Originally Posted by
LessO2
Let's not kid ourselves. When the guy on the west coast (forget where it was....Seattle, Honolulu?) had a shoe that a cobbler left his tool in there, that news spread like wildfire.
When the moron in Tulsa who put a pipe bomb in his carry-on, and was detected, the TSA PR blitz was swift and decisive.
The TSA posts warm and fuzzies about catching a physically challenged person in Orange County with cocaine in his possession during screening.
Considering all of those things that have happened, and the TSA's reaction to them, you can be damn sure the TSA PR force will send out press releases in triplicate to all the newsies and to hell with SSI if the TSA ever made The Big Catch.
These things have one one major fact in common, they were all proven to be isolated incidents with no ties to terror cells or anything even remotely related to organized groups. Of course they are going to publicize these because they show that the system works to catch things. The system is not 100% effective and not perfect, I know that, you know that and the head shed knows that. Hence the reason we have R & D, new tech evaluations and new procedures come up from time to time. I also think that the people in charge of intel and other sections would quarantine a person caught with ties to some cell or organization until they chase those other members down, then publicize the whole thing (keep in mind, it is not like tv where the loonie breaks after 2 minutes of mean talking). There are things caught all the time, people caught all the time and most of the stuff caught is not publicized simply because there is so much happening. I think that if TSA caught a group of loonies trying to take over a plane or bomb one they probably would send things out in triplicate. If TSA catches individuals, not so much.