Originally Posted by gsoltso

I will grant you that the logic is not completely sound, but the "15+ years with no major incidents at US originating airports" is the one thing I hear the most - and not just from TSA.

I do not know whether the results would be better, worse, or the same - however, I would prefer that we as an organization continue to reach out to the public in different ways. I may not be happy with what HQ takes away from these meetings/information sharing groups, but I would rather that we continue to listen and try to make a difference in how we do things for all people, than not listen to any of them.

The TSA social media sites are pretty specific in scope

1. TSA Instagram -> Wow! Look at this crazy stuff they find!
2. [MENTION=334464]ASK[/MENTION]TSA -> Specific answers for specific questions that they are able to give out (based upon SSI regs), and a handful of basic responses for things that go outside of that lane
3. The Blog -> Weekly finds, basic informational posts about our folks and programs, direct address on a handful of hot topics

None of those have dedicated PR staff that are in place to do more than the basic answers - for the most part. Combine that with SSI regs, and you have a situation where it may seem like they are just brushing people off, when they are simply limited in what they can respond with.

I would love to see our social media group move more into an engage and communicate type of department, but that would be a big time shift for any governmental group. I can always hope, but I am a front line Joe, not a PR guru guy, so what do I know?



Statistically speaking, I would argue that bad experiences are a tiny part of what happens every day. That being said, no bad experience because of TSOs doing the wrong thing are acceptable.

I am not so certain. The process in place now, is much more streamlined and there are more options for folks with challenges than there used to be - even if the challenge is simply trying to work through a checkpoint with a small child. I think that working with these groups has allowed TSA to tailor screening better with regards to those groups. Like anything, it is not perfect, but it is tons better than it used to be. Again, any bad experience because a TSO does the wrong things is unacceptable.

I would not say that we necessarily disagree on all of our beliefs. If TSA is going to be responsible for screening at the airports (and/or other locations), we can both agree that we want TSA to be a high-functioning security group that does a good job at what they are assigned to do. Right? I rather think that where we differ is the application of that process, not the overall goal - and in some cases, we do not disagree at all. You want TSA to take any complaint it receives seriously - so do I. You want TSA to address TSOs that are outside the SOP properly - so do I.