Originally Posted by
halls120
I think we're talking past each other on this point. I'm not talking about terminating the contract of the company. I'm talking about terminating individual contract employees.
Even more so. The company I worked for was more interested in retaining employees rather than retaining quality employees. I wrote people up for reporting in late, sleeping on duty and being rude to passengers. End result: I was "counseled" by my boss for being "too gung-ho" and reminded that this wasn't the military. Here I thought I was upholding the company standards. I'm not saying that this is the case across the board; I am just sharing my personal experience with you that private security companies are not the panacea you think them to be. The bottom line IS the bottom line rather than quality; and it seemed that the airlines were completely comfortable with this.
Originally Posted by
halls120
You seem to have a habit of questioning the motives of everyone who disagrees with you. Pretty defensive on your part. And offensive, to be honest.
I'm a paratrooper. What the hell else do you expect?
Originally Posted by
halls120
I believe we need a professional airport security staff. I've never said otherwise, your baseless insinuations notwithstanding. I believe it can be accomplished without federalizing the screening staff. The fact that a large airport like SFO continues to exist without a federalized staff supports my position.
SFO does have a federalized staff. It is not an independent private security company. It has TSA managers, a TSA FSD and it is trained by TSA instructors like myself.
Originally Posted by
halls120
That isn't reality, it's your preference, because it's your profession.
25 years of security experience down the drain. Sh%t!
Originally Posted by
halls120
Doubt it all you want. If you are going to be honest about it, you'll freely admit that TSA's own in-house inspectors have been caught tipping off airport sites in advance of a pending inspection.
What is true is that officers network. Seems that if one terminal (or concourse) is hit by the Red Team, the sister terminals find out right away. This is a common challenge face by any inspection team. As for TSA inspectors themselves tipping off airports in advance, I have to tell you, I do not know of any. This is not to say, however, that they "OPSEC'd" themselves; in other words, in trying to be discreet, they do the opposite and tip themselves off. Not saying that it's not possible; just saying that I don't know about any specific instance of an inspector violating his or her code of conduct and being employed the next day.
Originally Posted by
halls120
I'm sure that if TSA leadership had any kind of evidence that TSA airports performed significantly better than contract security airports, it would be plastered all over the media by TSA.
I'm not sure that it would. What I am telling you is that as far as I know, there is no database that compares airports nationwide. I'm sure that there's enough data to allow that capability; but I haven't read any reports that actually compares contract airports or federalized airports. Disbelieve it if you wish; I am just sharing what I've read and, in this case, have not come across. Results are airport-oriented; in other words, designed to let each FSD know what areas he or she have to work on.
Originally Posted by
halls120
I'm sure you would. And I'm sure you do a fine job. The problem is, in a November 2007 report, GAO has determined that there is really no difference between the federalized TSA workforce and the contract workforce.
Of course not, because they are TSA-trained in accordance with TSA standards. There is no such thing as a private security company conducting airport screening. That's been my point all along. The so-called private companies are, in reality, federalized contractors. They are treated the same as their federalized counterparts except they are contracted whereas their federalized counterparts are not.
You said they were performing better, and I challenged that claim. I do not challenge that they are performing about the same. I would expect them to.
Originally Posted by
halls120
Oh, and it isn't a "six-year old report."
I may have been a bit hasty. I've been haunting this board for several years and the frequent whiners, uh, flyers, love to quote this six-year old report as their basis for replacing federal officers with private screeners.
By the way, why haven't the airports opted out of federal screening when given the opportunity? Actually, it's been TSA that opted out of certain airports and encouraged them to hire contract screeners, typically at one-horse airports where it would be more cost-effective.
Doh!