Boggie Dog

I'm flying a one way route later this summer. Since I will already be in the crosshairs of TSA think I will make things fun for me. Will try to key into the latest TSA fetish but have a couple of booklets that are written in a cipher and will throw in some other select items. I always leave plenty of time in my schedule for idiocy and figure I might as well make them earn my security fee. Might even be back in a medical back brace by then too.

Section 107

Two other good options are the Poor Mans James Bond by Saxon or the Magician's Arsenal by Scott.

chollie

I won't even risk googling those titles to see what they are.

A few years ago, I was reading an interesting book about the history of Turkey (Ataturk, really). I was flying out and it occurred to me that I probably shouldn't take the book. It was called 'Crescent and Star' and had that image on the cover. Ironically, the story of Ataturk is the story of a leader deliberately turning a former theocracy into a secular nation, but I knew that would be way beyond the understanding of any TSO looking for a 'big catch'.

Section 107

These are no different than the Cookbook and are widely available. I would suggest using a public library computer to research them but they often keep a sign up list so a better alternative is a hotel business center for conducting anonymous searches.

If one is really concerned about anonymity in obtaining such books a good place to purchase is at a gun show; these type of books are usually available.

chollie

You know, one thing TSOs really handle badly is anything they don't understand.

Instead of doing their job and answering the binary question, "Is this a threat to aviation security", they get hung up on 'what is this?' or 'why would you want to travel with this'? Anything that doesn't make sense to them automatically becomes suspicious and likely to be confiscated 'just because' of their stupidity and unprofessionalism.

I wonder what would happen if you went through with a book, a solid hardback, with a cover like 'B***making 101' or something similar - with nothing but blank pages inside. There's actually a joke best-seller right now that does have nothing but blank pages inside.

Now if TSA functioned like a professional agency that takes security seriously, that book would be no problem. The TSO would rifle through the pages, break the spine, wave the book around, and establish that there's no hidden contraband in the spine, covers or between the pages. 'Nuff said.

I'd bet that the suggestive cover would make the TSO go nuts and the pax would be in for a bad time - not because the book is any more threatening than the average Bible, but because if the TSO doesn't 'get it', his first impulse will be to confiscate it instead of focusing on whether or not it is a threat.

petaluma1

This is quite funny. Bruce Schneier asked the following this morning re paper:

Some have given a great deal of thought to their answers

FliesWay2Much

Somewhere on a hard drive, I saved a copy of the TSA procedures manual that they put out on. FedBizOpps announcement. They thought they redacted it but they didn't. It was real and had SSI stamped all over it. I would only print the cover and a few pages, put it in a clear report cover and have some fun. I may pour a glass of Merlot tonight, sit at the computer and try to find it.

chollie

Be sure and redact every occurrence of 'TSA' or anything similar - and 9/10 of everything else.

ND Sol

Here it is. There were a few of us that found this out on this board and it was brought to TSA's attention, which resulted in the TSA being called to a Congressional hearing. We were never given the credit for alerting the TSA to this hole and they had all sorts of excuses.

Carrying it years ago I ran into an issue at DIA where it triggered a full-blown search and numerous officers. No one understood what a "covered person" was and though they were, I was not. Only took close to four years for the FOIA request to be completed and what was written was not only internally contradictory, but almost Keystone Cops in nature.

Boggie Dog

Keystone Kops, doesn't that actually define TSA perfectly.

FliesWay2Much

Great I hadn't found my copy yet.

The Amber Alert section would seem to be the impetus for interrogating all children at the ID check station regardless of an active Ambert Alert or not.

Loren Pechtel

I'd be more worried at a gun show. That's where someone with nefarious intent would go to avoid leaving a paper trail.

chrisboote

I wonder what a book looks like any of the morons in the TSA - many of them have clearly never read one (not all TSA staff, but far more than would seem statistically likely)

artemis

Rats! The TSA has foiled my clever plan to bring down a plane using a book that has been turned into gun cotton.

Honestly, what are they thinking?

AZDeltaFlyer

The solution to the TSA is very simple:

Make EVERY single elected official (even the President) AND every single government employee go through the normal security line. No Pre-Check. No Global Entry. No NOTHING. Make them go through the line like the rest of the Kettles .... No special treatment. NOTHING.

Believe me, if they were all subjected to the same humiliating experience as their constituents and their masters .... you would see the entire process change. Trust me.

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