The data is helpful to me but only for an immediate operational purpose. I use the data to gauge the number of screeners I release on breaks/lunches during peak periods. I do it based on the number of upcoming flights, length of the line both to the checkpoint and at the ticket counters, and average wait time (data we collect AFTER a passenger has passed thru the WTMD and not BEFORE). The reason for the WTMD as the defining point is because the data is collected to determine how long you had to wait until you reached the checkpoint. When you pass through the WTMD, you have reached the checkpoint.

As for the rest of it, I agree: TSA is distorting this data to mean something it cannot. I don't buy it.

This "article" has so many holes in it, that it would make great swiss cheese. Once the investigation is over, the results will probably not be printed. Reason being....there will be nothing to report.

This guy accomplished his goal. He got his picture in the paper.....his 15 minutes

BTW......I work @ RDU

Would you care to elaborate? It seems to me he is doing something that most would not when faced with this situation. Most people would just not do anything because they are afraid of repercussions.

What are the holes and why will there be nothing to report?

Why do I get the feeling SSI will be invoked?

Whistle blower laws supposedly protect employees from retribution by employers. Why would you need to be protected as a citizen?

Beceause there can be so many different variables in collecting, analyzing, and interpeting the data that it can be skewed however you want. A supervisor could selectively choose the best times and discard the rest, duh. Unfortunately, things like this are used as a grade card instead of being looked at for improvement.

I think that qui tam legislation applies to everyone. In addition to receiving a portion of restitution that the wrongdoer is ordered to repay, a la doctors reporting Medicare fraud, I think that there is also protection against retaliation for blowing the whistle, perhaps in the form of monetary damages if such retaliation is proved. Of course, since TSA is so vital to the survival of our nation , such legislation would probably not apply to it.

On a more serious note, TSA and DHS has tried to exempt itself from EEOC, OSHA, and other basic laws that apply to most other employers, both government and private, so the qui tam analogy may not apply, because of the governmental status of TSA. Yet another reason why I consider this to be a disgusting, un-American bureaucracy.

Because the person in this scenario was threatened with arrest by the police while he was attempting to report an act of fraud by a government employee - if he was arrested for doing it, he might have a case against the police for infringing on his public duty to report fraud.

Take Scissors Away said that the article has so many holes in it that it would make great swiss cheese. I was asking him to elaborate on that, not on the different variables on collecting, analyzing and interpreting the data. He hasn't replied to that as of yet.

If a supervisor is discarding data, then that is destroying an official government document. The methodology should be uniform, e.g., x number of surveys at x time each day instead of doing it randomly. But then again, consistency has never been a TSA strong point.

Actually, there's never been a real official explanation of what those data cards are really for. I already explained how I use them, but to be quite honest, the only guidance we've ever received was to collect that data every 30 minutes (except for designated "non-peak periods" which is normally at the end of regular day between the hours of 5 pm and 10 pm). It was never really designed for gauging peak periods. If so, then we would collect the data when the lines are long and perhaps collect it several times within a 30 to 60 minute time frame in order to determine if there's any progress being made. Instead, we are obligated to collect that data only once every 30 minutes.

What's happened here is that the TSA headquarters is spouting some PR information based on data that I don't believe was intended for nothing more than a 30 minute random sampling of how long a typical passenger has to wait in line.

As for discarding data, you are correct. No supervisor should intentionally distort or manipulate data of any type. Do people "fudge" data? Of course. Name one bureaucracy that doesn't. A lot of that has to do with human nature as well as the nature of all bureaucracies. However, there's a difference between that and intentionally distorting data for a manipulated outcome...plus or minus.

Bart, thanks for your thoughts. It does appear that TSA Headquarters is using this data for a purpose on which the method of collection is flawed. Appreciate your insight.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... (Bart, notwithstanding...)

Figures lie, and liars figure.

Data can be distorted and made to indicate what the user wants.

actually, the guy wrote a letter to the editor, the news staff apparently thought it was newsworthy and followed up and made it into a news story, took the guys picture, etc.

A guy writes a letter to the N&O, and all of a sudden he's a procedure expert.

I read the "letter to the editor", and the follow-up article. Quite a few inconsistencies between the two. IMHO this guy probably had a "bad" airport day and thought he'd "get back" at us.

What really gets me is the fact this guy gets all of this attention, while the removal of the FSD & AFSD gets none.

Not really. I just can't elaborate while an "investigation" is ongoing. I don't need a bunch of "TSA heavys" calling me on the carpet for writing something here.