MacLeanBarrier

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6055304790001/

TSA's response: "[still] an ongoing investigation [since September 26, 2017]...[we] do not do any random inspections of food trucks":

Press release after the U.S. Office of Special Counsel's (OSC) December 18, 2018 referral after TSA inaction:
https://www.whistleblower.org/press-...s-exposed-air/

10 days after September 26, 2017, TSA involuntarily placed me on sick leave for 2 months ordering me to seek and pay for a private psychiatric examination:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/u...tigations.html

Fired again on March 21, 2019:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...mp-appointees/

Boggie Dog

Maybe I missed something but who is inspecting the catering carts and trucks and who seals them after the inspection? I personally believe an insider has a much greater opportunity to carry out an attack against commercial air and travelers, yet TSA expends almost all effort on passenger screening.

WillCAD

According to the Fox News piece linked by the OP, a minimum of 50% of the individual trays on all catering carts are inspected by private security hired by the catering companies, and the trucks are sealed at the catering facilities by those private security personnel.

OP says that he was not allowed to break the seals and perform "random" inspection of catering trucks entering the airport through secured gates. He further asserts that he was told that these inspections were denied him because of the 1st Amendment protections.

The exact context of that comment is unclear to me; I would hazard a guess that OP wanted specifically to target catering trucks headed to airlines serving predominately Muslim countries in the Middle East, such as Emirates or Etihad, and this targeted "random" searching was seen by whomever made the comment as being a religiously-biased profiling.

TSA's statement says that they conduct NO random inspections of sealed catering trucks as they enter the airport, because those trucks were already screened and sealed shut by the private security hired by the catering company/airline at the source.

Personally, I'm okay with those trucks being inspected and sealed at the source, and not opened until their contents are loaded onto the planes. To me, it's not a matter of religious liberty, it's a matter of food spoilage and contamination. Opening a food truck and tossing the contents around at the airport access control point opens an opportunity for the food to be contaminated by security personnel who are not trained in food handling, not to mention the possibility of loss of refrigeration, and even the possibility that the screeners themselves could use the opportunity to secret smuggled items into the carts (we have seen TSA screeners involved in smuggling rings before). The fewer grubby little paws on the grub between source and consumption, the better, IMHO.

Boggie Dog

Caterers must fall under TSA's Trusted Shipper program if other than TSA employees are doing the inspection. Not sure I fully trust that setup.

MacLeanBarrier

We--TSA Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police officers--were allowed to go inside the cargo-bays of other food trucks--these trucks were exempt. FAMs are highly trained and vetted federal law enforcement officers under 5 U.S.C § 8336 holding TOP SECRET security clearances. You cannot compare FAMs with "security personnel" like the people who check your ticket before entering a screening checkpoint. If FAMs can expertly use and safely handle firearms, they will not contaminate food.

Surprise/random law enforcement inspections are very common. For decades, the U.S. Border Patrol has legally--Supreme Court upheld--stopped vehicles within 100 miles of the border. It is impossible to stop the massive flow of undocumented aliens and contraband just as it is impossible to screen the megatons of food trucks that enter the sterile air operations areas.

Boggie Dog

I agree that no vehicle entering the sterile area of an airport should be exempt from inspection.

I disagree that just because a person has a security clearance and can handle certain weapons that they also know how to inspect a truck carrying food. That would take some additional training and issuance of what is called in my area a "Food Handlers Certificate". That insures that a person is trained to not contaminate food stuffs, is aware of how food should be stored, and that the person doesn't have a condition such as Hepatitis.

I also disagree that doing certain things is impossible. In 1960 it was impossible to put a man on the moon. In 1969 the impossible became possible. When you allocate enough resources to any project amazing advances can be made.

MacLeanBarrier

In 2017, such training and certifications were requested--and ignored by TSA managers--for TSA Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response Federal Air Marshals.

WillCAD

I agree with that.

However, I also think that if there are trained, vetted, trusted security personnel on duty at the food prep facility, who inspect and seal the food trays and carts, this qualifies as "inspection", and further random inspection on route is not only unnecessary, but needlessly reckless for both sanitary reasons, and for security reasons - any unsealing of sealed materials provides an opportunity for bad actors to secret contraband into them.

There is of course the issue that unsealing and inspecting kosher and halal foods could desecrate them, just as surely as inspecting blessed Communion wafers or wine would be desecration. I imagine that this is why the foods are inspected at their source and sealed for transport, rather than inspected along the way and possibly desecrated or spoiled.

If there is any doubt as the authenticity of the seals on the food when it arrives at the airport, then TSA should direct its attention toward the drivers of the trucks. If there are any doubts about the competence, trustworthiness, or processes of those who inspect the food at its source, then there is where TSA's attention should be directed, not toward making useless random inspections of sealed food items.

This whole thing is yet another example of TSA over-complicating things in a vain search for imagined 'security', while completely ignoring simpler, easier, cheaper, and more effective methods.

MacLeanBarrier

Update on yesterday's Fox News Channel "Tucker Carlson Tonight" video segment:

"Internal TSA memo says changes need to be made to food truck screening process - Dangerous loophole in airport security revealed; Hillary Vaughn reports."

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6057656277001/

Boggie Dog

Isn't it grand that TSA discovered this problem all on their own through a Special Emphasis Assessment!

No one outside of TSA has ever stated that "Insider Threats" could be a security problem.

MacLeanBarrier

I wrote this article that numerous TSA employees discovered that random Federal Air Marshal Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police "open and look" vehicle checkpoints stopped being set up after my September 26, 2017 inquiry about a bogus "religious right...First Amendment" exemption for airline food catering trucks. In it are numerous public documents and social media lending evidence of the stoppage of the multi-agency "Operation Guardian" law enforcement events in the Washington DC area:

Dangerous ?Religious Exemption? loophole in Virginia Airports Security ? The Bull Elephant

Boggie Dog

Don't think you'll get much traction. Congress is focused on other matters and seem afraid to say much to DHS.

MacLeanBarrier

https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2...tern-airlines/

MacLeanBarrier

Congress is holding a hearing with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (acting) this Thursday at 10:00 Eastern:

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/G...0718-SD001.pdf

DragonSoul

Why???

Serious, why???

Why do religious "rights" supersede the law??!?!