chollie

But if you are flying for the first time, heard unsettling rumors, want to be prepared and you go to TSA's website and see that video, you are in for an unpleasant surprise when you find out that your screener will spend more time than the entire video on the area between your waist and your knees.

TSA screeners wouldn't have to face upset mothers like the one who had to watch her young son's privates repeatedly stroked to punish him for leaving his tablet in his bag. Clearly the mother didn't know that a man might be kneeling with his face next to her son's private while he ran his hands back and forth repeatedly over the boy's genitals. If she had been able to view an honest video ahead of time, she would have known that her son's grope was standard.

I guess this is an example of what's in the fine print. If nothing alarms and you aren't randomed, that video may or may not reflect your experience.

If you do alarm (or otherwise upset a TSO), then all bets are off and the public is given absolutely no clue about what is and is not allowed. As Boggie Dog has noted repeatedly, if we don't know the rules, we don't know if they've been broken.\

I have to admit, I didn't expect to ever see TSO go that far with a kid, in public, and then stand by the supervisor who made the screener go back for a second round of strokes.

Boggie Dog

This must be an example of TSA's "Customer Focused Screening"!

Wonder when was the last time a nun committed a terrorist act?



You Grabbed What?

FliesWay2Much

...and there are a lot of people who believe that the TSA must do all of this in order to protect us from planes being blown up and falling from the skies. These people have the same amount of votes as each one of us.

nrr

But terrorists can dress as nuns.

Boggie Dog

Most anything "can" happen. So where is the line to be drawn? I think that is a very valid question, one that I don't believe that TSA has ever considered.

rickg523

Also as TSO's.
Have we seen that picture ever?

chollie

I could be wrong, but I think TSOs aren't allowed to travel in uniform and when they're on duty they have free and unfettered access to the sterile area all day long.

Personally, I think it would be a good PR move, as well as a good security move, if checkpoint TSOs were regularly and randomly subjected to full-body gropes during their work shift and in full view of the public.

It would send the message that TSA takes security so seriously that it even monitors its own people, out of an abundance of caution. It might also reduce the complaints that TSA ignores. After all, if you see one TSO dip her fingers into the waistband and butt crack of another TSO or if a male TSO repeatedly runs his hands over his co-worker's genitals (non-sexual, remember? incidental contact only), you will understand that yes, forget the videos, this really is what they do.

Boggie Dog

I suspect that a fellow TSA screener would not get the same pat down that you would regardless of the policy. Perhaps TSA should mandate that all Asst. FSD's and higher gets a pat down every day no matter where they work. That pat down should be done by someone outside of the TSA agency. Below Asst. FSD's should get the secret room search with all procedures used.

petaluma1

TSA will never "draw a line" because of their claim that they have to be right every time. (Which as we all know from their 80% failure rate is a fallacy.) It's also why, despite a claim made here, TSA treats every single passenger as if they were guilty of being a terrorist. TSA is not required to prove passengers are terrorists, passengers need to prove they are not.

jfunk138

The line will be drawn the day a terrorist decides to smuggle a bomb in their rectum. On that day one of two things will happen:
1. Commercial air travel in this country will cease to exist
2. The country will finally reach the realization that "Anything for security"™ is not a good security policy.

Boggie Dog

I truly believe that TSA is pretty much all window dressing. If TSA was honestly serious about security employees would not be allowed to waltz in without being screened. As I have reported before I have seen airport workers entering through the employee entrance bringing in over a gallon of liquid, one had a roll-aboard, and others had all manner of different items. This was observed adjacent to a TSA checkpoint where passengers were getting their crotches groped by TSA screeners. Even that level of screening is ineffective when people like Marilyn Hartman can evade TSA's gauntlet.

Airport security should receive a complete work over utilizing people outside of government. There should be enough security to interdict terrorists but not so much that people are being groped and abused. The airports back doors should receive exactly the same security protocols as the front doors.

I admit to not having all the answers but I do feel strongly that what TSA is doing today are the wrong things.

chollie

TSA should just study videos and layouts at checkpoints around the world.

gsoltso

There are currently some active government warnings in Nigeria about Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the area using Nun Habits to disguise themselves while furthering their causes. Others have used Nun Habits to disguise themselves during illegal activities.

* Nice to see you had to dig all the way back to the white shirt days to find this one! The last time I saw it (not here, on another social media outlet), it was used as a plot device to point out that we had <gasp> Muslims working for us.

Boggie Dog

What illegal activities and how does that concern TSA which is only permitted a Limited Administrative Search for WEI, or, are you telling us that TSA is engaged in illegal searches?

Can anyone point to any occurrence of a Nun that was involved in terrorist activities and how would a Boko Haram name slip through the many watch lists used to check passenger names?

This isn't Nigeria, you might want to let the rest of TSA know that.

This depiction in this picture is equally ridiculous now as when it was first captured and demonstrates that travelers have to prove to TSA that they are not engaged in terrorist activities.

petaluma1

Media outlets use pictures showing screeners in white shirts quite often.