studentff

COVID-19 is a bigger, scarier boogeyman than 9/11. Especially after 18.5 years. I'm not optimistic, but the rational thing to do would be to rethink the entire TSA and their screening system to be more amenable to social distancing. That means still screening for realistic WEI while drastically reducing the rate at which screeners make physical contact with travelers. My proposal looks remarkably like pre-9/11 screening for those who remember it.

-WTMD by default. (NoS has too many false alarms)

-HHMD, not pat-downs with gloved hands, to resolve most WTMD alarms. NoS as an option to resolve certain WTMD alarms.

-ID checks where screener paws your DL/passport needs to go. Either eliminate it or replace with non-contact barcode scans where the screener *never* touches the ID and is not in your face.

-End the war on water.

-End the shoe carnival at minimum for shoes that don't alarm

-(maybe) increase use of explosive-sniffing dogs if the false positive rate can be proven to be low.

The system should be tuned so that screeners never make physical contact with 99% of passengers, preferably 99.5%. Physical contact should be rare enough that screeners can completely replace PPE (gloves, possibly masks and gowns) between passenger contacts.

Boggie Dog

As long as TSA remains a theatrical production what you list won't happen. When real security becomes the objective is when change becomes possible.

studentff

The theatrical production will likely have a very real body count in passengers (and screeners) soon, given the rate of screeners testing positive for covid-19. Touching and exposing countless passengers in the name of theatrics and political correctness is going to be harder sell for the TSA PR machine.

Like I said, covid-19 is a bigger boogeyman than the 18-year-old ghost of 9/11.

Real action against actual terrorists isn't about TSA, it's about the military and law enforcement. Real screening for credible WEI on aircraft doesn't require anywhere near the level of physical contact that TSA currently demands.

yandosan

I made a similar post about 5 years ago, something about how much longer was TSA really going to last?
As awful as they are I have enjoyed some of the comedy, such as Adam Kokesh going up to these clueless
"security" workers with a camera and asking "how many terrorists have TSA caught?" Their reactions are priceless.
Or on the spooky side, does anyone remember Savannah Georgia TSA groping children getting *off* a train. That may have been an all time low.

FliesWay2Much

Yeah - in a way they are comic relief. But, they have a real impact on Americans (and our guests) who are sexually assaulted, forced to pay hundreds of dollars to rebook flights and, in some cases, are actually arrested on bogus charges for which the TSA clerks and willful airport cops are never held accountable.

nrr

We here on FT are a miniscule portion of the pax flying and probably see things differently from others. People think back to 9-11 and don't want a repeat, so they put up with TSAs nonsense. There have been NO attacks since 9-11 proof that TSA is hard at work and effective
But as bad as they are, they are no match for the LHR crew. Once I left JFK (connecting in LHR), my baggie (always) has a mini tube of toothpaste a small tube antibiotic ointment and some dental floss, but I also had a small tube of skin ointment (not in the baggie), I cleared TSA , in LHR it was detected = COMPLETE examination of everything in my carryon...lots of bags being taken apart that day.
Wasn't it the LHR crew that started the liquid and shoe circus? What if they got wind of bombs being concealed in the genital region

davie355

To this day I am surprised, and (sadly) grateful, that TSA launched PreCheck.

PreCheck has helped a lot. My reasonable demands in the next iteration are:

• no document check.
• let me keep my jacket on, like your own guidelines say I can
• fire bad officers, reward good ones.