Since a percentage of currency has cocaine residue on it, almost any bundle of cash could be considered suspicious, if tested. What a time wasting dragnet. :rolleyes:

I guess it makes our front line of defense in the war on terror feel like they are accomplishing something, while they stand around and wait for the appearance of the next real or imagined threat. Throw the dog a bone, if you want it to keep busy.

You know very well we can in good faith report anything we believe as illegal activity to LEOs. And at that point our search HAS to stop - as our courts have ruled, because if we happen to find anyhing that is illegal but not WEI after that, it will be thrown out of court.

Please clarify what specifically is illegal in and of itself with an envelope containing $10,000, $20,000, or even $100,000 in cash. I'll give you a hint: the answer starts with "no" and ends with "thing". :)

Are you asking me why are others - someone not me and/or someone I do not have access to - doing whatever they do? You know very well before yu even asked that question it's not possible for me to answer. If you cite a specific case, maybe I can answer if I know someone involved.

And as to your question as to who wrote it, I really don't care to spend the time to look that up. Sorry. That qustion is pointless to me - and I'm sure you will find guilt in that. ;)

Oh, if you already know he answer, why ask me?

Ah, OK. Well, you don't have to detail anything. You just admitted to violating the 4th Amendment. I'll make it easy for you:

(1) You are supposed to look for WEI and limit your search in good faith to that purpose.

(2) You put an envelope stuffed with cash through X-ray and it clears. You pass it through WTMD and it clears. You do swab, no alarm, it clears. You do a visual inspection and see nothing but bills, nothing else. At this point, it is safe to say the envelope has been cleared of WEI. Let me know if you disagree.

(3) Sometimes, based on some secret reason, even though the envelope CLEARED SECURITY CHECKS AND NO WEI WAS FOUND, you make a judgment call whether to report it to an LEO or not (since you said you wouldn't report $4,700 - but the Fofana TSO was correct per SOP in reporting the cash, the only conclusion is you are using judgment to determine whether or not to report it). This judgment call involves, obviously, estimating the amount you are handling.

If you do (3) for ANY REASON you are violating the terms of your search, and you have not provided ANY arguments as to how you haven't if you do not let that envelope go immediately in ALL situations. "Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't" is useless and you are simply avoiding the question because you can't admit to violating the Constitution, which of course I understand since you'd probably lose your job.

You think you can get away with it just because you say "I wasn't looking for contraband, I just found it when I was looking for WEI" ... however, BY DEFINITION, if you keep inspecting an item AFTER IT HAS BEEN CLEARED OF WEI you are looking for contraband. There's NO other reason to keep inspecting an item that has been cleared, and no other reason to make a judgment call to report anything to an LEO in any circumstances unless you are looking for contraband or illegal items outside of your scope. Period.

I honestly do not understand the first part of this response. Really.

I am just curious who in TSA signed the latest OD that still classifies United States currency in the same category as illegal drugs. Didn't think it would be that time consuming to answer.

The question maybe pointless to you but it is certainly not pointless to myself and I am not permitted to see inside the things TSA is hiding from the public, even those things that pose no security threat.

That is one major issue with your agency, trying to hide everything it does because it probably could not stand the light of day if exposed.

Your agency is a danger to freedoms enjoyed by Americans and should be abolished!

I'm glad to see that you agree there is nothing illegal with people carrying around as much cash as they would like to at any time.

That would mean there is no reason to report anybody to law enforcement just for carrying a large envelope of cash through a checkpoint, correct? So if I were to, say, withdraw $25,000 from the bank and come through a checkpoint with it in an envelope I shouldn't be bothered then-- and could likely construe it as a violation of my civil rights if I was. That might be worth the trouble to do, just to see if anyone bites on it. It could provide me with the basis for a lawsuit against TSA and the specific TSO.

Why should you be looking for anything illegal that isn't WEI?

Nice try. But you know I didn't state what you said. ;)

but I'll give you a cookie for you effort to twist things; good job!

If this is y'alls definition of "fun with TSA"... no thank you, I'm just not THAT big of a masochist. Someone drop me a PM if the discussion turns back to the OP's view of "fun".

Thanks!

Cali

Don't hold your breath.....:rolleyes:

What? A thread in FT going off topic? Would never happen...

I wasn't twisting anything. I was asking a simple question that is apparently too difficult for you to understand or comprehend.

It's just another tactic by our TSA contributors to evade discussing real issues.

You did twist things. You asked why should TSA look for anything other than WEI? And I agree. I never stated we should look for anything other than WEI.

But now I'm curious. As you know we are actually tasked with more than just looking for WEI. We are also to secure the sterile and SIDA area of the airport - I other words, preent breaches. But what I am curious about is why some of you want us to report some illegal activity we see to the LEOs (not talking breaches) but not other illegal activity. Other than a self-serving desire to want things your way (I do NOT mean you halls, just talking in general here ;) ) what rational can anyone here provide as to why TSA should report some illegal activity outside of looking for WEI and breaches, but not other illegal activity? Anyone?