TSA: Reform or Scrap?
 

I am relatively new to these forums and pretty much lurk on here rather than post.

I myself am not a traveler due to the fact that I am on disability and have no money to enjoy the luxury of travel. Though I am going through school to obtain a Bachelor's of Art in graphic design and hopefully will be able to take my dream vacation. :)

Now, I know there is a lot of hate of the TSA on these forums and I'm not going to knock that as everyone is free to have his/her own opinions about things.

I personally am not against the TSA but I am also not for it. Like all government agencies it certainly has its flaws but I also think that it is necessary to have some sort of security than none at all.

In my opinion I don't think that we should get rid of the TSA, rather I think it should be reformed from the top down with better training, such as a year or two of comprehensive security and criminal justice education either taught by the TSA itself or by taking courses at a community college. However I would like to know what you guys think, a sort of a poll if you will since these forums somehow don't allow you to make polls. What do you think should be done with the TSA? Do you think it should be reformed, and if so, how? Or do you think it should be scrapped altogether and maybe replaced with something else?

Sorority

It's not a question of scrapped or reformed. Current screening does not provide any better security than we had prior to 9/11. In fact, I think it can be argued that TSA enhances the possibility of future attacks succeeding by making the attackers more carefully consider their options. Prior to 9/11 hijackings were characterized by passengers and crew acceding to the hijackers demands. Post 9/11 that changed and passengers and crew took responsibility for subduing the few crazy people who cropped up in-flight.

Today, the bad guys are scheming about how to circumvent the TSA, while the TSA steadfastly only deals with attempts that have previously been made. Idiots.

Airport security can safely go back to pre-9/11 screening standards and the re-enforced cockpit doors and enhanced passenger awareness will be more than enough to allow us all to fly safely.

DHS/TSA measurably makes us less safe.

The "agents" of the TSA are run by people who barely have GED acting like "police officers." These guys are McDonald's rejects trying to run a security theater that gets people like me to yell "I want my (tax) money back."

That's the difference between TSA and other agencies like the local PD, FBI, CIA, CBP, Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, etc. etc. These people went through rigourous training, they have the skills to protect our government, and they know what it means to represent America. TSA on the other hand, the only skill you need to become an "agent" is a high school or equivalent degree; not much different from being a member of the Geek Squad at BestBuy.

I vote scrapped. You would have a hard time trying to reform the mindset of the present administration or employee.
I advocate the airlines taking control of security. I am not sure if I would want the government involved too much, as we have presently seen what happens when the government has total control. The airlines would have a vested interest to their customers to provide a secure flight without invasive and unproductive security measures.

Truly secure the sterile area, search ONLY for WEI, and skip all the nonsense.

I also think we focus way too much effort on airline security. There is no way to be 100% safe, so we must calculate the return on investment for each new security measure that seems to come about because some yahoo somewhere did something. The government also seems to only react to selective happenings, usually failed attempts, that alter security measures for years after the fact.

I have no hatred of these individuals working for the TSA per se; but when they attempt to look at my wife and daughters naked, or feel their sexual organs and humiliate them, yes, I have a big problem with them.

The problem is that they are a federal agency, which means that it would (1) take an act of G-d to get rid of them, (2) a bigger act of G-d to reduce their scope and budget, and (3) an inter-generational effort to make any significant changes: just on this one issue of not getting your sex organs groped or peered at without cause, look how difficult it is going to be to make them stop.

The fact is, absolutely NONE of the functions of the TSA are listed in the enumerated powers of the federal government in the US Constitution. So the TSA should not exist, PERIOD.

In a way, I would choose both... I would scrap the current leadership (Nappy, Pissy Pistole, Blogger Bob's office of bull crap, etc) and bring in fresh leaders. These people would know how to run a professional organization, unlike our current "leaders"..

As far as the screeners, I would let go of all that had not gone through college. Training standards would be raised, and we would not waste money on things like blue uniforms and badges.. Hell, we can go back to the white shirts and cloth badges.

For the Nude-O-Scopes, ALL backscatter units would be returned to Rapescan. We do not need them, especially if they are projecting radiation in all directions at the airport.. The MMW, which would switch to ATR, would only be used in extreme cases, not randomly or used as primary...


These are just some of the changes that need to take place. If you search this forum, you will discover that it has been discussed Ad Nauseam..

The moderators in any forum can create a poll. If you have one in mind, you might run it by them via PM and see if they'll post it. We seem than occasionally on the AA forum.

Most recently here: An airport security alternative, please? wherein post #13 has links to earlier threads just in the past few months, and the final link has further links to earlier threads.

My opinion: reformation from the top down is extraordinarily unlikely, as the dysfunction of TSA starts with those at the top, and they don't appear to be open to the idea of change. And there are 61000 TSA employees (last reported number; probably more by now) and something like 25% annual turnover - two years of (fulltime?) education for each one would be outrageously expensive and unnecessary. They don't need more ideas, more "self-esteem" or more scope to be creative about "fighting terrorism." They need to pay attention to the image on the baggage x-ray to try to find the knife more than 30% of the time!

Scrap. It's too late to reform.

If you have never had the displeasure of meeting TSA in person then I think you have a limited view of what is going on in airports and likely to expand to other transportation venues.

TSA as it currently exist is defective. I don't think it is repairable so the only option is to toss the whole mess in the trash heap along with the millions of dollars of puffers and start fresh.

No one who had any role in the current TSA mess would be permitted to be involved in future builds.

Good luck with your degree. It might be easier to enjoy a dream vacation if it weren't for all the dollars and passenger's time and dignity that's eaten up by Teatro de Seguridad en los Aeropuertos (TSA).

Not true and one example is insulated mugs and thermos searches now.

Not true

Care to provide some evidence to back up your 'not true' about employment requirements? Or are we supposed to just genuflect at your greatness and accept your word as gospel?

Scrap
 

I prefer scrap. I don't think they can be reformed, and this is why:

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/...vacy-their-own

The TSA is locked into security theatre as their main goal. They want to make Americans feel safe. Actually being safe is not even on their radar.

When some eager, sincere TSA employee takes safety seriously, they make that employee's life a living Hell.

From top to bottom, the TSA has a culture of providing smoke and mirror security theater and viciously attacking anyone who sees through the illusion or dares to suggest that real security measures should be instituted. When a social group has such a culture, and has maintained it for a decade, the chances of changing that culture are nil.

That being said, I think that scrapping a government agency takes an act of G-d. We're better off trying to curb their unconstitutional excesses.

Our best hope for real security lies in our own vigilance and willingness to take appropriate action to neutralize threats. This is true at home, true in our community, and true when we fly.

Lest the term "neutralize threats" cause anyone heart palpitations, I'll hasten to add that I mostly advocate risk mitigation and avoidance. It is almost always sufficient.

What's not true? The fact that TSA clerks can't recognize a NEXUS card, even after Pissy said that he would make sure TDCs knew what they were? :rolleyes: