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Do TSA Agents Undergo Screening When They Show For Work?
I always wondered this, but do TSA Agents have to undergo the rigorous scanning and screening when they start their shifts or are they exempt for "practical reasons" like the other airport workers.
I'd like to know how secure the people doing the "security checks" are. |
I've seen plenty of TSA agents, at multiple airports, just walk right through the checkpoint or take a back door in without being screened.
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As a matter of national security, these "agents" need to be screened when they arrive at the checkpoint to ensure that nothing is smuggled INTO the secure area and thoroughly screened on the way OUT to ensure that nothing has been stolen from the checkpoint or baggage inspection areas. But who would screen the screeners?
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Originally Posted by Mega Boris
(Post 17603645)
I always wondered this, but do TSA Agents have to undergo the rigorous scanning and screening when they start their shifts or are they exempt for "practical reasons" like the other airport workers.
I'd like to know how secure the people doing the "security checks" are. Allegedly, screeners & all airport workers, are subject to 'random' screening, but in practice it seems little if any screening of either group ever happens, especially the screeners. This likely has something to do w/the large numbers of screeners found to have sticky fingers...if they were subject to screenings, especially on the exit side, it's likely those numbers would plummet. |
I have seen TSO's at numerous airports walk thru the WTMD with their backpack where they alarm but only to be waived thru. Makes me feel real safe....:rolleyes:
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It will make you feel even more safe when you see how all those beverages and bottles that you are allowed to purchase on the other side of the checkpoint are screened... Some concession employee rolls a big cart full of the stuff up to the check point and one of the blue-shirt's finest does a cursory "looksie" at the cart and then the badged concession guy is waved thru in most cases. Ocassionally, I've seen cases of drinks pass through the screening belt -- but then that raises the question, "If the cases of bottles to be sold on the other side can pass through the sreening machine -- why can't the bottle that I bought on the unsterile side that I've been drinking from pass through the same belt?" Makes no sense, does it?
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Originally Posted by goalie
(Post 17606789)
I have seen TSO's at numerous airports walk thru the WTMD with their backpack where they alarm but only to be waived thru. Makes me feel real safe....:rolleyes:
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Frankly everyone should be screened who works at an airport from the TSA agents, aircrew, airline employees 100% screening 100% of the time. Let them suffer just like the flying public has to endure.
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Originally Posted by goalie
(Post 17606789)
I have seen TSO's at numerous airports walk thru the WTMD with their backpack where they alarm but only to be waived thru. Makes me feel real safe....:rolleyes:
I've seen the avoidance of security by pilots though in a few airports, where thy walk the wrong way into the exit site right into the secure area with a wheelaboard. Very bad idea, ESPECIALLY when combined with non-biometric security. How many people look like me, or any generic pilot, on examination of a photo ID? Answer: a lot.
Originally Posted by usafwso
(Post 17607596)
Frankly everyone should be screened who works at an airport from the TSA agents, aircrew, airline employees 100% screening 100% of the time. Let them suffer just like the flying public has to endure.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the airport. :( |
Originally Posted by cardiomd
(Post 17607662)
I've seen, especially when flying out early, some approach the podium and have another person look at the badge closely. Never have seen somebody walk up with a backpack though. I assume they have lockers or something on the nonsecure side but could be very wrong.
I've seen the avoidance of security by pilots though in a few airports, where thy walk the wrong way into the exit site right into the secure area with a wheelaboard. Very bad idea, ESPECIALLY when combined with non-biometric security. How many people look like me, or any generic pilot, on examination of a photo ID? Answer: a lot. How quickly we all forget that the 9/11 hijackers were trained PILOTS. Presumably some terrorists or sympathizers could be in the industry. Screeners, ground crews, and pilots should all be subject to security. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the airport. :( |
It just seems to me that the whole aspect of "security" is nonsensical if the people doing the screening aren't "secured" themselves.
Again, I know they do background checks on the employees, but as a trusted traveler, I've had background checks done on me. Why shouldn't I enjoy the same privileges as the TSA employee who doesn't get the screening. Why are we paying good money to constantly be screening the same "trusted" people? Scan them all or scan none. I was in China recently and their version of airport security just feels so much better than ours. We go through a metal detector. They use a wand. Pat down on the areas that set things off. What ever happened to the puffer devices? To me that seemed the best use of technology. |
Originally Posted by Mega Boris
(Post 17618019)
It just seems to me that the whole aspect of "security" is nonsensical if the people doing the screening aren't "secured" themselves.
Again, I know they do background checks on the employees, but as a trusted traveler, I've had background checks done on me. Why shouldn't I enjoy the same privileges as the TSA employee who doesn't get the screening. Why are we paying good money to constantly be screening the same "trusted" people? Scan them all or scan none. I was in China recently and their version of airport security just feels so much better than ours. We go through a metal detector. They use a wand. Pat down on the areas that set things off. What ever happened to the puffer devices? To me that seemed the best use of technology. |
Originally Posted by coachrowsey
(Post 17618038)
Folks when a TSA or airline employee flys they are not exempt from screening. They get it like everyone else.
