Originally Posted by Bart
If you're talking about inconsistent applications of the same SOP, you have a valid point. As a TSA screener, I am frustrated as well. It certainly makes life difficult for us as well as you. However, it seems that you're really talking about different situations which may be consistent applications of the SOP.
It's not just about the screening. It's about the whole experience in general.
If something is SO important that it has to be done at one airport (ie SLC requiring I hand my bags to a TSA agent), why isn't it done at ALL airports.
One of my biggest cake walks thru security was at Dulles. Considering how many of our nation's leaders go thru that airport, you'd think it'd be among the tightest.
The airlines are responsible for checking your ID. The airline ticket agent may check your ID more as part of the payment procedure should you use a credit card to buy your ticket as opposed to a security measure. The individual who checks your boarding pass at the checkpoint entrance is not a TSA screener; that individual is a private contractor hired by the airlines whose responsibility it is to check ID and boarding passes of all persons entering the checkpoint. Airports vary as far as checking IDs at the gate is concerned. Some do and some don't. So far, all of this has to do with airline and airport policy not TSA policy.
That's just such a waste. It just adds another layer of "security." If the job was done correctly (regardless of who's responsible), why does an ID need to be checked again if all you need to get to the checkpoint is a boarding pass?
So at the gate, the buck's passed on to the FAA. Again, if it's so critical, why isn't it done everywhere?
There's nothing indicating that you were asked by TSA to show your ID. When you said before you got to security, I have to assume that you're talking about non-TSA personnel and are really talking about either airline representatives or their hired private contractors. Removing shoes should not be mandatory, and I covered that in another thread.
Bart, I work in federal government as well, often side by side with contractors. For all intents and purposes, they're employees. The only difference is what color the badge is and who signs the checks. And undoubtedly, the money comes from the same place mine does.
Sounds to me like you underwent selectee screening. Did your boarding pass have SSSS on it? If so, nothing inconsistent here; you simply underwent a more thorough security screening process which is what selectee screening is designed to do. By the way, I am not a big fan of selectee screening. I consider it a waste of time. However, the 9/11 Commission strongly endorsed it, so like it or not, it is here to stay. I don't like it.
Couldn't tell you what was on the boarding pass. That was a few trips back.
I'm also not a big fan of the 9/11 commission either. The "commission" was an attempt by Congress and the Bush administration to look like they were doing something to protect us. As I'm affected by what the commission said, and following laws, they only broke borked systems even more.
I question what you perceive as screening. Sounds to me more like the child either alarmed at the WTMD or, more likely, was a selectee and the mother was not. This is one of the reasons why I think selectee screening is a wasted effort because of the lack of common sense when a young toddler pops up on the computer for this type of screening and the accompanying parent doesn't. However, both were screened when they came through the checkpoint because both could only enter through the WTMD (unless the mother was given a pat-down as an alternative screening method which may have been done out of your view).
If a pat down isn't screening, I don't know what is.
Just think of public perception of how assinine that looks to see a small child being patted down. While I'm sure that nothing inappropriate was done, I highly doubt that that screening as you call it was effective. Same thing seeing 90 year old grandmas in wheel chairs getting searched. Of course the wheelchair's going to set off the alarm.
The bottom line is that when people see the TSA searching 90 year old grandmas in wheel chairs that can barely move and 1 year old kids being searched, it's not hard to see how people can think that Mohammed is slipping by.
Seeing as how the Pentagon IS a public building, yes, you can get inside but only up to a certain point. Of course, it's been several years since I've been inside the Pentagon, but I really can't see you waltzing into a SCIF without experiencing a very unpleasant physical encounter which would go beyond the politically-correct screening methods you experience at the airport. Could be wrong, but I doubt it.
You wouldn't even get past the fence into one of those installations.
However, considering what happened there, what goes on there, and how many people walk those halls on any given day, if they can assure people's safety without the hassle that is airport security, don't you think you're chasing ghosts at the airport?
Super