Originally Posted by
gsoltso
Why would TSA, a non-LEO entity, with no investigative arm (for this type of situation anyway), no powers of arrest, and no true business in this situation, be involved in the investigation? It doesn't pertain to TSAs mission, and therefore should be handled by the LEOs.
I am kind of at a loss here, the vast majority of comments about a situation where TSA IS involved in any investigation (even when there is a call for them to be involved), call for TSA to remove themselves from said investigation forth-with. Now you are.... calling for TSA to insert themselves into an investigation that didn't occur in one of their areas of reponsibility, and perform what part of the investigation exactly? What would that serve? Other than the local LEOs informing TSA that "hey we found some gun parts in this here bathroom, you guys be aware of your surroundings", there should be no interaction in this investigation.
Ok - I can see I'm doing a pretty poor job of explaining myself. My point is not that TSA, in its present form, should be involved. My point is that the fact that TSA is not involved shows what a pointless agency it truly is.
The large majority of posters here don't dislike the TSA because of some inherent fear of the government, desire to be pains in the ..., etc. IMO people tend to hate the TSA for two reasons 1) the fact that the agency appears to be able to do whatever they want with no oversight and 2) the fact that with all the time, money, and effort the TSA spends they ultimately haven't negatively impacted the likelihood of terrorist actions one bit since 9/11.
Let's address #2. If TSA (as an agency) was actually concerned about decreasing the likelihood of terrorist actions than being involved would be an absolute necessity, as you can't discount the possibility that this was just step #1 in a 10 step process of smuggling a gun airside (regardless of the assumptions made by law enforcement agencies in the article). By ignoring this potential (while maybe not likely but potential) beginning of a threat they fail in their mission.
Posters mention over and over how the TSAs ridiculous policies (such as "say your name") will not catch a single terrorist, as anyone with true ill-intentions is going to practice, run-through, explore options, identify alternate scenarios, etc. What if this was part of a dry run by a terrorist group - let's leave gun parts around an airport and just see how long it takes someone to find them? I'm not saying that's the case - in fact its extremely unlikely - however this is a much more likely scenario than Abdul Mohammed going and getting a fake ID with a non-Arab name that they've never tried to say out-loud before.
By not being involved in investigations such as this, TSA proves that it has created a system, organization, and methodologies that fail its mission.