Actually I agree; (ahem) discussion of the passenger screening process by the TSA and its foreign counterparts deserves a separate forum. Railing against DHS, CBP, ICE etc. really isn't a safety or security issue either wrt the original subject(s) and purpose of this forum.

But then with only 3% of posts surviving there wouldn't be much to read here.

Outstanding post. ^^

^^^^^ Right on!

Because the biggest threat to travel safety and security within the U.S. is the TSA.

^^^^^^^^^^

Probably because we recognize that TSA has become a criminal organization.

Many of us are required to fly as a condition of our employment. Consequently, we are regularly subjected to abuse, delay and theft by TSA and witness it more closely than casual travelers. To add insult to indignity, we not only have to pay approximately $108.00 per year in taxes for this mistreatment but an additional $5.00 for every round trip.

Ask yourself if you would pay to send your child to a day care center or school where the employees and managers were convicted of theft and drug trafficking; or where their genitals were rubbed in front of the classroom if they didn�t understand a teacher�s instruction or had a medical condition? How about if the teachers stole their money and property, put them on untested playground equipment or exposed them to cancer causing materials? Or perhaps a school where the teachers simply didn�t teach at all and sat around reading a novel.

This doesn�t sound like a service that most people would buy but, in essence, describes what is happening in airports on a daily basis. In the past month alone, there have been ten reports where TSA has participated in such activities.

Frisking of a 9 year-old and his family in Savannah after they got off a train
TSA�s failure to find a handgun five times at a DFW checkpoint
A Buffalo TSO arrested for drug trafficking,
Three box cutters that made it aboard an aircraft at JFK
An unticketed deranged passenger that made it through security despite not having a ticket
Twenty-seven screeners in HNL under investigation for failure to screen bags for four months
A Newark TSO arrested for impersonating a police officer
Another Newark TSO convicted of stealing $39,000 from passengers
A JFK TSO and Manager arrested for the theft of $160,000 from passengers baggage
The revelation of errors in 30% of scanner radiation reports that TSA hadn�t examined since they began using them on passengers in October

So my question is who are the 3% who find this acceptable?

The TSO's.

Because the Patriot Act and all its ....... children are built on a bad foundation. The country was irrational at the time, and now many people are totally occupied in defending rather than admitting the irrationality. I think this might be a rare arena where rationality is still given a chance to express itself. I compare it to the societies that existed in the 18th century when the colonies were sliding towards revolution. They corresponded by mail to discuss what was wrong and the necessary remedies. America has whatever freedom it has because people didn't just sit around and try to figure out how it might be that King George was "doing the right thing" in taking away the rights that English citizens had hitherto taken for granted.

That is what is now happening in the cybersphere. The government tries to drive the freedom train off its tracks. We, who choose to look at the existing threat rationally, speak our minds in trying to save the country from its unfortunate weakness for abandoning values in panic.

I suspect it is because the TSA is not only adding much (if anything) in the way of adding incremental security protection, they are doing harm in two ways:

1) diverting limited federal resources that could be more effectively allocated towards targeting potential terrorism threats; and

2) generating huge "frictional" costs on the U.S. economy via increased "all-in" travel times and costs.

A tertiary issue is what appears to be a significant squandering of funds that are allocated towards their mission, whereas a final criticism appears to be their diversion of resources to missions which are outside their defined scope in an apparent attempt to create more momentum for additional federal funding.

Because they don't know what a NEXUS card is 97% of the time

The arrogance with which they treat the very people without whom they wouldn't have a job is another big reason for the hostility. We've learned, many of us, during our visits to other nations, that this arrogance is not in any way required to do the job. So it means that TSA is recruiting a lot of people with personality problems, people who are finally exacting payback for what they THINK was mistreatment by the rest of the world. And the public isn't accepting that kind of treatment graciously.

Because TSA is 97% AFU.

And the remaining 3% is either wholly apathetic or simply totally ineffective.

Because the TSA is the extent of most travel safety/security issues these days.

Plane safety is at record highs, so few fatalities and crashes.

As for personal security/safety when traveling, many times women are most at risk and/or most concerned, and those issues are addressed in the women's forums.

That leaves the TSA as the talking point.

Quit puffing up the TSA. They're not that accurate.

Yes, I know it says 97% wrong. That's 3% right.