TSO1973

As has been said ad nauseum in this forum, background checks are not a predictor of future behavior. If a person has nothing on their background that shows a problem, there's nothing to indicate a future repeat of that problem.

Coralreef Lover

Scientists are split over whether it's even possible to recognize terrorists simply by behavior detection. A 2008 report found no evidence it works.

"TSA is doing a number of things in the area of behavior detection and I personally think that some of them are shams," said Stephen Fienberg, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

In a statement Wednesday, the TSA called the program a "vital layer" of security, "based in science," that has resulted in more than 1,700 arrests for "illegal activities" like drug smuggling.

The report based on the GAO investigation is due out Thursday. It will recommend across-the-board improvements in the program - ones the TSA is expected to accept. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n6500349.shtml

deldel

16 suspected terrorists using 23 different airports since '04.....NONE were caught! WOW!!!!!


Who trains the BDO's Obiwan Kenobi or Yoda? "these aren't the terrorists you're looking for....move along, move along"

bocastephen

Don't feed the Troll

That post was designed to inflame, nothing else.

FriendlySkies

I know.. I just get so pissed when people do that...........FWIW, I feel safer knowing that my fellow pax can recognize if something is going down and can protect the aircraft...

Spiff

Grow up, Pgladb. The terrorists want you to give up your freedom. Looks like the terrorists have won.

Have you considered counseling? It's been almost 10 years. That's a little long for weekly "chilling" feelings.

I ask God to forgive my enemies, even the TSA employees who harass me and do nothing to protect me.

I miss it fondly; the "security" that has replaced it is disgusting and un-American.

And the only thing that has changed is that it's more expensive.

Specious reasoing at its finest. My magic rock is the real deterrent.

BS. TSA's mission is to waste public funds keeping 50,000 people off the streets and to harass the traveling public.

Nope, and by the way, known child molesters fly all the time. So do convicted murderers who have served their sentences. With this new knowledge, will you still be able to fly?

Not me. If you need that illusion of security, please do yourself and the rest of the USA a favor and move to North Korea or Burma.

Yes, please. I'll take you up on that, I promise!

If you want the Israel model, please move to Israel. Their "security" has no place in a free society like the United States of America.

N965VJ

Welcome Aboard SeaPort Airlines

No lines. No rubber gloves. No need to take your shoes off. Simply arrive 15 minutes before your flight, board and go. It's air travel the way it should be - fast and hassle-free.

IT'S ABOUT TIME

Spiff

SeaPort Air Customer Testimonials:

Catherine Martin said:

I have never had such a positive experience connected with any airline. I read about Seaport Air last Oct. when they opened the Mid-South Route, but didn’t have the chance to fly until March.
Usually the dread of the process comes then you just grin and bear it; however, with Seaport Air I could arrive 15 minutes early. The hassle free no TSA is wonderful and made me feel special. I have flown twice in the last 2 months and the customer service from start to finish is outstanding. I will be a regular customer and have already recommended the airline to several associates. Thank you, Seaport Air, for making me feel like a queen!

RC said:

Thank you. Please pass along to your management team or marketing personnel that my flying experience yesterday exceeded my expectations in many ways. A wonderful experience! Aside from the obvious benefits (no crowds, no TSA, no slogging through a huge airport, etc.), the crews were personable, the facilities were comfortable, and the pilots put the planes on the ground so gently I wasn't even sure we had landed. I will never fly to Seattle through the main PDX terminal again. I've been raving to everyone about SeaPort since I got back.

Just 2 of the thousands of reasons that the TSA should be kicked out of every airport on the planet. TSA is a disgusting, un-American agency that should be destroyed without delay.

Pgladb

Grow up, Pgladb. The terrorists want you to give up your freedom. Looks like the terrorists have won.
Really, what airline related freedom have you given up, taking off your shoes?
If security is so overwellming maybe it's you who should considered counseling.

Have you considered counseling? It's been almost 10 years. That's a little long for weekly "chilling" feelings.
Counseling yes, been there done that and I think I would still get that chilling feeling even if my brother didn’t died in first tower and my brother in-law wasn’t a NY City fireman who lost most of his co-workers. Silly me I remember them every time I fly, what did you lose?

I ask God to forgive my enemies, even the TSA employees who harass me and do nothing to protect me.
We at TSA do forgive you.


I miss it fondly; the "security" that has replaced it is disgusting and un-American.


And the only thing that has changed is that it's more expensive.
Doesn't this contradict your above statement?


Specious reasoning at its finest. My magic rock is the real deterrent.

BS. TSA's mission is to waste public funds keeping 50,000 people off the streets and to harass the traveling public.


Nope, and by the way, known child molesters fly all the time. So do convicted murderers who have served their sentences. With this new knowledge, will you still be able to fly.
I guess you are acknowledging my point, and as stated I do weekly.

Not me. If you need that illusion of security, please do yourself and the rest of the USA a favor and move to North Korea or Burma.
I like what we have; the problem with flying is yours not mine.


Yes, please. I'll take you up on that, I promise!
If I could the ticket would be in the mail.


If you want the Israel model, please move to Israel. Their "security" has no place in a free society like the United States of America.[/QUOTE]
Excuse me, again what freedom has TSA taken from you? How did I get voted off the island? I like the protection America offers me and support advancement. I think you were the one with the issue. I would never suggest anyone leave America it's well un-American.

Spiff

So you chose to dishonor their memory by destroying the civil liberties of your fellow citizens and by selling out your country for a paycheck. Bravo. Perhaps you can find some Bill of Rights Toilet Paper....

FriendlySkies

How about the freedom to travel without some pervert, sitting in a locked booth looking, at naked people all day!

What about the freedom to not deal with high school dropouts that can't distinguish 3.1oz from 31oz???

Ari

It looks like a training program similar to this:

http://www.mettonline.com/
http://face.paulekman.com/default.aspx
http://www.cio.com/article/facial-expressions-test

They do say that microexpressions are what BDO's look for.

Yup.

erictank

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. If so, smilies are your friend.

Re: your description of screeners - you ARE aware that it looks very much as though all those things still apply to current screening, right? I mean, read some of the more popular threads here, and you can find links to news articles detailing those EXACT problems with screening and those conducting it!

And I have a magic rock that keeps elephants out of my backyard. Haven't seen a single elephant since I bought it!!

And they can't *DO* that - but they keep on instituting more and more and more mission creep, adding more things to look at over and above valid searches for weapons, explosives, and incendiaries. Yeah, let's focus on passing the *ANNOUNCED* Red Team tests, then we can work on passing 'secret-shopper' and unannounced tests, *THEN* come talk to us about expanding your responsibilities, guys...

Won't answer for him (though based on my time here, I suspect he'll agree with the statement that what you mention is in fact not a threat to aviation security), but for my part, absolutely drug smuggling, those who transport them, and criminals in general, are ABSOLUTELY NO THREAT to the aircraft, crew, or passengers, so long as they aren't carrying weapons, explosives, or incendiaries. I don't care is Osama Bin Laden himself sits down next to me on an airliner. Heck, given the reward on his butt, I'd WELCOME it, but that's beside the point .

Use of TSA as a law-enforcement dragnet is a violation of Constitutionally-protected rights, and is morally indefensible.

Unless they're doing something which is actually harming someone? Damn right. A guy with a gallon baggie of marijuana - or a backpack of kilo bricks of it - is no threat to anyone.

On his own? How would I know he's a child molester? They generally don't wear scarlet letters, or great big sandwich-board signs advertising their predilections. If he's stupid enough to pull out kiddie porn on the plane and let me see it, a quiet notification to the FA while I'm up to use the bathroom will have cops waiting for him at the destination - but that's about the only way I can see any valid reason to get him locked up that I might have on the plane. And that's the way it SHOULD be.

"Took advantage" how, exactly? I'm not a kid. If he attempted to molest a child on the aircraft, he would... regret it.

Then he's guilty of a criminal act (felony assault), and gets subdued by myself and/or other passengers, arrested by an air marshal if there's one aboard or by airport police after touchdown.

You don't get to punish people until *AFTER* they've violated someone else's rights.

Great way to convince us of the correctness of your position there, buddy...

And no one says you shouldn't be able to choose those options - for you and your family. You don't get to violate *MY* rights because you're a paranoid hysteric.

