a piece of cake or easy as pie. Mmmm, must be getting to be lunch time!

chollie

[QUOTE=Section 107;26153126]I'm still visualizing the Barbasol can - and wondering why?

Yes, it's lunch time.

Boggie Dog

The laptop would be easy. Replace the main battery with a small battery, mounted internally that would allow a few minutes of run time. Use the main battery case as the container for plastic explosive. ETD might give it away but not sure it wouldn't pass on an x-ray.

Boggie Dog

[QUOTE=Section 107;26153126]Wondering about the black market for frozen embryos.

Randyk47

Why bother with that? There's no TSA control for landslide to airside for airport workers so just carry a fake computer (or explosive container of choice) through the back of baggage claim and get it either on an aircraft or slip it to a boarding passenger willing to give his/her all for whatever cause.

Boggie Dog

Your so right and our highly trained, professional security experts at TSA refuse to address this glaring security hole.

exerda

I am sure the TSA will find a way to make things harder on all of us without actually improving security. All laptops out, all laptops must be powered up, etc. If they're really feeling noisome, we'll probably get 100% ETD swabs of laptops.


You sure that wasn't a clip from Jurassic Park?

chollie

I think we are supposed to believe/hope that real threats (not nutters just chancing it, like Reid and Abdullah and the recent Somali), are all going to be handled by another agency's intel before TSA ever gets involved.

TSA and the airlines must also do a patriot test on new hires. A true patriot might take advantage of his position to smuggle drugs and guns and money and to steal and grope innocent people, but he would never ever smuggle something that could jeopardize aviation safety.

I don't know about the rest of you, but TSA is the first outfit I've ever heard of where a background check means you are completely on the honor system and free of suspicion. I've had much higher clearances, and IME, in a well-run organization (not Snowden's), no one is ever above suspicion or immune to unannounced audits and checks.

Loren Pechtel

You certainly could build a bomb into a working machine but I don't think it won't be powerful enough to bring down a plane.

My machine has three drive bays--and no TSA guy would suspect anything if two of them were empty. However, that's only half a cubic inch, not enough to do much with.

There's probably more space to be had against the motherboard (I haven't had mine apart to know how much that might be) and it won't be exposed by a power-up test. It's pretty thin, though, and when you spread explosives out like that you give up some of the destructive ability.

Loren Pechtel

You don't even need a suicide bomber.

Build your fake bomb to look like a common model of laptop. Wait around for someone at a gate with a laptop like it who is careless about their bags soon before the plane boards. Swap machines.

chollie

You'd have to be pretty good to pull that off and not get spotted by an eagle-eyed Spotnik.

Randyk47

I think the point is that there are a number of ways a potential threat could be gotten on an aircraft without ever going through a TSA security passenger checkpoint. Not to dwell on it but it is an amazingly porous environment.

Section 107

what!?!

Boggie Dog

The porous airport security environment is something that we should all dwell on, a lot!

TSA either knows of this security weakness and is negligent in their responsibilities to travelers or TSA is truly incompetent if the security weakness is not known.

Screening of airport workers, including TSA employees, is something that travelers should demand.