Welcome to FlyerTalk!
Originally Posted by
spacev1986
So bit of a background... im 26 years old and currently hold a degree in Security Studies. I spent a year working in college as part of a co-op program with a local law enforcement agency, im also currently a paramedic and taking classes in incident management. Suffice to say, i have plenty of academic background in matters of criminal justice and homeland security. Additionally, ive been working for just over 4 years as a TSO. Ive worked at 2 seperate airports, one that was federally operated and another that was under the Private Screening Program. So im not some random jerk, ive got alot of background on issues of transportation security.
also a disclaimer, what im about to say is my opinion alone and does not represent the view of the federal government or TSA. at least not as a whole.
Now, too the bulk of it... im not sure how much longer i can keep doing it. The money is decent. Federal pension and benefits are great. But the BS is just out of control. Where to begin... I know alot of the Frequent Flier types think all TSA agents are just government robots, but the fact is a good chunk of us hear your frustrations and agree with you guys 100% and really would LOVE to see the program fixed so its more efficient and effective... But stuffy management types and washington beaurecrats that are under pressure from lobbyists arent in any rush to change things, even though Mr. Pistole is trying...
It sounds like you're coming at this with a LEO angle, since this seems to be your career path, but an administrative search of people and belongings for weapons / explosives / incendiaries is not a law enforcement activity. What is Pistole trying to do?
Originally Posted by
spacev1986
Recruitment: They need to stop recruiting people out of welfare offices and off pizza boxes. I know plenty of people sitting on college degrees or veterans just returning from OIF/OEF who would much rather be working for TSA than working in the resturant and construction jobs theyre stuck in. Instead of hiring anything with a pulse, they should spend time at college and veteran's job fairs. At least then, you get people who have half a brain and have some work experience. The requirements should be raised from just a GED, to at least SOME college and previous work experience in security or transportation. Of course hiring better people means paying more. But if you hire better people, and train them well, you need ALOT fewer people. so it doesnt make a difference if you pay them a little more.
Screeners start out at $28,000 and max out at $36,000, according to the ones
complaining about low pay. For comparison, a First Officer at ExpressJet (the largest regional) will earn $22,080 in their first year. After five years they will earn $38,400 a year. This is assuming they are flying the maximum of 80 hours a month and not drawing only the contractual minimum.
Originally Posted by
spacev1986
Selection Process: The current selection proccess is a joke. A trained monkey could more than likely pass the computer based test. The background check was probably the shortest ive ever gone through... ive even heard cases of people being employed for a year or more before their background was even done because of the backlog. Drug test yeah they do it once when you get hired, but after that its never done again. The Fitness test is a joke. You pick up some weights and walk from one room to the other. Half the people they hire have back/shoulder/hip conditions that prevent them from lifting baggage or doing much of any serious labor. How to fix it? Well for starters, make the initial testing serious instead of a joke. The background check should be the real deal that CBP and every other fed agency puts its people through, complete with a psychological evaluation. That would weed out alot of the "i have a badge so im god" types. Everyone should be required to achieve and maintain a minimum of secret clearance, so that TSO's would actually have access to the intelligence information that would help them perform their jobs effectiveley. Drug testing should be recurrent. While the physical demands of the job arent all that high, the physical test should be a little more stringent. Theres too many overweight, unkempt and unhealthy people working the checkpoints. whose more of a deterrent to a would be terrorist? a 28 year old in good shape with a spiffy uniform and a tight haircut, or a 400lb 60 year old who hasnt shaved in a month and cant even tuck his shirt in? Looks go a long ways towards deterrence, which is half the point of the checkpoints. If you hired smarter, younger, more capable people you would need half as many people to do the same amount of work.
Screening people and belongings is not rocket science, and there is no reason to grant those employees doing that job "secret clearance". Rep. Blackburn has introduced a bill stripping screeners of their policemans costume and "officer" title, and no, there are not terrorists waiting to stream into the sterile area once screeners are attired in civilian slacks and a polo-style shirt. I expect screeners to be as employable and presentable similar to any other unskilled service sector job that may require some physical activity, say a worker at Costco. Nothing more, nothing less.
