Wow - so you are one of the lucky Pre people for whom it actually works all the time, every time? Be glad, not all Pre-qualified people flying Pre-eligible flights are nearly as lucky. One supervisor said a 50% rate was 'good', and that's not counting the random extra attention some experience (I have witnessed all Pre pax getting a torso grope after the WTMD at SEA).

Why could that have some kind of device you put your shoe in while on your feet that scans for dangerous objects. Maybe someone could invent something.

A Boy Scout did. It's a HHMD in a box. TSA was too stupid and arrogant to adopt it.

If you had done even the smallest amount of research, you would know that the TSA's Red Team failure rates are "off the charts" according to U.S. Rep. John Mica.

Perhaps you should stick to your other hard-hitting news stories, such as Chicken Causes a Power Outage at a Maui Airport. :rolleyes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe-fitting_fluoroscope
If the shoe fits?

Seriously though:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/us...orts.html?_r=0

lot of money wasted so far.
you know... I wish I could elaborate... but any explanation will give an excuse for knocks on my door.

And a metal detector is a metal detector....
I guess TSA was too stupid and arrogant to be consistent in demanding a capacity to detect non-metallic explosives as the original incident which led to the shoe carnival used modified sneakers.

Smallest amount of research and you'd question John Mica.
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/micas-...-questi/nPJLX/
there are plenty of other sources to go to, but if anything, Mica's frequent op eds are always about pushing privatizing (but would still have to follow TSA procedures anyway)
For your point:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1028898.html

Still though... he just kind of says it... I can't find any corroboration.
And what does that even mean anyway?
All I can say is I've seen parts of the FAA red team component kits (long since retired).... and I'm astounded that there weren't perfect scores back then... Considering that one can fail DESPITE finding the WEI because of procedural esoterica, I'd expect failures.

For mine: "TSA officials stated that they do not want airports to achieve a 100 percent pass rate during covert tests because they believe that high pass rates would indicate that covert tests were too easy and therefore were not an effective tool to identify vulnerabilities in the system." p.31
"TSA Has Developed a Risk-Based Covert Testing Program, but Could Better Mitigate Aviation Security Vulnerabilities Identified Through Covert Tests"
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08958.pdf

TSA has ETD, had ETP, and is too stupid and arrogant to use either device regularly or consistently. I'd prefer a swab to being strip-searched any day of the week.

Furthermore, once again the TSA penalizes most people due to the action of a very small number of people. Explosives can be hidden anywhere: underwear, body orifices, etc. Yet the ETD is seldom used and ETP is mothballed because TSA was too lazy to change the filters regularly and calibrate to discern perfume.

Congress should sequester the TSA right the hell out of existence.

ETP was a nightmare to deal with requiring enormous downtime for maintenance. While I can't discuss the presence or absence of false positives, each time the machine alarmed required someone to clean the entire portal- hardly efficient for heavy traffic.

ETDs are in near constant use now, which is why they seem to be breaking down at an alarming rate.

Not quite how the sequester is applied. Just go with Zero out funding, repeal ATSA, or any other way to destroy the TSA you want to go with.

Congress should improve the state of our education system; we might find better solutions in the end.

So our shoes go through the xray, which excels at detecting non-metallic explosives concealed in modified sneakers but fails to detect the same non-metallic explosives in original government wrappings. :confused:

I have no doubt your statement is correct which begs the question of why TSA spent milions of taxpayers dollars on untested, unproven technology? Hardly the responsible use of taxes.


Yeah, great machines. Alarming on hand lotions and such.

Airlines and airports should be responsible for the safety and security of their property and customers. Not government. That is how security should be conducted.

"You" might have to take off your shoes in order to fly, but "we" don't - I'm always amused when I see foreigners who insist on removing their shoes before they pass through security in an airport, even when they're specifically told not to. Pavlov's work is done :D

I don't know if you can answer this or not:

If/when the ETDs 'break down', do you mean stop working entirely or start generating false positives?

The failure was that the TSA did not competently handle the procurement and maintenance specifications; Explosive Trace Portals have been in use at places like the CN Tower for years.

Video Link.

EDIT: Note that nobody is being hollered at for taking pictures or video there. :rolleyes:


http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...ps6c0c0080.jpg

I am sure there is a simple and possibly logical answer to this question: Why is there not a WTMD in the path to the entrance of the AIT? Would that not cover more possibilities?

I know, more expense (like that matters) and another form of false positives. But really, the WTMD is good at metal the AIT is not. It seems a combination of both would be better from their standpoint. Why is it one or the other?

The Smiths IonSentinel II + WTMD makes a lot more sense.

It really isn't rocket science to calibrate these machines properly - the TSA instead chooses to waste its person power checking IDs/BPs, limiting liquids, barking at passengers, sniffing shoes, worrying about items that have no effect on aircraft or airport safety, gate harassing passengers who have already been harassed.... The list goes on and on about how TSA wastes its time on passenger harassment. Then the TSA whines about being understaffed, so it can't possibly maintain the IonSentinels in real-time. Gimme a break. :rolleyes:

Kick the government out of our airports and those IonSentinels will work just fine.