Originally Posted by
FlyingHoustonian
That link does not have the info I need, as I noted above.
You made no indication in Milepost #1 of doing either a cursory or exhaustive search of the TSA website before starting the thread, which is why I gave you the link.
Maybe my query presupposed proper comprehension of my question ;-)
Perhaps I was too subtle in my explication to you. Let me try again.
I was suggesting the following possibilities:
- That your questions presuppose answers to them exist;
- That such answers are not common knowledge or are unavailable on the Web, which is to say available only by emailing or calling or writing.
The question is simple and I would like someone from the American TSA to give me an answer.
The words are simple, but the nature of the information you're seeking is not.
A comprehensive enumeration of the agency's rules and procedures that screeners must follow when checking ID -- for anyone -- is not a matter of public record. It's considered SSI (Sensitive Security Information, a designation in the United States Code), and its discovery is extremely difficult to achieve at this time.
At many American airports the TSA are the ones doing initial ID checks into the security screening belts, like DFW. Over the last few weeks of travelling through various American checkpoints I have seen non-standard procedures for them accepting foreign passports without valid visas (even my brown Official US passport for that matter, causing issue in MCO), and requiring those without to have seperate screening and questions.
Acknowledged. Let's take as a given, then, your observations about how foreign-borns are screened relative to others.
If there's something about their screening experience that deviates from standard procedure, how would you or any other observer know it? The scope of _standard_ procedure is not definitively outlined and published now, and so we know even less about what constitutes non-standard, one-off or discretionary actions.
Again, I would like someone in the know or from that agency to provide me with more specific info and policy. Thank you.
We'll do our best to help you, general members and TSA lurkers alike. Question for clarification purposes, please: When you wrote earlier, "I would like someone in the know or from that agency[...]," who do you have in mind that qualifies as not TSA but is in the know?
Because many of the very FFs, former road warriors, lifelong aviation geeks and policy wonks posting here do consider themselves to be in the know. Are they not in your opinion, and how so?
If you really feel their experience to be of questionable veracity, then I'm mildly curious why you posted here? There are a number of other IBBs specifically aimed at TSA screeners, a couple of which have been mentioned here over the years. I don't have those contacts at my fingertips but if you're interested please PM me, or perhaps someone else will post them here.