Danger at SEATAC

Old Nov 11, 2013, 1:24 pm
  #16  
 
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Also Carl if I were you I'd be afraid, very afraid of TSA's dog & pony show.
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 7:00 pm
  #17  
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Carl: In its existence, TSA has screened 7 BILLION passengers and found ZERO terrorists. And that is by searching and x-raying EVERY bag of EVERY passenger at the checkpoint. (Assume for the sake of argument they are perfect at screening. )

Two million passengers are flying today in the US. All searched by TSA with nothing allowed into the sterile area.

Take some TSOs and search 1 out of ten boarding an aircraft, or about 20 per flight. Do that for an hour at a time for five flights and 100 get gate searched. Do that four times a day at fifty major airports and 20,000 max can get gate searched in the USA every day. Out of two million, that is one of every 100 that can possibly get gate searched. On most days far far less. More like one out of 1000 or one out of 10,000.

If ten bad guys at random have contraband slipped to them in the sterile area, by gate searching 1% or less of the passengers the odds are the TSA might luck out and find one item a few time a month. On most days ALL the contraband will board the aircrafts undetected. Feel safer yet by seeing those gate searches?

Conclusion: Random gate searches are worthless as a real and effective safety measure. They are just make work and/or Security Theater.

TSA: Not understanding math and/or science since day one.
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 8:10 pm
  #18  
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Originally Posted by Flaflyer
Carl: In its existence, TSA has screened 7 BILLION passengers and found ZERO terrorists. And that is by searching and x-raying EVERY bag of EVERY passenger at the checkpoint. (Assume for the sake of argument they are perfect at screening. )

Two million passengers are flying today in the US. All searched by TSA with nothing allowed into the sterile area.

Take some TSOs and search 1 out of ten boarding an aircraft, or about 20 per flight. Do that for an hour at a time for five flights and 100 get gate searched. Do that four times a day at fifty major airports and 20,000 max can get gate searched in the USA every day. Out of two million, that is one of every 100 that can possibly get gate searched. On most days far far less. More like one out of 1000 or one out of 10,000.

If ten bad guys at random have contraband slipped to them in the sterile area, by gate searching 1% or less of the passengers the odds are the TSA might luck out and find one item a few time a month. On most days ALL the contraband will board the aircrafts undetected. Feel safer yet by seeing those gate searches?

Conclusion: Random gate searches are worthless as a real and effective safety measure. They are just make work and/or Security Theater.

TSA: Not understanding math and/or science since day one.
TSA is worthless as a real and effective safety measure.

At least TSA is consistent in this one area.
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 8:55 pm
  #19  
 
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smoke and mirrors

Thank GOD for TSA.
When the TSA took away my unopened jar of Peanut Butter at LAX, I felt a immense sense of relief that my plane ride would be that much safer. I can only imagine what kind of havoc would have been unleashed had that jar of peanut butter made onto the plane.
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Old Nov 12, 2013, 4:51 am
  #20  
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Originally Posted by ept0202
Thank GOD for TSA.
When the TSA took away my unopened jar of Peanut Butter at LAX, I felt a immense sense of relief that my plane ride would be that much safer. I can only imagine what kind of havoc would have been unleashed had that jar of peanut butter made onto the plane.
Exactly, that's the point. I don't know any other security agency that is so meticulous and careful. No one else has considered the possibility of peanut butter bombs, cupcake bombs, or Gatorade bombs but the TSA thinks about this, day in and day out. And the Light Saber cane. People mock and deride the TSA officer for taking it, but do you KNOW there are still no such things as Light Sabers?

And people complain about the fact that the TSA only detects 30% of prohibited items. But there hasn't been a successful attack on an aircraft since September 11, right? So the 30% that they stop includes 100% of the items presented at the checkpoint with nefarious intent; the other 70% that are passed through make it on and off board without incident.

What I understand from some of the remarks above is that the gate checks are redundant and a pointless waste of time. Is that right? Well that's worth thinking about. No organization is perfect. But the TSA's role is so important that it should be as nearly perfect as possible, so that either the officers who are not doing their jobs at the checkpoint should be fired, or the officers running the gate checks should be thanked for their service and laid off as superfluous, and I'll bring that up if selected for a gate check. As a part of the 20th layer of security, it's my responsibility to help the TSA be as nearly perfect as possible.

The weight of the TSA's responsibility shows in every aspect of the organization, down to the physique of many of the officers. And we passengers share the responsibility of protecting the country, and need to point out deficiencies or irregularities in the TSA or any particular operation of the TSA. If we see something, we should say something.
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Old Nov 12, 2013, 7:01 am
  #21  
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OK, now I know you're just putting us on!

Bruce
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Old Nov 12, 2013, 8:31 am
  #22  
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Originally Posted by Carl Johnson
...People mock and deride the TSA officer for taking it, but do you KNOW there are still no such things as Light Sabers?
But for now we feel so much SAFER knowing we're already protected if and when they are develped.
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Old Nov 12, 2013, 10:00 am
  #23  
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Last edited by MikeMpls; Nov 24, 2013 at 10:02 pm Reason: removing all my recent TS/S content since any effort here seems to be unappreciated
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Old Nov 13, 2013, 11:50 am
  #24  
 
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Originally Posted by cynicAAl
a simple "no thanks, I've already been screened" and then just casually walk away usually gets them to annoy someone else.
The very few times that I've been selected for a gate recheck, I've simply told them "I will comply with your search only after you admit that you are doing it because you failed to do it correctly the first time at the checkpoint." They're usually speechless at that point and I just walk off.
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Old Nov 13, 2013, 12:17 pm
  #25  
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Originally Posted by Xyzzy
But for now we feel so much SAFER knowing we're already protected if and when they are develped.
The mental movie now playing is a TSA "screener" staring into the blade emitter of a lightsaber as they activate it.
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Old Nov 13, 2013, 12:26 pm
  #26  
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Gate Checks are an admission of failure to secure the sterile area of the airport. There are a few vectors that I can think of (others with more knowledge of these matters may add or subtract from them as need be):

Normal security lines, entrances for airport personnel, entrances for flight crew.

If the normal security lines are not being attended to properly, it seems to me that the TSA should concentrate its efforts there, rather than as a last ditch effort to (randomly) catch someone who happened to smuggle something through the normal security line. Is the person caught at the gate working with someone at the x-ray machine? Then that's where you should place extra personnel, or more importantly, get rid of those bad apples who are working with terrorists to smuggle weapons on board airplanes. That's what they're checking for, isn't it?

If the entrances for airport personnel, flight crews, delivery drivers etc. are not being screened, then place your TSA agents there.

Stop punishing the traveling public for the shortcomings in your system.
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