Nice strawman argument there. Since what we "TSA bashers" *ACTUALLY* want is *REAL* security, as opposed to the security-theater we're paying for now, your argument is invalid.

If you want Israeli-style security, feel free to move to Israel. It wouldn't work here anyways, even IF implementation was attempted - the conditions are far too different.

And I shouldn't HAVE to give up the best way to get cross-country in order to hang onto my rights. Besides, with TSA attempting to insinuate its tentacles into bus and train travel, your suggestion there falls more than a little flat.

PTravel

How in the world do you think TSA protects you? Are you aware that, every time you fly out of PWM -- in fact, every time you fly on commercial aircraft -- you are sitting above cargo and U.S. mail that is uninspected? Are you aware that TSA has something like an 80% failure rate in detecting the things that they are actually charged with detecting, i.e. weapons, explosives and incendiaries? Airport security is a good and important thing. TSA is there, not to provide security, but to stage a dog-and-pony show that will reassure casual fliers who are concerned that flying might not be safe.

And very, very little has changed.

No, they did not. And if they did, it was of their own volition, not because it is now mandatory.

And that's changed . . . how?

Now the equipment is new, invasive, expensive and completely ineffective.

No different than the good new days.

Nonsense. First of all, the underwear bomber represents a successful attack on American aviation. No one was hurt because his bomb failed, not because TSA and its BDOs did anything whatsoever to stop him. Quite the contrary, as with everything TSA, the agency, along with its DHS parent, screwed up by allowing him on the flight at all. Of greater importance, however, is the fact that I value the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution more than the illusion of security. And you should, too.

Because, by law, it's not. Because criminals who transport drugs are not a threat to aviation -- quite the contrary, they have as much interested in arriving safely at their destination as I do. TSA is not a police agency, and it's mission isn't to detect and bust kids carrying an ounce of pot. I don't feel safer because of it, and I'm surprised you do.

No one has said that. We want effective security, which is the opposite of that provided by TSA.

Who said that? If a TSO/BDO suspects criminal drug use, we already have on site, trained agents with the power to detain, arrest and search (within constitutional limits). They are called, law enforcement officers, and it is their job to interdict criminal activity. It is TSA's job to ensure airline security against terrorism, and they do a piss poor job of it.

Ah, the old, "think of the children," argument. No thanks. I'll think of the Constitution.

Except that, if it has happened at all, happens less than terrorists who have successfully eluded TSA and boarded commercial aircraft.

No, we're all so smart that we understand that the security theater represented by TSA provides no security at all. We're also all so smart that we understand the value of the fundamental liberties guaranteed by the Constitution through express limitations on the power of government, and the danger to everyone's freedom if we let a rogue agency with minimally-trained, undereducated, minimum wage employees (not all of them but, unfortunately, too many -- if you don't believe me, ask the STSOs who post here) who do little to actually identify threats. Ask yourself why, in most other countries, airport security is provided by police agencies, and then ask yourself why it is less invasive, yet more effective, than the security provided by TSA.

Clearly you are the audience for whom TSA's brand of security theater was intended. Please feel free to explain how BDOs, TSO, x-rays and full body x-rays make you and your family safer.

And how would that differ from what we have now: airlines with amateur security, an ineffective bag search, and a watch list that (1) doesn't contain the names of the most dangerous terrorists for "security" reasons, and (2) is not sufficient to keep terrorists, including ones who set off bombs, off of aircraft.

"Customer service"? Are you kidding? I fly around a China a lot. I've never, not once, encountered a Chinese security officer (who are all trained LEOs), who rude, officious, unhelpful, impolite OR who missed the occasional contraband (alcohol or cigarette lighters) that I'd forget I had in my carryon.

Surprise: TSA has extended their "protection" to buses and trains. Regardless, what we want is real security, and security that comports with constitutional limitations on the power of government, and not the pale shadow of security provided by the bloated and out-of-control TSA.

The only ones who are, "selfish, pompous jackasses," are those incapable of distinguishing between fiction and reality, and believe that TSA is, in the least, effective at its mandate.

Thanks for playing.

Ari

I can't believe you guys are actually wasting your time on this!