If it is a requirement to report, then it calls more into question the validity of the administrative search. It is for this reason that TSO's are not given any instruction in the identification of drugs.

If I fart a SBD and then sort of wiggle and move to the side and try to glance at someone to make everyone else think it was that person...... am I a terrorist?

spotnik:
First off welcome to FT . It's great that you are willing to answer the questions. While I don't fly as much as most of the people who post on here, I am around TSA 5 days a week at work. And I'll grant you there are "a few" good ones & I will talk to a couple of them but for the most part I have zero respect for them as I see them "in action" each working day. IMO the bdos at my airport don't have a clue(they are brainwashed) as I've talked to a couple of them.

Please excuse the above... I thought we were playing a game to poke fun at the illogical and ridiculous nature of anything related to airport security.

I can confirm that. It's happened twice at Huntsville, one of them where I personally found it (dude had, like, $14,000 in just, like, wads of $100s in his pockets) during a pat-down. I reported it to the Supervisor, Supervisor called Customs. Customs got there, asked him a few questions, and let him go after determining that he wasn't traveling overseas (which was, for some reason, something we were very specifically not allowed to inquire about ourselves; probably has something to do with legal liability and law enforcement procedures). The whole shebang took about ten minutes, IIRC, with nine of it being Customs' travel time.

Again, carrying 10K+ in cash domestically isn't illegal. I wouldn't call it wise necessarily, but there's nothing illegal about it.

Our training coordinator here at Huntsville put it very eloquently, I think, when it comes to the cash thing and reporting any drugs/drug paraphernalia found during the searches: "If you're driving down the road and you happen to see a car under a bridge, you stop and see if they need help. You're not driving down the road looking for cars under bridges, though."

Where is the duty/authority to call anyone? There is nothing illegal about carrying any amount of cash domestically. There isn't even anything illegal about carrying it internationally, as long as you declare it if over the limit.

What is it exactly that you are reporting to the supervisor, and what is the basis for it?

There is no reason to detain a traveller on the basis of his legal carrying of cash, no different than him carrying a camera, a hat, his shoes, jacket or anything else.

Am I missing something?

mkt,

I promised you a response on these issues, and I think I can talk about it a bit without running afoul of the SSI goons.

The TSA PR statements emphasize that we check ID materials because we need to know that you are who you say you are. Multiple IDs, therefore, should not be an issue unless they would open a question as to whether you misrepresented your identity.

The "excessive cash" business requires us to call a LEO if we observe an amount of cash which appears to be over $10,000 USD. Frankly, I have as much TSA training on recognizing $10,000 cash as I have from TSA in recognizing illegal drugs.

TSA does not seem to provide much quality information on these issues, and most of what I have found has been discussed many times on this forum. I will, however, post the links again if any of you wish for them.

Is this written in your SOP? If so, great - I will be targeting that as part of our anti-TSA lobbying efforts. The TSA is not permitted to make up laws which are not germane to the scope of their authority. Carrying cash in ANY amount is not illegal - and any 'suspicion' resulting from your finding of said cash is so far outside the scope of your search, I will ask our legislators to order TSA management to remove that from your SOP.

If it's not in your SOP, I will ask our legislators to question Kippy during his next appearance why his staff seem so interested in reporting cash when they seem so unable to find guns, knives and bomb parts.

Well, my multiple ID's all have the same details, albeit with varying addresses. I've been using my passport as my primary ID, with it paperclipped so it only opens to my photo & information, and my TWIC as backup.

Unfortunately, any answer I could offer would be, at best, an educated guess. Although the BDO program has been around for a while, widespread hiring and implementation across the country is fairly recent. They have been doing some experimentation with the training program, and at my airport we have been told to expect a bunch of shiny new training coming soon. I do not, however, have any knowledge about what the training is or when we will actually receive it.

BDOs have nationally mandated recurrent training, just like TSOs. It is just a different set of courses to reflect the different job duties. Locally, we can be assigned additional training, although this content varies according to the FSD and management priorities. We are strongly encouraged to seek additional training and education opportunities. Currently, I am reading an excellent sociological study of suicide terrorist campaigns.

Different story at ORD when the TSO took my money over to the TSO supervisor and he asked where I was going, which was domestic. End of story and off I go. At IAH, supervisor made a call, but then I went on my way without talking to anyone else. Traveling with money is not illegal, so stop the hassle. It is not even illegal internationally. What is illegal is failing to file the form if you are carrying $10,000+.



Perhaps eloquent as related to drugs, but not so IMHO as it relates to cash. The car analogy is being a Good Samaritan; the money is being nosy and not related to your mission. But TSA has "caught" more persons possessing illegal drugs at screening checkpoints than terrorists. Of course the former doesn't have to be a large number since the latter is a number less than one.

And HSVTO Dean, I do appreciate you coming on here and the TSA Blog, and explaining what you are permitted to do so. I am not trying to shoot the messenger, only the message.

We are specifically forbidden from telling passengers about behaviors which caused them to be referred for additional screening. It is carefully protected SSI, and (supposedly) could be used to beat the system. In this area, I disagree with the powers that be in Virginia, but I am very limited in what I can actually do about this. The press releases and fluff news stories seem to include a lot of this information, however. I'm not sure how it is less of a problem when reported in major media outlets.

Thank you. May I add the "least restrictive means" test to the training regimen? It may not be specifically required of TSA, but I think this standard ought to be applied to all government activity.

Just out of curiosity, anything more to the MKE comment than the bagggie incident from a couple years ago? I love hearing stories from around the country that reinforce my idea that TSA needs more employees like me.

I notice that not a small number of long time FTers have correctly zeroed in on the carrying cash aspect.

Mr/Ms spotnik, although having subsequently posted, since that comment was originally made, on a number of other items, has gone a bit silent with respect to our posts on cash.

Unbelievable arrogance on the part of the TSA to try and creep this into their scope.

I have yet to be able to find one, which is one of my serious problems with TSA. In the USA, last I checked, citizens have the right to demand this sort of information of their government. Government is also required, last I checked, to provide due notice for any rules changes and, at a minimum, provide opportunity for public review and comment. If TSA is doing any of this, they need to do a much better job of making it easy to access and readily available to the public.