Wrong.

Longer wait times do not equal security.

Longer wait times indicate sloppy, inefficient, careless work and employees engaging in a deliberate work slowdown. Employees focused on a work slowdown are employees who are putting me and all other travelers at risk because they are distracted from the task at hand.

They are distracted by their focus on speed (slow), not by speed (fast).

No one's going to waste time contacting elected officials who only care about ensuring that their own crotches aren't sniffed and groped. 'Good' TSOs will continue to be tarred by the actions of their less conscientious co-workers while they stand by idly watching. Morale will continue to be low, and a modest vicious cycle will ensue: anyone with integrity and a strong work ethic will be motivated to leave and bullies, thieves and incompetents will increasingly dominate the work force.

If TSA HQ can't even come up with a tool to consistently and reliably educate the public on what will take place at the checkpoint (the rest of the world manages this just fine), then it's hardly surprising if there's a 'Wild West' no-rules mess at the checkpoint.

Hint: if the lack of rules and 'anything goes' attitude and 'consistent inconsistency' is working so much better than in the rest of the world, how come TSA keeps failing the Red Team tests? How come news around the world isn't filled with stories of airport bullying, backroom strip searches of ostomy patients, theft, terminal evacuations and missed contraband?

And yet, you seem to ignore that TSA admits the 95% failure rate was due to focusing on speed (fast).


TSA can not do anything consistently, except be inconsistent. It seems entirely useless for the public to be educated on what TSA will or will not permit. As you so often point out, what TSA rules allow can be denied because of "discretion".

From government testing we already know that only 5% of weapons aren't getting through TSA security. Seems improving that number would be something that all of us would be interested in.

I'm sure that TSA will try to hide from public disclosure the horrible false alarm rate of ETD machines used by TSA, purchased with our tax dollars, but if that number was released I would bet that the false alarm rate is over 99%, understanding that a false alarm is any positive test where no WEI is found.

Wouldn't fewer false alarms be better for TSA? Certainly seems that fewer resolution screenings would better utilize available manpower and allow more focus on potential threats.

I have no idea why anyone would think that improving ETD results is somehow a lowering of security. I would think that all of us would be in favor of better, more efficient TSA security.

Maintaining status quo doesn't seem to do anything good for anyone.

No.

You say that TSA 'admits' that speed (aka 'efficiency') precludes thoroughness.

I say that TSA claims that it is impossible for its workforce to be both efficient and thorough.

The fact that millions of people and organizations around the world manage to be both efficient and thorough exposes TSA's claim for the lie that it is.

Note: one of the many distracted TSOs surrounding the boy and his mother in order to satisfy their curiousity and intimidate the boy and his mother also 'admitted' that children with pacemakers have been used as human bombs before. Do you believe that 'admission', too? Is it a lie the TSO learned in his training? Or is it more evidence of 'screener discretion' and 'consistent inconsistency', making it up as they go?

Lest we forget, PHX is the home of the Stacey Armato harassment that cost us taxpayers $75K and I'll bet cost none of them their jobs.

Good for Stacey. She's now on the Hermosa Beach City Council.

Perhaps these new victims should contact Stacey about suing PHX again?

It's been reported that the PHX FSD doesn't fully support Pre Check. Seems like a rogue director ignoring HQ.

No, just 'consistent inconsistency', plus undefined 'operations standards' that determine when, how or if an airport supports Pre.

Like the TSO told the couple ahead of me, he got cheated by pay-tv and didn't get a refund, it is what it is. You pay your money and you take your chances. That's clearly HQ's operating position, too.

This is all going to lead to greatly improved Red Team scores, I'm sure.

This is tied to her blog account, so there's no compelling readon to think it's a fake:

From Propaganda Village:

I don't know how much clearer I can make this to you without insulting you.

The TSA doesn't care about how long you have to wait. The people in charge of the TSA doesn't care about how long you have to wait. They do care if they increase the amount of false negatives to reduce the amount of false positives.

I've been insulted by some pretty powerful people over the years so you won't be breaking any new ground. People usually resort to insults when they're incapable of making a cogent point.

I'm talking about reducing the number of alarms that do not result in contraband being found. I see that as a desirable objective. Every false alarm detracts from effective security. If TSA doesn't grasp that concept then TSA is more fouled up than I thought.

Because you have gotten the general picture of the TSA as a well-trained, well-equipped force able and willing to deal with their objectives in an effective manner, or what?

Their benchmarking is how many weapons they let through, not how many people they search unnecessary. Nobody in charge of the TSA cares about lines. TSOs aren't paid because they are efficient.

I have never thought of TSA as a well trained organization, exactly the opposite in fact, which is a shame given how TSA squanders close to $8 billion each year.

A TSO searching 100 people daily, 95% complete false alarms (sweat, bare skin) is far less likely to catch the 5% threats (real or 'close calls') than a TSO who is only tasked with searching 5 people who have alarmed.

Get a rare alert and the TSO will perform the search on 'high alert'. Make the TSO stand there repeating the same actions all day long with never a hit, all while engaging in and distracted by personal conversations and his cellphone, and he's doing the search on auto-pilot. He no longer expects to find anything - and is likely to miss things.

Kind of like expecting a McDonald's order taker distracted by her cellphone and personal conversations with co-workers to catch the rare special request.

Oh, wait. McDonald's order takers aren't allowed to play with their cellphones and indulge in distracting personal conversations while they're on the job. Getting people's orders and money right is serious business.

DHS pays a lot of money for senior management, some relatively expensive staff and even outside consultants with the purpose of being informed of the general picture despite the limitations of the TSA rank and file.

Due to PR/CYA concerns, the TSA ends up being what the TSA ends up being. And part of that consequence is the TSA ends up causing these kind of distracting shows that do more harm than good. This incident is a case in point.