They could easily smuggle in (and out) items that are prohibited. |
Originally Posted by Dea Certe
(Post 17616169)
Are you believing the hijackers were licensed pilots in the employ of US-based airlines? You might want to do some fact checking.
Originally Posted by coachrowsey
(Post 17618038)
Folks when a TSA or airline employee flys they are not exempt from screening. They get it like everyone else.
Originally Posted by Mega Boris
(Post 17618090)
But thats not the point. They are manning the security checkpoint. An area that is supposed to be "secure". Whats the point if they aren't screened themselves.
They could easily smuggle in (and out) items that are prohibited. |
Originally Posted by Mega Boris
(Post 17618019)
It just seems to me that the whole aspect of "security" is nonsensical if the people doing the screening aren't "secured" themselves.
Again, I know they do background checks on the employees, but as a trusted traveler, I've had background checks done on me. Why shouldn't I enjoy the same privileges as the TSA employee who doesn't get the screening. Why are we paying good money to constantly be screening the same "trusted" people? Scan them all or scan none. I was in China recently and their version of airport security just feels so much better than ours. We go through a metal detector. They use a wand. Pat down on the areas that set things off. What ever happened to the puffer devices? To me that seemed the best use of technology. If memory serves, it's one of the many 'failures' listed in the recent Congressional report card on the TSA (there's a thread somewhere that links to the report), along w/the mind-boggling amount of gov't dollars wasted on the machines. |
Originally Posted by T.J. Bender
(Post 17604317)
I've seen plenty of TSA agents, at multiple airports, just walk right through the checkpoint or take a back door in without being screened.
Meanwhile, we're all getting harassed, felt up and irradiated. :td: |
Originally Posted by Superguy
(Post 17620851)
+1. I saw this in SAN. Screener walks in with a big back pack full of Lord knows what.
Meanwhile, we're all getting harassed, felt up and irradiated. :td: e.g. some "friend" goes up to their screener... "Dude, I'll give you $1000 to take this into the secure area." screener: "What's in it?" "Oh, nothing, just some stuff. You don't have to open it or anything." screener: "$1000??? Ok." It is a very BAD idea to give entire classes of people no security screening. :td: |
Lack of screening, and the fact that this is publicly known, makes agents, ground crew, and baggage handling all prime targets for infiltration by smugglers and terrorists. Flight crew seems to get minimal screening too.
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I do not worry that much about them taking a bribe. A bribe runs a greater risk of detection and getting reported.
I would be more concerned that with the lax hiring practices that someone with nefarious intent could just get a ramp job or even a job with the TSA. It would just take one, some time to learn how to game the system, and the act could be done. It would be easy enough that it is surprising that it has not already happened. That is unless no one is really trying. |
Originally Posted by Mega Boris
(Post 17603645)
I always wondered this, but do TSA Agents have to undergo the rigorous scanning and screening when they start their shifts or are they exempt for "practical reasons" like the other airport workers.
I'd like to know how secure the people doing the "security checks" are. |
Originally Posted by TSORon
(Post 17646264)
We ARE screened, but I would not call it "rigorous". The "rigorous" was done long before we ever worked a checkpoint.
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Originally Posted by TSORon
(Post 17646264)
We ARE screened, but I would not call it "rigorous". The "rigorous" was done long before we ever worked a checkpoint.
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Originally Posted by TSORon
(Post 17646264)
We ARE screened, but I would not call it "rigorous". The "rigorous" was done long before we ever worked a checkpoint.
But your colleagues in IAH, MCI, RDU, SFO, PWM, ORD, MCO, and countless other stations aren't given so much as a walk through the WTMD... And the background check which you claim as rigorous... Seems like it's missed several problems with clerks. Remember the clerk at RIC who TSA required get a SIDA, despite him being a convicted felon??? |
Originally Posted by coachrowsey
(Post 17618038)
Folks when a TSA or airline employee flys they are not exempt from screening. They get it like everyone else.
You might not realize this, but the TSA has quietly been giving itself and its friends these special privileges all along. I received a copy of the TSA’s in-house newsletter, the originally named “TSA Today” with a little blurb about a new “flying employee’s lane” that opened earlier this year in Nashville. It allows non-uniformed crew, airport employees flying out and families of airport employees traveling with them to use the lane. (My source believes TSA agents also have access to the special lane.) |
Originally Posted by TSORon
(Post 17646264)
We ARE screened, but I would not call it "rigorous". The "rigorous" was done long before we ever worked a checkpoint.
Originally Posted by goalie
(Post 17606789)
I have seen TSO's at numerous airports walk thru the WTMD with their backpack where they alarm but only to be waived thru. Makes me feel real safe....:rolleyes:
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Whatever the screening is, if it isnt the same as the px's screening then the whole thing is shena. Can't have a double standard.
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Originally Posted by Fredd
(Post 17649734)
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Originally Posted by coachrowsey
(Post 17651978)
I'm not reading what he says but he's wrong at least on airline employees. We are screened the same as you with maybe one slight exception. Today in PVD they tried to tell me to go to the "nude o scope" I showed my airline id & he just sent me on to the WTMD.