Originally Posted by
spacev1986
Training: The current training process is insufficient. Theres not enough on the job training, the OJT instructors arent the top notch people they should be. The classroom training consists of a bunch of poorly constructed powerpoint presentations and some crappy computer learning modules. Realistically, the most serious threat to aviation is the IED, yet the IED training module was largely (at least when i did it 4 years ago) and old program developed by the FAA in the 90's. IED technology and concealment tactics have changed significantly since then. OJT and classroom training needs to be longer. Training should consist of far more in depth review of certain topics, specifically the legalities of administrative searches, people skills and IED's. A HUGE portion of the training should be dedicated to IED's, as its the most serious threat, yet the most difficult to detect. a 4hr class once a year just doesnt cut it. The TSA should work closely with the Military and Law Enforcement when developing the IED training curriculum. The Military has more experience and expertise on the topic than anyone. Alot could be learned about IED's and IED detection from what has been seen in Iraq/Astan. The test/training bag program is a joke, the bags are way to easy and X-ray techs are still missing them. They need to actually make test bags a realistic representation of what the most likely method of concealement for an IED will be, based on the latest intel. Just as much time should be devoted to training people how to carry themselves and interact with people professionally. Im not saying homeland security is the same as customer service. But theres something to be learned from some major companies (disney anyone?) about how to deal with people on a person-person level. TSO's need better training on how to defuse tense situations rather than just argue and escalate things. The Verbal Judo program is a good start. Its a simple thing really... the nicer you are to people who are totally innocent, the more likely they are to 1) cooperate with you and 2) report people who actually are doing something nefarious. Its Community Policing 101. A "thank you" and "sir" go along way in gaining people's cooperation. Barking orders when working the front of the lane people not only pisses people off more and makes them tune you out, it also distracts the .... out of the x-ray operators.
Additionally, better training means more confident x-ray techs. That means fewer unecessary bag searches. That means fewer search officers are required. Fewer people means saving the taxpayers money. Lines will move faster too. If X-ray operators had the best training, it wouldnt be necessary to pull laptops out of suitcases. a good operator would be able to determine theres no IED concealed in a laptop 90% of the time without the need to have the laptop removed. Better training also means better security... more threat items being kept off planes. Its a win-win for everyone involved.
How much recurrent training is done on SOP? As for IEDs, that's what Explosive Trace Detection / Explosive Trace Portals are for.
Originally Posted by
spacev1986
Liquids: This is probably my biggest gripe. The liquid rule is a joke. First off, what makes 4 3oz bottles okay, but a single 12oz bottle a threat? Theres no difference so why is one allowed but the other isnt?. The liquid limitations means a rediculous amount of bag searches being done on people who are completely harmless. It increases the amount of manpower required, slows the lines down and costs the taxpayers money. The airlines love it because they rake in the fees people pay to keep checking bags. I understand explosives can be liquid... but powders and plastics are more common and we havent banned those from carryon luggage... So how do we fix the liquid problem... how do we improve the ability to detect liquid threats, while decreasing the amount of liquids/gels/pastes getting thrown out, hassle to passengers and costs to taxpayers?
easy... start letting officer's use their own discretion. I cant count how many times ive pulled a 6oz tube of toothpaste out of a bag, unrolled it, felt that there was about 1/2oz left in it, and then have had the boss tell me the container is over 3.4oz so it cant go. It makes me look stupid, its a waste of limited resources to have me spending my time on such a harmless thing and it sucks for the person whose gotta go buy new toiletries or get scammed into paying $25 to check a bag. Let officers decide on their own, if your people are good enough and trained well enough, you should be able to trust their judgement. If somethings dangerous or flammable, fine, prohibit it. If it isnt, run it through the Bottle Liquid Scanner and be done with it. If it clears the BLS test its no threat and theres not really any grounds for prohibiting it. The current war against liquid just is a strain overall, on the airlines for having to deal with people checking more bags, for the TSO's who have to waste time digging through grandma's bag to take away her denture paste while theres better things to look for and for the passengers who get inconvinienced by this crap. Not to mention, the taxpayers who foot the bill for all the extra staff that is required to keep up with the bag checks on all the liquids...
Set a guideline of what might indicate a liquid is a threat...ingredients, packaging etc... Use the technology availible, ETD, BLS testing etc... and with that let officer's determine if a liquid should be allowed or not, just like we do with powders. If a mother shows up with bottles of milk, and everything seems kosher, it probably is. most mothers carry bottles of milk. Its the stuff that is out of the ordinary that should be of concern. IF a passenger drinks the liquid in front of the TSO, it should automatically be assumed non-threatening and be permitted.
Binary liquid explosives as a credible threat to commercial aviation is pure fantasy.
Originally Posted by
spacev1986
Ticket/ID checking: This is the one area where MAJOR improvements in security can be made with minimal hassle to the passengers. For starters, all boarding passes should be scanned. Its way to easy to photoshop a fake boarding pass. Secondly, all ID's should be scanned. You can easily fake whats visible on an ID. Its hard to fake the information on it. most people caught with fake passports crossing the border are caught because the name encoded on the Machine readable zone doesnt match the name printed on the face of the passport. Additionally, the no-fly/SSSS list could be loaded onto the ID and ticket scanners and should sound a tone when a match is made, so TSO's would no longer miss the SSSS markings on boarding passes and the airline wouldnt be involved with watchlist matching anymore. We have better technology than the stupid blue lights and magnifying glasses...why arent we utilizing it... To scan and ID and a Ticket with a machine reader would be alot quicker than staring at it with a magnifying glass. Lines would move quicker.
