For the bomb to get on the plane. All the bad guys have to do is to recruit, for the right amount of money, or threaten the family members of a person who is totally exempt from being screened and can simply walk through the TSA check point without getting a second glance from the TSA screeners. They take the bomb on the plane set it to go off for a pre-determined time and simply walk right back off the plane with the excuse they forgot something or need to get back to the office for an emergency. No one in the airport will be suspicious of someone whom the government says is completely trustworthy and doesn't need to be screened. The plane takes off and depending on how long the flight. AN hour or more later the plane is blown out of the sky. But John Pistole and Janet Napolitano can't see the forrest for the trees. They think that people who have been given background checks are completely not capable of commiting a terrorist act because of money or to save their own family members.

There are many dozens of ways to walk right through security . Honestly I never realized just how insecure things are until this crap. ... they aren't addressing any of the major issues... tampon bombs, private aircraft, tarmac access, disassembled bombs in carry ons, low density explosives (still walk right through), bombs in checked baggage (90% gets through) yadda yadda... its particularly sick that they are taking it out on children.

In my time in the workforce, I've worked in retail, food service, and have scrubbed toilets for a paycheck - among other things. I consider every job I've ever worked to be at least an order of magnitude higher than the TSA - because my jobs never required me to lie to anyone as a condition of employment.

I think it's incredibly rude and uncalled for to lay hands on someone under the pretense of "searching" them with no probable cause, no reasonable suspicion, and to consider them a terrorist until proven otherwise.

I think it's incredibly rude and uncalled for to lie to people to get them to go through a device that produces ionizing radiation.

And I think it's remarkably stupid to threaten to punch someone in the face for calling someone uneducated. I hope you aren't a role model for anyone.

Agree 100%. I would never go into the private room with TSA. They can do it in public or they can have me arrested. I'd like to see what the charges are.

Then you are free to bring along a witness of your choice. Friend, family, fellow passenger, heck you might even be able to talk a local LEO into it. We wont mind, honest.

The average is about 1 in 1000, and many are not false positives. Most are brought about by the passenger not removing someting from their pockets, or leaving a belt on, or moving during the scan and blurring the image.

18 to 21 year old females will have female TSO's doing the screening, and can still request a witness of their choice to be in the private screening room with them.

As for your rights "as a female passenger flying alone", I'm not a lawyer, nor am I female. You will need to ask someone else. Preferrably a lawyer, the folks here dont have a very firm grasp of the laws involved.

yet you claim to know everything, despite being proven wrong...

The SOP is different for females over 21?

You keep bringing up this "witness of your choice," like that makes it better for a woman (or person) traveling alone to be going off to a secret back room having no idea what will happen to her and no idea what her rights are in the situation. How does someone traveling alone get the witness of their choice in that situation? A TSA-allied LEO wouldn't be "my choice," nor would some random airline employee or traveler who happened to be in the vicinity. My husband, lawyer, or intimidating, muscular friend with an anger management problem, those would be my preferred choices. But if I'm traveling alone? I don't get my witness of choice.

What you don't seem to understand, Ron, is that we ladies have our SOP we follow when we are traveling alone, not unlike how kids are taught about "good touch bad touch." One of the cardinal rules is not to allow a potential predator to lure you to a secondary (especially private!) location. Statistically, that is how crime victims get the worst of what's coming to them, including rape and murder. I'm not suggesting that rape and murder are what awaits ladies in the TSO's back room, but you are indeed "manipulating social norms" here, demanding that we drop our own, long-standing, well-crafted safety procedures to comply with your haphazard process which seems to change by the day and location, which we are not allowed to fully understand, and which is carried out by people we have no way to make sure do not, in fact, have hostile intent.

Just like you must assume we are all potential terrorists, it's in our best interests to assume that you and your colleagues are potential predators. You know. Out of the abundance of caution. Anything for safety.

I really appreicate Ink's sincere offer made a few places here to be a witness, but I also believe that the vast majority of people would decline such a request for a variety of reasons.

I choose to have whoever is at the checkpoint be my witness. All of 'em. Right then and right there. I will deal with the consequences of choosing not to go into an unmonitored place with a stranger rather than dealing with the consequences of choosing to go into an unmonitored place with a stranger.

Yes, females have their own SOP we follow whenever we travel alone. One of them is to not go alone to a private place with strangers, male or female. ... is wrong with the tsa? I would never go to a private room at the airport, esp. if I'm innocent. If I'm flying somewhere, I'm just trying to get from point A to point B. I'm not a fricking terrorist.

BTW, I can't wait for some little kid to kick the crap out of some officer who is trying to touch them in a bad way.

One reason is because TSA would almost certainly immediately demand the ID and personal information of the witness for their report.

Furthermore, if it is another traveler, TSA will undoubtedly demand to see their boarding pass, meaning they know how long to prolong the encounter to make the witness risk a flight.

It might help if TSA would allow filming/recording of the private screening if the pax wants to film/record it. After all, the pax is the one whose privacy is being violated, so if the pax is willing to film him/herself, and TSA is following SOP, why would TSA have a problem with this?

Depends on how attractive they are.

(highlights mine). He understands - he (allegedly) foster parented children, including disabled/handicapped children.

Not really sure if a TSO trains kids on 'good touch, bad touch' and going into private places with strangers the same way I would, however.