And FWIW I don't view that exception for you as "slight" at all. I'd love to be "slighted" like that. ;) |
In August the TSA at BTV didn't even walk through the WTMD. THey walked through a gate next to the MDs. I observed them entering the sterile area in this manner because I had asked for a supervisor after a TSA tried to confiscate my child's near empty tube of natural toothpaste she uses for medical reasons. He asked me to state what medial reason before he would give it back. I asked if he was a medical doctor. When he said 'yes' I asked for his supervisor. I had to wait more than 20 minutes in security- luckily I arrived early enough - and sadly observed not a single screening of TSA's.
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Originally Posted by coachrowsey
(Post 17651978)
I'm not reading what he says but he's wrong at least on airline employees. We are screened the same as you with maybe one slight exception. Today in PVD they tried to tell me to go to the "nude o scope" I showed my airline id & he just sent me on to the WTMD.
AT DFW I have watched airport employees enter through the employee access doors where all they do is swipe a badge and walk in. I have observed some of these employees entering with 6 2 liter bottles of beverage, one with a small rolling suitcase and others with backpacks and other personal belongings all without any form of screening. Now things may have changed in the last couple of months but that is how it has been done for the past several years. So it seems to me that airport employees may be subject to random screening but they are not subject to mandatory screening on each entry to the sterile area. |
Originally Posted by Boggie Dog
(Post 17652375)
AT DFW I have watched airport employees enter through the employee access doors where all they do is swipe a badge and walk in. I have observed some of these employees entering with 6 2 liter bottles of beverage, one with a small rolling suitcase and others with backpacks and other personal belongings all without any form of screening.
Now things may have changed in the last couple of months but that is how it has been done for the past several years. So it seems to me that airport employees may be subject to random screening but they are not subject to mandatory screening on each entry to the sterile area. |
Originally Posted by FriendlySkies
(Post 17652422)
I've seen the same at IAH.. The entrance was also used by several FAMs..
The powers that be weren't impressed. |
Originally Posted by Fredd
(Post 17652480)
A pilot made a video of what he viewed as security lapses at SFO.
The powers that be weren't impressed. |
Originally Posted by FriendlySkies
(Post 17652509)
I remember. Poor guy lost his job, didn't he? :td:
I have no idea of the latest enhancements, but many say that the screening of employees varies from airport to airport e.g. this two-year-old Milwaukee article. |
Originally Posted by Boggie Dog
(Post 17652375)
AT DFW I have watched airport employees enter through the employee access doors where all they do is swipe a badge and walk in. I have observed some of these employees entering with 6 2 liter bottles of beverage, one with a small rolling suitcase and others with backpacks and other personal belongings all without any form of screening.
Now things may have changed in the last couple of months but that is how it has been done for the past several years. So it seems to me that airport employees may be subject to random screening but they are not subject to mandatory screening on each entry to the sterile area. |
Originally Posted by coachrowsey
(Post 17651978)
We are screened the same as you with maybe one slight exception. Today in PVD they tried to tell me to go to the "nude o scope" I showed my airline id & he just sent me on to the WTMD.
Originally Posted by coachrowsey
(Post 17654236)
This is correct, but they are not flying but going to work. What I said was when airline employees fly we are screened like everyone else & so are TSA employees.
Again, what you call a "slight" exception - the ability to demand the WTMD - would be an exception that would quiet a large percentage of complaints about current policies if the passengers could "opt out" in the same way. |
What the disconnect seems to be here is that people think its acceptable for someone to not receive equal screening if they are not flying.
It shouldn't matter. If an area is to be "secure", all people entering need to be subject to the same rules and regulations; no double standards. Again, it wouldn't be out of the question for someone to influence an airport employee or TSA Screener to do something bad. |
Originally Posted by Mega Boris
(Post 17654477)
Again, it wouldn't be out of the question for someone to influence an airport employee or TSA Screener to do something bad.
Just a matter of time before it's something really 'bad' :rolleyes: |
Originally Posted by Mega Boris
(Post 17654477)
What the disconnect seems to be here is that people think its acceptable for someone to not receive equal screening if they are not flying.
It shouldn't matter. If an area is to be "secure", all people entering need to be subject to the same rules and regulations; no double standards. Again, it wouldn't be out of the question for someone to influence an airport employee or TSA Screener to do something bad. Not too mention, many times, airline/airport employees that travel for free, will enter the airport through their regular work access. I know this was the case at many airports I frequented when I was still working in the industry. As a standby passenger, there are many times you may not make a flight, so traveling employees would go and hang out where they have access to the airline system computers. Whether that be an operations area, break room, baggage area, they could chat with coworkers, check up on seating availability and go to the gate area when things looked good. |
Originally Posted by coachrowsey
(Post 17654236)
This is correct, but they are not flying but going to work. What I said was when airline employees fly we are screened like everyone else & so are TSA employees.
Cut the line Not take off shoes Not have to Nude-o-Scope I know I'm missing several other items they do not have to participate in. When they fly out of uniform I know it's a different story, but it's the same person deemed at different levels of risk. Tell me what the difference is? |
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