Originally Posted by
Boggie Dog
I actually have no doubt that TSA has very poor descriptions of what an employee must do in their job.
Evidence of this is the reports from the flying public on how they receive different treatment at various checkpoints. Another point of evidence is the common failure of TSA to find threat objects during various testing cycles. GAO covered this topic pretty well.
Simply put TSA and its employees are incompetent. Not from lack of individual ability but from some of the poorest senior management this country has ever witnessed.
For TSA to improve will require major changes at the top.
Sadly I see little chance of that happening.
From the report:"The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) uses undercover, or covert, testing to approximate techniques that terrorists may use to identify vulnerabilities in and measure the performance of airport security systems. During these tests, undercover inspectors attempt to pass threat objects through passenger and baggage screening systems, and access secure airport areas."
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08958.pdf
I won't go to the ridiculous extent of saying that it is good for TSOs to fail tests, but I can verify the truth of this statement from personal experience. The covert tests are not solely designed to evaluate the abilities of TSOs. (There are a lot of other tests to do that.) The covert tests are designed to test potential security vulnerabilities. This expands beyond poor TSO performance.
With the election coming, there will inevitably be some changes at TSA. I am actually eager to see what happens.
Originally Posted by
PhlyingRPh
I've been in situations where I have either been selected for a retaliatory screening , have intervened to point out to a TSA Supervisor that someone else is being subjected to a retaliatory screening or have intervened when someone wearing a religious headscarf is told to take it off before going through the metal detector. It's cost me a great deal of personal time and I have missed flights but I don't mind because I feel so strongly about fighting the attitudes I often see and educating people (TSO's and pax) on their rights.
^^^^^^^^
I love hearing about the public doing this, although it makes me very angry that it's necessary. In fact, I have made some "friends" at my airport among both uniformed staff and management for pointing out similar abuses. (I figure it's better for me to do it. What are they going to do, fire me for pointing out violations of TSA policy and civil rights? I wonder how well
that will go for them.) Of course, I mostly get support from those who are not involved in violations.
I hope I have occasion to (as a regular passenger)go through the airport where you saw a screener telling someone to remove a religious head scarf. Can you imagine what sort of trouble would come from an off duty TSA employee serving as a witness to the passenger's civil rights complaint?
Anyway, keep up the good work. TSOs and passengers need to be educated about passenger rights. (And, occasionally about TSO rights, but that's another discussion.)I hope you are not caused to miss any more flights, and that you get proper compensation if you do miss more flights.