Also, anyone who comes up to the TDC without proper documentation should recieve a BDO interview and have their info run by LEO's. I cant count how many times people come up to the TDC, claim they dont have their ID, show a credit card and an old fishing license to a supervisor and are allowed through the checkpoint, only for CBP or Cops to grab them on the other side because they have outstanding warrants. If someone drove to the airport, and had no problem showing their ID to the airline, and now suddenly they dont have an ID or wont show an ID, chances are theres a reason why. If someone ran the 9/11 hijacker's passports or visas on 9/11, they all would have come up as overstayers and would have been detained. Generally, WAY more time and technology should be spent at the TDC than is spent on phsyical screening. We should be looking for bad guys. Not wasting our time taking away toothpaste from soldiers and denture cream from granny's. If you did a better job with the TDC/ID stuff, you could probably lax up alot on the physical screening. Though, with the Pre-Check thing, it seems thats the direction they want to take things. Hopefully they speed that thing along.
The TSA ID check is nothing but security theatre that only protects airline revenue. Illegal aliens, college kids with a fake ID, and someone with an arrest warrant somewhere are not a threat to commercial aviation, and we have other government agencies tasked with addressing these issues. The airport checkpoint is not a law enforcement dragnet, and treating it as such will continue to see Red Team failure rates off the charts with this distraction.
Originally Posted by
spacev1986
Crew:Screening crew is pointless and illogical. If the pilots want to bring the flight down, they dont need a weapon. Half of them are armed anyways. Crew should have their Credentials checked, ideally through a computer system or thumbprint or something, and be sent around the checkpoint. Screening crew is a waste of TSA resources and a hassle to the crew, on top of being pointless. Theyve all had more thorough backgrounds than most TSA employees have had anyways.
Interesting statistic; I did not know that half of the Part 121 pilots are now enrolled in the FFDO program. However, you do realize that airline employees and crews are able to bypass the checkpoint, and have been caught with firearms in the sterile area, don't you? Everyone should go through the same common sense screening, even TSA employees.
Originally Posted by
spacev1986
AIT/Body Scanners: Should be reserved for people who fit into high risk categories. Really freakin old people who can barely walk, kids, businessmen that fly a trillion miles a year safely, soldiers in uniform, etc should all undergo regular screening with a metal detector. Ideally, people between 16-40, specifically those who exhibit behavior or travel patterns that would make them higher risk, should be sent through the AIT. Those with metal knees/hip would be sent through the AIT. it saves us and them time. All AIT units should be brought up to auto-recognition standard.
The Nude-O-Scopes do not detect explosives, see into body cavities or under folds of flesh, have health concerns that the TSA continues to lie about, are an invasion of privacy, and were thrust upon the traveling public through the political grift of people like Michael Chertoff. Why do you think the EU no longer uses them?
Originally Posted by
spacev1986
The Private companies: I worked for one in the midwest. Their performance is just as poor in regards to test bags and recertification tests as the federal people are. They have just as many grumpy old farts working for em. In fact where i worked issues of management and scheduling were ALOT WORSE than it is on the federal side. Also, despite the rumor, starting pay is actually lower, and theres no benefits as far as insurance/pension like TSA gets. in turn you get a really high turnover rate, which means fewer experienced people, which negatively effects security.
The private companies work under the same bureaucratic DHS/TSA system that you are critical about. The TSA should be put under the FAA with all screening done by private contractors. Screening belongings and bags for weapons / explosives / incendiaries is a tedious job not meant to be a career, and the pay and benefits will be what the free market decides, since commercial aviation security is not a jobfare program.
Originally Posted by
spacev1986
Overall, TSA needs to take a step back and look at how ineffective and inefficient its operation is rather than plugging its ears and pretending everything is wonderful. Common sense needs to be injected into the process in a big way. IF they would start looking more at WHO is coming through the checkpoint instead of WHAT, if they started hiring better people and training them better and if all TSO's started to interact with passengers in a professional, friendly way, the process would become more secure, more efficient and economical, and less of a hassle for the travelers and the TSA agents... Most of us just want to keep the flyers safe and get them through there as quickly as possible. Unforunately its hard to do it when we have procedures in place that are ineffective and inefficient, we have supervisors who are old and stuffy and refuse to embrace any sort of change, and a select bunch of TSO's who think that because they have a badge it gives them an excuse to be a jerk.
There's no need to try and identify "people" that might be a threat, and the fact that TLV-style screening is not scalable to what we have here in the States is proof of that. The TSA should stick to screening people and belongings in commercial aviation only; no mission creep into the thousands of off-airport VIPR operations that even the government admits is just a display of theatre. Everyone should go through the same common sense screening; x-ray of belongings, walk though / hand held metal detector, and Explosive Trace Portal / Explosive Trace Detection. Do that, and I guarantee that you will see an improvement in Red Team scores, whose failure rates continue to be off the charts in Rep. John Mica's words.